The Community of A Cult Brand: Song For The Mute's Melvin Tanaya Talks Kinship

Song For The Mute's thirteen-year legacy has evolved from a two-person gig to a plurality of ideas. One-half of the label, Melvin Tanaya, speaks out on the role of community and connection in the brand's recent successes, including but not limited to its first permanent flagship store, an Adidas collaboration and an induction into Hypebeast's Hall of Fame.

- Vanessa Grace Ng

“Surround yourself with the right people, I think that’s very, very important.” says Melvin Tanaya. The cofounder of cult label Song For The Mute is dishing out advice for aspiring individuals, an activity he is qualified for, seeing as he has thirteen years of brand-building and counting under his belt. It would not be an over-exaggeration to describe his career as relational. After all, he has been friends with the label’s other cofounder and current creative director, Lyna Ty, since they were ten. “Lyna gives me the story to tell. So we wouldn’t work without each other almost. Without Lyna, I wouldn’t have a story to tell; without me, Lyna wouldn’t have the vessel to tell that story.”

This modus operandi of communion hints at Tanaya’s disposition as a people person. He does not shy away from hosting “no filter” Q&A sessions on his online platforms, nor from sharing about his family, which he evidently has pride in. On a brand level, the Song For The Mute camp is notorious for being lean but mean and super tight. His voice carries a sense of beamy achievement when asked about his company. “Our team is still small, like a tight-knit family.” This efficiency has paid off. While successes are hard to quantify, Song For The Mute just opened the doors to its first permanent flagship store, an achievement that may slightly overshadow a global rollout of a second Adidas collaboration.