Daniel Kyri may be best known for his starring role in NBC’s Chicago Fire, but the actor is starting to turn up the heat on his burgeoning music career as well.
Case in point: Kyri’s new single “Maybe,” which debuts today with a moving music video that depicts two lovers in a literal push and pull as they navigate the thrills and thralls of a modern-day relationship. One of the few music videos to depict two queer Black men in love, “Maybe” confronts the age-old question of whether you should fight for someone and try to make it work, or let them go and let fate take its course.
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The slow-burning, emotionally-charged track is as layered as the subject matter, with Kyri’s soothing voice layered over a mix of minimalist R&B, pop and afrobeats.
Kyri says he first started writing the song in 2022, but wasn’t able to fully finish it until last year. “I was in one of the most toxic relationships of my life,” he tells Billboard, “and I remember wanting so badly for it to be something good, something healthy…something it wasn’t. And turns out that was extremely painful.”
“Writing ‘Maybe,’” he says, “was a way to process the loneliness and uncertainty that come with those moments where you’re stuck between wanting to hold on and knowing you should let go. This song lives in the space between decisions, in the doubt and in the fragile hope of possibility.”
Directed by Vincent Martell and Jordan Phelps, with choreography by Vic Musoni, the accompanying music video was a way for Kyri to visualize his internal conflict. “[The video] shows us two lovers literally pushing and pulling at each other, wrestling with power and submission, closeness and distance, tenderness, and passion,” the singer says. “We shot it in this old, run-down house because it felt symbolic of their love—what once was a safe, secure space is now falling apart around them.”
“Maybe” is Kyri’s second single, following his debut release “Dreamland Ave, which was released over the summer. Both tracks are expected to appear on the singer’s debut EP, due out next year.
While Chicago Fire just kicked off its 13th season, Kyri says he’s been grateful for the chance to showcase a different side to himself through music. “In acting there are all these pre-existing frameworks that I am performing within. I don’t have control over the words I’m saying, or the direction I’m getting, or even what makes it past the cutting room floor to the screen,” he explains. “Music has proven more expansive,” he continues. “I have more freedom and I can use my voice to tell a story that is important to me.”
What’s important to Kyri is using his voice — and his platform — to advocate for people who look like him and feel like him. The actor-turned-singer says he hopes listeners relate to his struggles and find hope in his journey, which continues to evolve each day. “I’m hungry for representation that models life as it actually is: messy, difficult, painful, beautiful,” he says. “I took my ‘L,’ turned it into a lesson, and I hope someone out there can relate.”
