Check out our exclusive interview with Elle Exxe.
R&B Rhythms is here with Elle Exxe, how’s it going?
It’s going good thanks! You?
Good. Tell me a little bit about how you got your start in music and who are some of your musical influences.
I was the kind of kid that grabbed anything and made noise with it. Chop sticks on butter containers, hands slapping on a piano, singing to myself everywhere. I loved P!nk, Eminem and Queen growing up but I was and still am really open musically. There’s a song and a genre for every emotion and it’s so easy to explore and find new music for every moment, so that’s what I do, I listen to new music every day. The best songs and the artists that influence me the most are those that are unafraid to be honest.
I got my start after leaving home at 16 to chase my dreams in London, I was playing piano-led covers and quirky heart-break ballads when my manager spotted me at a show. But just before we started working together I changed my whole style, I was bored with being stuck at the piano so I switched it up to be free to run wild like my idols P!nk, Tina Turner and Freddie Mercury and I was able to start creating the kind of production that excites me.
You have your new single entitled Catapult. Tell me a little bit about the single and how it came together for you.
I wrote Catapult with Michelle Leonard and Nico Rebscher almost a year ago on an icy day in Camden Town. It was like a blind date, my manager and their publisher thought we’d hit it off and thankfully we did! We all loved the track and I was dying to release it but I’d only just dropped my album and the timing felt wrong so I took my time creating the artwork and video and perfecting the mix until the moment felt right and I put it out into the world!
Do you have any other upcoming videos?
Yeah I’ve been working on some Virtual Reality videos. I think I might sneak one out soon 🙂
Do you have any upcoming projects set to drop?
I’ve got hundreds of unreleased tracks, and buckets of ideas. I’m getting more and more tempted just to throw them all out there but I feel like there’s a real beauty in letting things simmer too. I want to wait a minute before making any announcements about my next project.
What are your current thoughts on the state of the music industry?
I like change and the music industry is evolving and changing at a rate like nothing else. It will always survive because people will never want to live in silence, and people are always going to create because it’s such a simple pleasure…but there is a risk of music becoming diluted and risk-takers being pushed aside. There’s a massive amount of analytics and data available to the gate-keepers in the music-biz, but if they only take a chance on artists that their computer algorithms highlight for them then they’re gonna miss a lot of unique talent. There are a lot of creators out there who feel like their only road to success is by emulating what’s already out there to get onto certain playlists and propping that up with bought plays/views to get industry attention..I’m not down with that. Also – the gatekeepers that choose that mass-made type of music are only money-minded. The greats in both the business-side and creative-side of music have been original, they’ve been risk-takers and they’ve done it out of a pure love and addiction to music (think David Bowie, Prince, Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury). I want to be like the greats, I’m a romantic and I don’t want to make music with a business-mind, I want to make music out of pure passion.
What is currently playing on your playlist musically?
These folk end up on every playlist I make at the moment:
Kendrick Lamar.
N.E.R.D.
Amine
Lizzo
But K.Flay, SZA, Tinashe are up there on my most played this year.
Do you have any shows or tour dates?
To be announced in 2018 🙂
What is your website information?
www.ElleExxe.com
Appreciate the interview, any last words or shout outs?
Thanks for featuring the music video. xx
Elle Exxe
www.ElleExxe.com
www.Facebook.com/ElleExxe
www.Twitter.com/ElleExxe