Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: Well, I am originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, but I started my music career down in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the end of my freshman year of college when I decided to pursue music. I’ve always found music to be therapeutic for me. From the earliest I can remember, music was an essential part of who I am. From just singing and dancing around the house, to writing songs and being in choir at school. I have always had a passion for music and I could no longer deny the path that is meant for me.
Q: And what other artists have you found yourself listening to lately?
A: For the past 6 months, I have found myself listening to nothing but older 90’s and early 2000’s R&B artists. It has mainly been Janet and Michael Jackson, TLC, Sade, Jill Scott, and Mary J. Blige pushing me through this last season of life.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘Von LaRae’?
A: When I first started getting into music, I was mainly influenced by the people I listened to in my early teen years, so artists like Ariana Grande, LANY, and Banks were a few of the people that inspired a lot of my earlier work. Now, I would say that I am mainly honing in on the influences from when I was a small child, artists I used to listen to with my mother on road trips or on the radio. Aretha, Whitney, Michael, and Mariah were always blasting around my house or in the car growing up and I found myself gravitating towards that sound this time around. As far as my name, I wanted to keep it very personal and simple, my first and middle name. Nothing else I tried to come up with had a nice ring to it nor did it feel like something I could call myself for years.
Q: Is there a story behind your single, “Sade,”?
A: This song is the third single from my sophomore album, “A.D.O.N.I.S”, which chronicles the romantic and personal relationships I experienced over the last year in reverse chronological order. When I was making the album, and this song in particular, I wanted to hone in on creating the sonic world of the album. Lyrically, the song details a person who is giving their all in a relationship but only seems to get breadcrumbs from their lover.
Q: Did you face any challenges while writing or recording “Sade”?
A: Honestly, yes. I wanted the cadences of the verses to feel older and found myself trying to add too much to the song. Luckily, one of my friends let me know that less is more, just relax on the record. I think the hardest part was getting over my perfectionist tendencies. I almost scrapped this song just due to it not sounding how I wanted it to earlier in the process. It really brought a lot of frustration and made me doubt the record and my capabilities as an artist overall.
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: Some key things that I feel strongly correlate with my sound are the harmonies and cadences I bring to my tracks. I have learned over the past year that I do have a distinct sound that separates me from other artists. I also think the way in which I can bring light to dark themes really connects my listeners to me. My biggest mode of being is to dance through the troubles life throws at you. Even if you are going through the hardest events in your life, you can always put on a song that you can dance the emotions out to.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: As an independent artist, I know that the path I have chosen is a long one. One that comes with many hurdles, setbacks, and harsh reality checks. When I finished my second album, I told myself that no matter what reviews say or what the numbers are, nothing and nobody can take away the feeling I get when I listen to my music. I create for myself first and foremost, always. The biggest thing my music gives me is a feeling of growth and the ability to understand myself in a different light. I have been reaping material benefits slowly as I progress, but that is not and should never be the end goal. Knowing that I put hours and hours into something that, in reality only clocks in around 3 minutes of your time, is a sense of fulfillment that is unmatched.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: Going into this album cycle, my creative process was different in almost every way imaginable. Unlike my last album, I had a very solid idea for the sonic vision of this album. What is crazy now is that I have been having dreams with melodies in them, I have been getting visuals of storylines in my head, and I will hear random melodies in my head throughout the day that I will immediately record into my voice memos so that I do not forget them. After that, I usually go into finding a sample or chord that strikes me. I will search and come up with so many melodies and chords before finding the one that gives me the feeling in my stomach I get when I hear music that really touches me. Depending on the content and story of a song, it can flow out very easily. Sometimes I will record the verses first, and sometimes I will just sit on the hook for a while. Overall, one thing that I love about my process is that it has always been done in the comfort of my own bedroom, my little sanctuary, if you will.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: Learning to push past my perfectionist nature and getting rid of imposter syndrome. Over the past year, things have really started to take off career wise and I find myself being in rooms with such talented and creative people. It was kind of intimidating because my processes are different and I don’t make the same type of music. I kept putting myself on a lower pedestal and felt as if I didn’t deserve the praise or was even worthy of it. Comparison to my peers and other artists in general was a huge hurdle to leap through. Also, I had to learn to have fun with music and learn to let go of some ideas and allow them to be finished, to breathe. If it was not for my friends giving me the support I needed when I almost trashed all of my vault catalogue, I do not think this single, nor my album, would even be out today.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: One of the best things is to be appreciated and validated for your work, no matter what type of work it is. A really cool thing that happened was the immortalization of my debut album, “The Art of Sex”, in the New Orleans Public Library under Crescent City Sounds. This came just weeks before the release of my second album and it lets me know that I am on the right path. Also, I am just super proud of my artistry overall. I am so grateful to see the growth and change in my art in just such a short time. I love this era of my music so much and I am so grateful to have had the experience to talk about it with you.
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