Coolest Person in the Room: Diana Silvers

Popularity is relative, especially in the digital age. You could have hundreds of thousands of followers online but be completely unknown in the streets — massively famous on Instagram, YouTube or Twitter, but lack any kind of real, authentic cool in person. For our series Coolest Person in the Room, we pinpoint all the people whose energy is contagious regardless of their following count or celebrity. For this edition, we took over the Charles Pierre Suite at The Pierre, a Taj Hotel, to catch up with Diana Silvers, the actor-model-musician whose debut album From Another Room has introduced an entirely new side of her.

How are you? You’re on a walk in LA, it seems so beautiful.

I’m on a walk in Los Angeles. I’m here for Thanksgiving because I’m from here. Are you calling in from New York?

Same vibe. I’m home in Texas right now for Thanksgiving.

Where in Texas?

Houston area. It’s called Sugar Land, Texas.

Wait, you’re in Sugar Land? That’s crazy. I actually wrote a song in Sugar Land, Texas, called “Sugar Land, Texas,” when I was on tour.

No way.

Yeah. This is very serendipitous. I love Sugar Land. The venue and the people were so nice. I didn’t really get to see Sugar Land. We woke up in the parking lot, went straight into the show, and then left that night.

I heard you’re opening for Fletcher.

Yeah, Fletcher! I’m really excited. It’ll be my first time really playing at home.

Tell me about performing live. Are you building that muscle more and more?

I really enjoy it. Because I grew up acting and doing theater, every show was always different. The audience changes the energy every night. I love that exchange. And performing my own songs gives me so much freedom. I can change the setlist every night, and I did on the road with Jon [Batiste]. I was writing so much, and sometimes I’d finish a song and say, “Alright, let’s try it tonight and see how it goes.”

Getting to feel an audience react in real time to something I just wrote was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I love that energy exchange. Music is also the only medium where you go to other people’s cities — you step into their world, you’re the visitor, you’re experiencing their town and their lives, and you’re sharing this moment with them.

What was the song you wrote in Sugar Land, Texas? Now I have to know.

It’s literally called “Sugar Land, Texas.” The one I wrote was more just because I happened to write it in Sugar Land. It’s about… I don’t know, Texas really. The opening lyric is: “I’m in Texas and the moon is a half-eyed smile, how majestic, the sky goes on for miles / And the roads, will they lead me to your door? And the rains, will they take me to your shores?”

Okay. Very Texas.

And the day before, our first stop was Austin. My guitarist, Paul, has always had this fear of horses — and he’s not afraid of anything. But he had a bad experience years ago. I told him, “Trust me, they’re amazing. Let me take you horseback riding.”

So we rented a car, drove an hour outside Austin, went riding, and it was wonderful. His horse’s name was Cowgirl. So the next lyric I wrote was: “Paul’s got his cowgirl, and I’ve got my new life to begin.” It’s really just about the time we spent in Texas. Road songs are metaphors, sure — but they’re also snapshots of where you were emotionally while you were traveling. Every audience, every city brings out something different depending on where you are in the tour.

I wrote a song in every city. Most of them aren’t about the city necessarily, but the place always leaves an imprint on the song.

I listened to From Another Room, and it’s very folky. That leads me to my next question: what media influences or specific artists inspired the record? I even got a little Angel Olsen vibe.

I love Angel Olsen. I haven’t listened to her in a while, though. But I love her. That’s a good question. I think, to a degree, The Royal Tenenbaums. That movie had such an impact on me as a teenager, and the soundtrack especially. There’s something so wistful about it. And then there’s this darkness and sadness — especially with the “Needle in the Hay” needle drop.

When I think of that movie, I think of certain colors and textures and sounds and feelings. In a way, my record kind of takes you on a similar journey. And with “Burning in the Sun,” I’m like, Oh, this could’ve been in the Lady Bird trailer. When you consume art, it seeps into you. It affects how you think, how you view the world, and then of course, how you create your own art.

Everything I’ve listened to multiple times, watched multiple times — the things I revisit, the things I gravitate toward — all of that influences me.

What were you gravitating toward while you were making this record?

Very different things from what the record actually sounds like. I was listening to a lot of Prince, a lot of Stevie Wonder. I’m always listening to Nick Drake — Pink Moon is the perfect record to listen to while walking through Central Park in the winter at sunset.

