We recently connected with Aasha Francis and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Aasha, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My latest project “Signs of Life” was created during the COVID-19 pandemic and my main producer/best friend was hospitalized for 8 days. It was such a scary time where so many people where falling ill and dying it halted the progress of the EP and the future of the project was unknown. Each song is rooted in a gospel truth from the bible but also the traditions of gospel both sonically and lyric-wise infused with contemporary flair. I wanted to create something that payed homage to my background and church roots but also brought hope and healing in the midst of the pandemic. The project was more for me and my friends first then to the public, we were healing ourselves through this music too.

Aasha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started like most artists/musicians in the church. When you’re a Pastor’s kid like me, you do everything in the church from teaching Sunday School, to curating black history month programs, and playing the organ/singing. My family sings and is very musical so I inherently picked it up from them. I grew up playing the piano, organ, and drums so those were instruments I’m familiar with. I tapped into songwriting in my middle school years through writing poetry, short stories, poems, and songs in my composition book for English class, it became a wonderful way for me to escape reality and create my own world through what I was writing. I think something unique about me is being from Chicago that doesn’t necessarily have a musical identity/sound, because I’m from the Midwest, we grab sounds from all over and mesh it together so someone couldn’t necessarily pinpoint what region we’re from. Chicago is arguably the place where gospel music was forged so they could attribute that to us but aside from that, our sound is kind of hard to nail down. I think Chicago artists have so much range and depth to our style.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Really step outside the social media sphere and buy, consume, and spread the art/music around. I think everyone including consumers, need to take a break from social media often and just interact with music, art, and the world. Also buying artist merchandise can go along way and going to their shows to experience them live really makes a difference.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I really want people to buy into the story that I’m telling and be pulled into my creative world. I feel what drives my musical journey is the love for music, whether I do it on a major/minor scale, I’ll always make music because I love it so much. So may distractions: social media, comparison, money, time, resources can pull an artist away from doing what you love to do but I’m committed to pushing through those hurdles to create what brings me so much joy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aashamarie.com
• Instagram: aasha.marie
• Youtube: Aasha Marie Music

Image Credits
Signs of Life EP cover by Aasha Marie, Produced by Runtrell Skinner and Terrance Holmes, All Songs written & arranged by Aasha Marie