The Limelight is predominantly based in Chicago, and our team members, along with a lot of our readers have close and deep relationships with the local independent music scene there. How has NYC’s local music scene personally influenced your journey? For the unfamiliar, how would you describe the community there?
Absolutely. I was making music in high school, starting in like 2017, and the [underground] music scene was a lot of drill based music. A lot of what I would call negative music, because that's just the vibe it gives me. Like, that's just what it is. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it.
With that being the scene at the time, and me knowing that's not me, it kind of inspired me to just make my own type of music. All I see is everybody making this. Literally everyone who makes music or who started making music – it doesn't matter if they never picked up a gun or did anything to anybody. I've had friends start making drill music and not live that life. So seeing that, it was just like, “Nah.” I'm super going to be myself, because that puts me in a lane of my own.
And then two or three years after I graduated [was] when I started finding a real creative scene in New York. Vocal artists, photographers, dancers, just a whole community. It was what I would describe [as] substance. Speaking about other things that aren't really violent, just real life experiences or manifesting what you want. That showed me a different side of New York. People my age, older, younger, that kind of multiplied the inspiration. Maybe the [people outside of] New York might really see that drill is the wave right now, but there's a whole ‘nother mini-world that people aren't seeing yet.
You’ve mentioned in a previous interview that growing up, you’d ask your brother for feedback on your singing. It sounded like he was pretty honest with you back then, do you still ask him or any other family members for opinions on your work now?
I'm not gonna lie to you – I don't ask much of my family for opinions on my music. Most of my family doesn't really listen to my music. My brother, for a fact, I still ask him. But indirectly now. It's not like, “Oh, do you think this sounds good?” Just sending him my songs. And if I'm done recording, he'll listen to them. My dad and my brother are the most vocal in terms of helping me figure out which songs are sticking and which ones aren’t.
How much of an effect does physical location have on your music making process? Is there a difference working out of NYC vs other cities?
I feel like I make my most polished music in LA, for sure. I'm blessed to work with a label, and they put me through artist development and stuff like that. My A&R, Khris Riddick Tynes – if I'm in a studio with him, he's a great coach. I'm singing takes like, 10 times for one line. Just to get the best version of it. With writing, he pushes me to just think more. I’ll get a line and he'll be like, “Good, but we can do better.” Before meeting him, creating out there, I wouldn't really think deeper into how I can make [a line] better, it already just felt like enough. But going through the frustrations, like, “Nah, but I really like this line. I really like this take,” then hearing the final product of ‘Zoom’ or ‘Drunk’… it's like sometimes you might think you know it all, but there's always like levels to go up. So, I think I'm definitely more comfortable creating in New York, but I think I make my best music in LA.
How has the transition from being independent to being signed with Arista Records been? What made Arista feel like the right choice for you? Do you have any advice for up and coming artists who are looking to have a similar career trajectory to you?
Definitely, take your time. Me and my managers took our time. We met with a lot of labels. You really have to pay attention to how they talk to you, what they propose to you, and stuff like that. When I met with Arista, they made it clear – we're taking our time. We also have a smaller artist roster compared to many labels. As a small artist, I think that's very important. Like, how many artists are signed to that label? Because if you go to a label that has about 200 people signed, nothing is promised. You could be buzzing at one point, things could go down, or things could go higher.
Everything is circumstantial for each person, but I think the best thing would be to go to something that is intimate. My relationship with Arista feels intimate because they have the time to focus on me. I have relationships with the staff. I have relationships with the CEO. I could go up to the office anytime, any day, speak to them, chill out, email, text, get responses, just like that. That's very important as an up-and-coming artist, because once you go to somewhere that has a The Weeknd, Playboi Carti, Kanye, Kendrick, or Drake – once that artist and the big artists under them have projects coming out, they have top priority over you and it's going to be hard to get on the phone with certain people and do certain things. Definitely go somewhere where they have time to prioritize you and grow you as an artist, develop you, you know – singing lessons, rehearsals, everything.
You’ve released a number of singles such as “On & On”, “Beyonce”, and “Zoom.” How and when do you choose to pull the trigger on a full length project? Does the microcosmic storytelling that singles lend themselves to still feel right for the foreseeable future or have you already thought about what a debut EP or album would look like?
The whole time I'm working on singles, I'm stacking up songs. Seeing what sounds good together, what song sounds good after the other, would make sense together in a playlist and a body of work. Since being signed to Arista, I’ve made 5 drafts of an EP. I just keep making more music.
