FEATURE: Spotlight: Aziya — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Aziya

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HAVING discovered her music…

through a great ‘ones to watch 2024’ list from The Independent recently, I have constantly connected to the music of Aziya. I wanted to bring together some interviews from last year where we get to know more about this stunning artist. Someone whose music you might label Rock or Alternative, she is in a scene/genre traditionally dominated by men. With women/female bands/duos like Nova Twins coming through, there is a bit of a shift. That said, there is still a skew and imbalance that artists like Aziya are striking against. Adding their incredible music to the mix. In the process, proving she is a future festival great with many years in the industry left. I am going to start with a short interview from Equate Magazine. This is an interview from 2021. It was published around the release of her E.P., We Speak of Tides. It starts with the story that Aziya was on Instagram showcasing videos of her playing cover songs. The amazing H.E.R. took notice of her. Aziya was selected from twenty thousand rising talents on a ‘Girls with Guitars’ livestream. Not long after, Aziya was signed by Warner Brothers Records. Quite a sudden rise for this spectacular musician who is one of the most distinct and interesting voices in new music:

“Aziya wrote her first lyrics and started singing around age ten. Soon the singer’s parents bought her a guitar to match her craft. “My mom could tell I was writing these songs and needed some form of a complement. So they got me guitar lessons when I was kid.” Raised in East London under a healthy plethora of music, Aziya’s ears were fed System of A Down to Patti Smith to A Tribe Called Quest. “There were so many different genres going on. I was never prevented from listening to anything. It was all at my dispense and gave me a fucked-up music taste,” she admits. The singer then graduated from the Brit School in 2018. The school helped her grow into a stronger producer, singer, and writer.

Aziya’s (nee Aldridge -Moore) self-produced 80s tinged rock single, “Blood”, is a ferocious anthem about bitter family relations as she hollers in the chorus “You’re my blood/it’s a word that you don’t understand/You’re my blood/write it off/cause you know that you can.” “Writing “Blood” was very cathartic for me. It was about a certain situation between a family member and me. I think it can relate to anyone feeling distant from loved ones even though you are blood related. I think it is a universal message even though it was a personal one for me,” she says.

“Blood” was musically inspired by the sounds of the New York City garage rock band scene of the early 2000s especially by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. “I love Karen O. I wanted my sound to echo that gritty early guitar sound of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. You don’t have to love rock music to listen to my music,” the singer says bluntly. “A lot of my hunger comes from me wanting to change the norm and make it clear to the public that hear my music that it’s me writing and playing. I want to be the artist that I didn’t get to see growing up.”

With her long black locks of hair, her black leather ensembles, and her stylistic moves in the “Blood” video some might even compare Aziya to the late great R&B star Aaliyah, but her sound, even though it contrasts, is what Aaliyah’s was at the beginning of her career—refreshingly cool, exceptionally avant-garde, and stylistically like no other.

I sat down with the eclectic singer to talk music trends, her influences, and growing up in the social media age.

Read the full interview below…

EQ: Is it intimidating debuting on the music scene as a female rocker in a current dominated male field?

A: It is challenging. I want the public to listen to the music that I am making. There are so many female guitarists that are not being recognized. My main aim is to completely disregard this whole stigma around it so you can listen to my music.

EQ: You were born right on the cusp of the social media age. What are the pros and cons of social media?

A: The pros of social media is that it brings back that punk sensibility. You can do it yourself and reach so many people. The cons are that it can suck you into this vacuum. People compare themselves to others by placing the best versions of themselves on there. If you are having anxiety from it, step away. My advice is to just stay in your lane.

EQ: We Speak of Tides is the new EP. Can you tell me more about it—lyrically and musically?

A: It’s about people, friends, family, lovers with the idea of connection and touch. Those are big themes throughout Tides and my music in general.

Musically the EP is rock music. If anything, I crave to hear the rock genre. There wasn’t any pressure to fill that void right now.

EQ: Your fashion sense screams Aaliyah. Is she a style icon for you, if not who is?

A: I love Stevie Nicks, Debbie Harry, and June Millington. I was discovered as a musician first and fashion modeling came into play. My first love is music though.

EQ: What is the Aziya live experience like?

A: I need to get to the States! I love to see people moshing and bobbing their heads. Just seeing people in real life singing to my lyrics is all I need really”.

Ahead of the release of her E.P., LONELY CASTLES, Aziya spoke with Wonderland. They asked her about the artists who inspired her, how she would describe her own sound, in addition to what we can expect from her approaching E.P. LONELY CASTLES is one of the most immediate and compelling E.P.s of 2023. It highlights a truly wonderful artist who stays in the mind the first time you hear her:

“Who and what influences you?

