Hiya ALi thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today, grab a brew and take a seat.
What made you decide that music is a thing for you?
My family was very big on music growing up, especially my dad. In our household, we always had music playing or people playing some type of music. My dad had this karaoke machine that he would always pull out when family friends were over and watching that while growing up made me fall in love with music. I started making music of my own when I was 10 and that’s when I really fell in love with creating it.
Introduce us to you all and your musical history.
When I was 10, I started messing around with beats and getting a feel for production. I technically released my first “beats only” album when I was 12, but didn’t start easing actual albums under my artist name till 2019. I’ve released three albums so far prior to this upcoming one, but this album I’m about to put out feels like my first in many ways because my last three albums were not serious in nature or about anything of substance to be honest.
I feel like this album is very much a representation of me and the music I’ve always wanted to create. I feel like I had to make everything I’ve made thus far in order to make the album that is about to come out. Everything I have made, though, is like a melting pot of hip-hop, pop, and R&B. Those are three genres I swear by and love deeply.
What’s the live music scene like in Dallas, TX right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (Bar you of course)
There’s an artist called “Majesty’s Wing” that I actually collaborated with on my last album and he’s really great. Otherwise, I don’t know about a lot of other artists in my area. I’m sure there are plenty though that deserve a lot of recognition.
I’ve seen a lot of people struggling for support recently online. What’s your view on the industry?
I honestly think it’s such a scam. The music industry, especially in recent years, has become this machine, where if nothing gets enough views, likes, or reposts, especially on TikTok, you get labeled as a bad artist or someone who is not worth being funded by labels, which I think is so unfair. There is so much great art out there that deserves to be recognized, even if it doesn’t pop off on TikTok. I wish people and record labels would just get passed that. A lot of mainstream artists don’t get treated the best either because of this.
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
I believe I’m nowhere near mainstream, but it’s somewhere I would love to see myself be in the future, especially for this album. I’m so proud of it and would love for it to do well. However, at the end of the day, the win for me is that the music resonates with people, whether that’s one person or 1 million. Aside from commercial success, I make music for myself as well because it’s my natural coping mechanism to get through anything.
This album and writing was where I would go whenever I was struggling with something or didn’t know how to verbalize how I was feeling about a particular experience.
Tell us Two truths and a lie about you.
I have four certification plaques for my music, I got staples in my head when I was younger, and I’m signed to a major label.
Do you ever worry about people taking things the wrong way or cancel culture? Discuss….
Sometimes, but I believe that cancel culture is very stupid. People need to touch some grass these days and take things a little less seriously. We’re all human and we all make mistakes. There’s so much more to a person if you look past their flaws. Plus, there are so many better conversations to be had.
Do you sign up to any conspiracy theories? If not why not?
Wonder I think about a lot is area 51. I used to love watching conspiracy theory videos on YouTube because they would give me that creepy feeling. I don’t necessarily believe all of them, but some of them I do for sure just because they just makes sense if you look at some evidence.
What was your best experience on stage?
I did a VEVO exclusive online performance 3 years back for my last album and it was really cool working with green screens and special effects to create the world for the song I performed to. Seeing my song come to life with the visuals was just really cool to look at.
What was your worst experience on stage?
In that VEVO performance, I didn’t really have a bad experience. That was my only performing experience and it went pretty well honestly.
Tell us something about you that you think people would be surprised about.
I hate talking to people. It’s honestly the bane of my existence and I even wrote a song about it for this album called “HATE MYSELF ANTHEM”. When I do talk to people, I’m really nice and I can be friendly, but would I rather stay home with my cats and not talk to anyone and be by myself? Absolutely. I have such a low social battery and getting overstimulated in large crowds is very easy for me. I love keeping a small circle.
What are the next steps you plan to take as an artist to reach the next level?
I want to promote my music more through blogs and social media to expose my music to more audiences because I really believe in this album. I feel like there’s a song for everybody on this project and anyone I’ve played it for has given me such great feedback that reassures me that even more people would like it.
I hear you have a new album, what can you tell us about it?
My album “INSIDE OUT” is the best music I’ve made and the music I’ve wanted to create for so long, but didn’t know how to.
There’s this theme throughout the album of navigating emotions. You’ve never felt before, especially the ones you feel while growing up, like having a crush on someone or getting feelings of worry or anxiety for the first time and not knowing how to navigate that. It’s almost perfect, but imperfect at the same time. It’s happy, but sad at the same time. It’s chaotic, but calm as well. It’s an all encompassing spectrum of emotions, packaged into 43 minutes. I hope people love it because I surely do.
What was the recording process like?
I recorded this album the past three years and it was, at times, a nightmare to make to be honest. I remember after creating the first completed two years back, I couldn’t imagine myself doing that process 12 more times to create the full 13 track album. A big thing for me in creating this record that made it set out from my past creation process was that I definitely took my time and never pressured myself into writing or making a beat whenever I didn’t feel like making music, because they were definitely some days where I did not even want to think about creating music throughout this process.
Anytime I felt like that, I would take a step back and only go back into it whenever I felt ready. Those were honestly the best times though because I would get these huge bursts of inspiration afterwards and I’d be back on track. It’s not easy doing every aspect of the music by yourself, from the writing, engineering, mixing, to production, but I’m really proud of myself for doing it.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
This time around, I would say it was the writing. I wanted it to be super intentional, unlike my past music I have definitely become a better writer since the start of making this record. There were definitely some days where I did not know what to write about and it would take a really long time to actually get to a topic to write about.
Whenever I did figure out what I wanted to write about though, the words would just flow out of me. It wasn’t always hard at times though; sometimes I would know immediately what to say and I’d write a song in 15 minutes. The lyrics in this album are simple, but effective in trying to convey what I’m saying, and that’s what I love about them. It’s uncomplicated in its context.
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
I’m a huge perfectionist and I went back-and-forth with mixes for months at this point. The album is coming out less than two weeks and there are still things I would want to tweak, but I don’t think I could ever come to a point where I could just leave it alone. I’m glad I had a deadline for it because it kind of forced me to just let it go and be happy with it, which I am. In terms of content though? No, I wouldn’t change a thing. Every single thing I talked about in this record is with intention.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
I’m so excited for everyone to hear the album and please share it with everyone you know. It would mean the world to me for people to hear this album and if it helped them get through anything.
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STREAM // DOWNLOAD HERE