At this point, I think I have songs that I believe in for an EP. I have the singles out already that I know are going to be on there. I have unreleased songs I've been listening to for months. Or songs that stuck with me before I even signed with Arista, before I even dropped Beyonce. Things like that mean a lot to me because if I don't get annoyed by my voice, if I've been listening to this song over and over again, I feel the confidence to share it with the world. Like, I'm not cringing at any lyrics, I'm not tired of it yet. So I'll give it a shot. That's kind of my way of choosing.
Your breakout record “Beyonce” has gained a lot of attention. Do you feel that you come into the studio with a different perspective now compared to back then? Do you ever get in your head about making another song like it, or do you try to avoid falling into those thoughts?
That's exactly how it was that whole summer, honestly. Like, “How do I match Beyonce? How do I do that?”
I have a lot of songs from that summer [where] I notice I'm chasing a sound. Whereas when I was making Beyonce, I wasn't really chasing a sound, I was creating just to create. It definitely took some time to unlearn that. That's not what I make music for. It's not to match the sound, [or] chase a moment, because that's not how I got there. Now, I'm just back to creating. Just off of the basis of wanting to create.
We live in a time where being an artist isn’t just about making music. With social media being such a prominent channel for pushing records, artists are expected to be front and center in producing content to market their music. What’s your relationship with social media as a musician? Do you feel that it influences you during the songwriting process? Do you wish it was less emphasized than it is?
If my manager was here, he would love this question. I swear I'm terrible with social media. Sometimes, we go back and forth. That's my brother for real. We've grown to be brothers. And like, sometimes I'm like, “Bro, I'm not a content creator. I make music. I don't want to post three TikToks a day.”
[But] at the end of the day, it's necessary because you want to get your message out there. You do want to be seen as an artist. But sometimes I’m like, damn, I should have blew up in 2005, man. I wouldn’t have to worry about no Instagram or nothing like that. Just put my video on BET, I'm good.
It's just having to adapt to it. I'm really starting to get the hang of it. With TikTok and all that, just show what you want, and make sure you're promoting your music in there as well. Build an audience. Don't just be a robot with it, be a person as well. There's a balance. But before, I was like, “This feels like a job. Now I have to go on my phone and post at this time, at this time, at this time.” But that's not necessarily what it is at all. It's just getting yourself out there.
Is there a story behind the digital artwork for ‘Beyonce?’ It’s a beautiful image.
That was taken at the shoot for the music video, that same day. That was my friends: Aurora, Israel and Maya. I appreciate them for coming so much. Everybody who came that day made that whole moment great. It was great. I posted about that, like, last minute, two days before, a day before. So many of my friends came out to support, and it was really fun.
Did you guys take that picture with the intention of it being the artwork for the record, or did it just happen to turn out that way?
No, Beyonce already had a cover. I hope my friend Destiny doesn't kill me. She was the original cover. But I wanted to have everything be cohesive, and I wanted to switch the cover. That was the picture that was really sticking with me. I was like, this is an attractive picture. Like, people will click on this before they even read the song title. Just scrolling on the feed, somebody's gonna stop and swipe back up.
What are your future career ambitions? Is there a dream project, dream accolade, dream collaborator, or dream side hustle you hope to fulfill?
Everybody wants a Grammy. That would be cool. Dream collab would probably have to be Beyonce or Kendrick. This is a long shot, but Sade would be a crazy collab for me. That would be insane. I'm not the biggest on chasing awards, because at the end of the day, people receiving me musically – it's gonna sound corny, but that is a big reward. That's why I keep it going. I see that I have the ability to connect with people and my audience. That's cool for me.
I would definitely do fashion. I like clothes. Everybody likes to look fire, likes to feel good in clothes. I'm pretty close with a few people from KidSuper. The more we grow our relationship, hopefully I get opportunities to model for them. They've helped me down. For the ‘On & On’ music video, they gave me an outfit for that. If I need an outfit for parties, I would just hit up somebody from the team and be like, I'm trying to look super fly for this one party. Let's do something. They show love. They held me down for ‘Can’t Deny’ as well
You’ve been teasing your new single, “Drunk,” releasing February 7th. Could you please say a few words to our readers about the track?
The song is literally comparing love to being drunk. Feeling the potency of having a crush on somebody, or just being full fledged in love with them. I like to talk about love in creative ways in my music, not have it be repetitive. ‘Can’t Deny’ is about love. So is ‘Zoom’. So is ‘Drunk’. But I feel like they all showcase love differently..