Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Inside Aiden Leslie


Sex appeal, a smooth voice, and his suave ways combine to make the next big pop star. Influenced by acts from Elvis to Erasure, Aiden Leslie has been in love with music from his early days, and it shows in his art. His sound blends pop, hip-hop and lets a little bit of dance influence sneak in to make pop perfection. His past hits such as “Please,” showed great promise for this performer and his new single, “World’s Away,” which has gotten its share of play on Atlanta's dance floors, features the talent of female rapper Farrah Burns, whose flow matches that of early 90’s rapper goddess’s such as Queen Latifah, Monie Love, and Jazzy P. Now back for another round after a short hiatus, Aiden Leslie is better than ever.

I saw the new video for “Worlds Away”. Great stuff! What gave you the inspiration to bring in a female rapper? I know that today there is Lil’ Kim, Nicki Minaj, but Farrah [Burn] reminds me of an early 90’s female rapper.

Rap and hip-hop is something that I love very much, so in my mind, as an artist I wanted to bring that element to my new single. When I first started writing “Worlds Away,” I didn’t really write it thinking that I was going to have a rapper, but after we started writing the song, we came to the bridge and we were listening to the break down and it just came to me: this is the perfect opportunity for somebody to come and do 16-bars. At around the same time I had met Farrah Burns. I was like the universe came together.

Can fans expect a full studio album in the near future?
Absolutely. This is my single for getting back into the game. I’m working on the follow-up single and album now.

I know you have been taking a break from music from the past two years. What made you want to write again?

What really inspired me to come back is that I was so low for so long. When I say low, I mean not happy, and I was not feeling fulfilled on many levels. When I put music out of my life, that was definitely a conscious decision, but as time went on, I realized how much it was a part of my life, and just the fact that I didn’t have it anymore really changed me. It brought me to a bottom in many ways, but that’s not a bad thing because it brought me back to what I love, which is my music.

Your new video is now on VH1 along with so many artists, but who inspires you?
I really love Erasure, George Michael, of course I love Madonna. I love pop music, so I’m heavily influenced by pop music. People that are artists that are also songwriters really influenced me.

And what about today’s music, who are you listening to today?

I mean, I love Rihanna, I love Brandy, I love Jay-Z, I love Eminem. I think they are doing really cool work right now.

Lots of songs on the radio right now are very monotonous, with that electro-r&b-dance sound, but your song definitely sticks out, congratulations on that.
Well, that makes me feel good. For me, yes I listen to music out there today, but I also start from a place, a kind of dancey place out there. For me, I love hip-hop beats. So that was a starting point for me. Then I also love organic songs as well. It evokes a lot of emotion. .Of course pop music is a big influence so when you put the clear pop melodies against that, you know, that’s what’s really inspiring me now. I call it “hip-pop.” That’s the term that I’m coining. Yes, I have a rapper in my song, but certainly that’s not, I’m not trying to be a hip-hop artist.

No comments:

Post a Comment