Los Angeles, CA · alt-pop · pop-punk

Royal & the Serpent

1 upcoming festival

Ryan Santiago's project — anxious, theatrical alt-pop with a punk streak surfacing more each record, 'Overwhelmed' the breakout.

Royal & the Serpent is the project of Ryan Santiago, a songwriter who grew up in New Jersey and later based herself in Los Angeles. The music blends alt-pop production with pop-punk guitars and a theatrical, sometimes deliberately unhinged vocal delivery, with lyrics that deal frankly with anxiety, addiction and self-image.

The 2020 single "Overwhelmed" brought a much wider audience, spreading through short-form video before charting at alternative radio, and subsequent EPs and singles have pushed the guitars further forward. Live, the performances tend toward the confrontational, with Santiago treating the stage as much as a character piece as a concert.

alt-poppop-punk