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Author:
Gabe Kahan
Gabe Kahan
Published:
Mar 29, 2018

Ayelle’s career as a musician and producer has been a picturesque ascension to success. Originally from Sweden, her interest in songwriting began as early as 6 years old. She moved to Spain at 14 where she finished up high school and started working with several producers. After graduation, she headed over to London to study music and officially begin her career.

Now, five years later, the European cultural epicenter is still Ayelle’s home base as she travels internationally and collaborates with artists like Alex Lustig, Taska Black, and DNMO. She’s leveraged her stunning powerhouse of a voice to build a significant EDM and house music following, which has gracefully coalesced into a springboard for more personally driven projects.

A little over a month ago Ayelle released “Boy,” a new single that offers rich insight into the direction the artist intends to take her sound, self-described as “future R&B.” I had the pleasure of grabbing lunch with the artist in a cute little poké spot in SoHo on a sunny afternoon while she was in town for some studio sessions.

Indie Shuffle: Tell me about your production methods and all the different instrumentation. I’m curious how it all comes together, and what roles you take on.

Ayelle: It’s really a mixture. I’ve got my own equipment that I travel with. Sometimes people send me beats and I write to them, or I write a demo with some keys and simple production—but I prefer to do that just to communicate my ideas, rather than actually finishing it. So I’ll either send stuff back and forth, or start something from scratch in the studio. It really depends on the producer—some people want to just have the vocals and do their thing, and some people work better vibing back and forth in the studio. All my releases are a random mixture of different processes.

That production process seems a bit atypical. What’s that like?

For me, this method of working has been born out of necessity. When I started out I had to make things happen for myself—I didn’t know anyone, I was new in London. I had to start from scratch and build a network. So I just started to release music and try to get people to work with me. Because of that I’ve become very self-sufficient. I know some people prefer to have one producer that they keep coming back to and do everything with. And that’s great, sometimes that really works for people. But for me, I’ve really gotten used to working differently. I’ve got a few producers that I really like, whose sound compliments mine and my sound compliments theirs, so we end up collaborating again and again. But I don’t really have one go-to producer. I prefer to work with a bunch of people all the time because it brings out different parts of me, so I can never get too comfortable in one sound. I want to constantly push boundaries and keep it interesting, rather than stay confined. This EP is really the first time my music has become a cohesive body of work—it’s the first time I’m releasing five tracks that I like with the same two people.

What’s the motivation behind this new EP? What are your plans for releasing it?

I definitely want to focus more on my own project, and make sure that that gets the bulk of my attention. The “Boy” track is definitely more my sound. It’s vulnerable and sexy at the same time. Defiant, controversial—making you feel uncomfortable and turned on at the same time. I like to make people question themselves and who they are as a person. The EP is called Slow Clap, and it’s produced by Brad Baker. Funny enough, though, it’s an EP about all the fuckboys I’ve dated in London. It’s like a slow clap for them—that’s the concept. I’m still sorting out the details before setting any final release dates, but I’m aiming to get it out by July.

Is there a difference between your artist persona and who you are, or do they feel like one and the same?

In a lot of ways, it does feel like they’re the same. A lot of my friends call me Ayelle, but I’ve also met a lot of my friends through my music. There’s definitely a distinction, though, because you do have to think about branding. I’ve tried to make it more natural, so I don’t have to overthink everything I post or share. But it’s not completely natural, and I don’t think it ever really can be. For example, I smile a lot, and you don’t really see me smiling a lot in any of my photos. My sound is also very naturally evolving. When I started making music as Ayelle, I was in a bit of a darker headspace, so I was making much darker music. Now it’s a bit more romantic—there’s more elements to it. As I evolve as a person, the project evolves. But all of my songs are super biographical.

When you were first starting was it just you in your bedroom?

I went to university, so I knew a few people there. But to be honest, it wasn’t until I ventured out of university’s safe bubble that things really started to happen, and that I really started making the contacts that I needed to make. I went to a bunch of seminars—anything that I could think of. It’s always difficult when you’re starting out because you don’t have anything but your shitty demo that you haven’t been able to produce well. So you have to take it step by step, working with certain producers, and then gradually working with better producers.

It sounds super cliché how you have to “live it, breath it” every moment. But I think sometimes you just need to make that decision. When I finally decided, “I don’t have a backup plan, I’m not going to have a backup plan. No, dad, I’m not going to become a brain surgeon. That’s not even an option anymore”—that’s when I was really able to go for it. Otherwise, you end up not putting enough energy into it, and it really requires all of your energy. It doesn’t mean that you can’t still be a person, do normal things, and chill out with your family, but it’s definitely a priority for me.

I hear you freelance, though! What do you do, and how does that fit into the picture?

I do subtitles for BBC and Netflix part-time. Music can come in so sporadically, and you never know when you’re going to get it. This way, I know I’m going to get a check. I can do it wherever—from the studio—and that’s what’s super helpful. I was working in London full-time before I started making more money off music, and it was so difficult to do both. So I knew I had to come up with something to free up my time and allow me to travel. I took an online course, and started taking really shitty jobs because it’s a whole different career path—you still need to work your way up. It was not easy. At first it was really, really shitty pay, and these horrible amateur indie movies where you couldn’t hear what they were saying half the time, and I had to transcribe the whole thing. But then I got in with an agency that I really liked, gradually did more and more, and after six months started doing quality control. It’s just watching movies and correcting spelling errors or formatting. People were surprised. I was working fulltime in London as a receptionist, and then suddenly I just packed up and moved to LA for five weeks. Everyone was like, “where are you getting this money from?”

Has there been a point in your career where you felt like people were finally starting to notice you?

That would be right now, probably—finding producers is definitely not an issue anymore. I think because I’ve done a lot of features I get a lot of feature requests, which is great. I love doing that, and it’s also how I’ve met a lot of the producers that produce my projects. I have people now who I can trust. I know we’re going to be able to create something that’s up to my standards.

I’m already living like I would want to live. I want to travel and work with people, and try to keep it as independent as possible for as long as I can manage to do so. I’m not signed to a label or publishing company, and I want to keep it that until I’ve got lots and lots of leverage to get the deal I want. But, of course, if I’m already there and I’ve got all this leverage, then I’m not sure if I will. I think that’s the exciting thing about making music now—there are no rules. As long as you’ve got the right contacts, the right set up, the right people and producers, you can build your own little empire.

Image Credit: Melissa Chu

Ayelle - Boy
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