Debbie Harry, Santigold, Telecaster, Heartbreak, 2023 & Touring

How did you first discover your love of creating?

The first ever song I wrote and produced was called “Teen Face” – the fact that this idea I wrote could be made into something others could listen to felt like a weird super power.

From there, how did you begin shaping yourself as an artist?

That song (never released) had a guitar solo that was about a minute and a half long. Subconsciously I knew guitar music played a huge role for me and so the references started to become even more refined.

How would you define the essence of your sound?

Songs that I want John Bonham to drum, J Dilla to co-produce and Debbie Harry to feature on.

As someone who produces her own music, what is the significance of maintaining control of the whole creative process to you?

For me it’s like trying to become fluent in another language. You learn it so you can be a part of the conversation.

How do you feel reflecting on your debut EP, “We Speak of Tides”?

That’s my baby and I’m so proud of it, especially because it was done completely independently – from the artwork and visuals to the music. It laid the foundations of this journey I’m on sonically.

What can we expect from your upcoming EP?

Screaming, bizarre middle eight sections that sound like Grimes and Kurt Cobain had an AI song baby. A diary into what it feels like living in 2023”.

I am going to finish with an interview from DAZED. They spoke with Aziya in October. She took DAZED around East London around her favourite spots and explained why she wants to be the new face of British Rock – something that is entirely possible. I think this year is going to be a huge and really important one for Aziya. If you have not heard her music yet then make sure you follow her and listen to as much as possible. I wonder if this year will see a debut album come along:

“Born and raised in Hackney as the eldest of three, Aziya grew up in a household bustling with a vast array of musical influences. “My mom was playing a lot of Stevie Nicks and Patti Smith, but then also A Tribe Called Quest, and my dad was playing Outkast and J Dilla,” she explains, discussing the music she grew up listening to. ”But then in my car journeys to school, my parents would put on a System of a Down CD. So it was very varied, and there were no limits to what I was listening to. I think I really had an affiliation as a kid to guitar music, whether it was like Jimi Hendrix or No Doubt.” When she was ten years old, her mother spotted her affinity for guitar music and brought her first guitar to see how it would progress.

Over a Diet Coke, she reminisces fondly on the first song she wrote at the age of 11. “I thought I ate,” she says, with a laugh. “I tried to make this metaphor about a shower representing love and it was so poetic. It was so deep and I was like ‘Yeah it’s coming out’. It obviously never did.” Eventually, her growing passion for playing guitar and alternative rock music ignited her growing passion for playing guitar and her love of alternative rock music propelled her to pursue a fully-fledged career as a musician.

PHOTO CREDIT: Habi Diallo

During the pandemic, she began posting TikTok videos of her covers and eventually began gaining attraction from artists like Grimes and Florence and The Machine – the latter of whom she later toured with as an opening act. As it stands, she has almost 300,000 followers on the app and 4.9 million likes.

It’s no secret women in alternative rock music have been historically erased and shunned from mainstream history. While she grew up with a rich knowledge of alternative rock music, female role models were not as visible or known to Aziya. Instead, she recounts spending a lot of time countless hours doing research to find the women rock stars who, despite being overlooked, have undeniably paved the way for herself and her contemporaries.

The first female guitarist she found was Viv Albertine from the Slits. “What resonated with me was that she wasn’t classically trained,” she explains. “She didn’t know how to play guitar. She just had friends that were in The Clash and she was hanging out with the Sex Pistols so she naturally just picked up an electric guitar to try it and just like instinctively started playing. I think to me, that’s way more important than someone who's learned for years on end.” One discovery led to another and eventually, she found Sister Rosetta Tharpe. “I think she’s the Rock and Roll Queen,” Aziya says. “She was an amazing guitarist back in the 60s in gospel music and then from her, I found June Millington from the band Fanny. So there are women out there, but you really have to search for them. I just don’t want that to be the case in this generation.”

Two years ago, she released her first EP We Speak of Tides, a five-song record exploring human connection, coming-of-age and the tumultuous nature of relationships. Despite it only being a couple of years since the record came out, the growth that so often occurs during the late teens and early twenties is apparent in her latest project. “I think this EP was different because the first EP for me was working out where within guitar music I sat as an artist,” she says. “So on We Speak of Tides you hear psych-rock influences you hear like heavy guitar, grungy influences. And I think with this EP, it was more like, OK, we’ve gone on a journey. Now, this is where you are, this is your sound”.

There are quite a few features out at the moment that are tipping artists that will make an impact this year. Aziya is definitely among the strongest and most supremely talented. I hope that she gets a lot of radio airplay and love as we move through the year. With a new E.P. as strong as LONELY CASTLES out there, it all bodes well for an exceptional musician. Her music is something that…