I was listening to things so different from my record because I didn’t want to accidentally recreate whatever I had on repeat. You know what I mean?

I feel like that’s a common theme when I interview artists. When they’re making their own music, they either stop listening to other artists entirely or listen to things nothing like what they’re making.

Yeah. Unless there’s a specific production element I’m trying to figure out. Like, I remember wanting to understand George Harrison’s guitar tone, and the organ sound on All Things Must Pass. I was like, What is that?

So then you research. You’re playing and thinking, I want that sound — how do I get that sound? Then you look at the credits on Apple Music and see: oh, he was playing a Hammond B3 organ, and there’s something called a Leslie. One thing leads to the next. It’s investigative work in a way.

I’m a very curious person. I’m a Scorpio, and we’re known to be investigators. We’ve gotta get to the bottom of things. But that’s what’s so fun about creating: you start listening to music in an entirely different way.

You’ve been in this expansion from acting — not a transition, but widening the scope of what you do. Acting is about inhabiting characters, but with songwriting, do you feel more like yourself? Or is there still a persona involved?

It doesn’t feel like a persona. I could see stepping into different personas as I make more music, but this first record is so honest. I don’t know how not to be honest. I’m not a very good liar — which my mom and I once got into a funny spat about. She said, “You’re lying,” and I was like, “Mom, I can’t lie.” She goes, “What are you talking about? You’re an actor!”

But acting doesn’t feel like lying to me. It feels like telling the truth for someone else. That’s different from my own truth. And you can ask anyone in my family — I’m a terrible liar. It’s very hard for me. Sometimes it even makes interviews difficult because I want to answer a question, but I don’t know how to not answer it fully.

And the next record, I’ve already written it, actually. It’s very authentic, not a character at all. It’s about the transition from girlhood to womanhood, because that’s where I’m at right now. Being in your 20s is such a funny thing. You’re leaving adolescence and entering adulthood, but time feels like it all morphs together.

And the expectations placed on you as a woman shift. People start asking, “When are you going to have kids?” And I’m like, I don’t know. I still feel like a kid.

I see that you played tennis in high school and did theater camp, cello, modeling — all these different disciplines. If you weren’t in entertainment right now, what do you think you’d be doing?

I’d be a journalist. I think so, yeah.

Like, would you go to journalism school? What would your path be?

I’d love to write for National Geographic or Rolling Stone. I’d want to do music journalism or photojournalism. I really want to do a national parks amphitheater tour and document it — as a way to document the National Park system in America, especially right now with so much funding being taken away. It’d be a way to protest and bring awareness to our parks through art and journalism. Maybe that sounds pretentious, but it’s something I’m passionate about.

No, I love that. Since this is for our Coolest Person in the Room series, who’s the coolest person to you, right now or just in general? Alive or dead.

Oh, wow. Okay — is it cliché to say a friend I really admire?

No, that’s perfect.

Alright, I’ll do one person I know and one person I don’t. My friend Alexandra Hainer — she’s so cool. She’s a professional race car driver; she races for McLaren. She’s also an incredible photographer and retoucher. She helps me with all my creative — vinyl, merch, posters, everything. She has the best taste in music. She’s so curious and always tells me about artists and photographers. She’s had such an important influence on my taste and my art. I trust her with my life. She’s one of my very best friends and a close collaborator, and she’s so understated. She’s the coolest person in every room she walks into.

And then someone I don’t really know: Rosalia. I think she’s really cool. I met her once and she was so lovely. She has such a beautiful energy and light about her. She has such a strong sense of style, her artistry is so strong, and her sense of self is very strong. I’d love to ask her a million questions and just listen to her talk about anything. I think she has a very unique perspective on the world.

So those are my two coolest people. I can’t pick just one — there are too many cool people.

Photography Diego Villagra Motta

Styling Angelina Cantú

Hair Artist Marki Shkreli

Makeup Artist Tatyana Makarova

Lighting Designer Peter Demas

Styling Assistants Joyce Esquenazi Mitrani, Quinn Tommy Herbert, Carly Dinowitz

Executive Creative Producer Angelina Cantú

Story Ivan Guzman

Chief Creative Officer Brian Calle

Location The Pierre, a Taj Hotel