We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aida Ade a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Aida, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on would have to be my latest EP, “The Unbreakable Aida Ade”.

I started seriously pursuing vocal music in 2017 with my first real project, “Blue”. It was inspired by so many beautiful people, one of them being an aunt who passed days before the project was released. After her passing, I felt my musical self fading away and, after a few years of dealing with depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, I forced myself to create again. I felt so lost without music. Thus, the project “Love, Aida” was released in 2021. Although I love that project, I still felt lost. It felt like I was singing someone else’s songs. I knew I wasn’t ready but, I still tried to release music, throwing out a single every now an then.

One day, I was listening to a beat online and the words “hold on, you might bend but, you won’t break” started ringing in my mind. I started singing and playing around with those words and I knew that something bigger was happening. This was the first time sing 2017 that I really could feel my music. Within 20 minutes, I had written and recorded the song “Unbreakable”. It felt like my aunt talking to me through the music. When I sat and listened back to what I’d created, I cried. I felt like me again. I could physically feel pressure being released. After creating that song, four more came to me.

“The Unbreakable Aida Ade” is my most meaningful project because it reminded me of what a love for creation and music feels like; it reminded me that nothing can stop this musical journey because it is who I am and will always be a part of me.

Aida, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am Aida Ade and I am a singer/songwriter/producer/instrumentalist/teacher/therapist born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. I have been a musician since around six years old when I first realized I could sing after singing as my mother’s backup on whatever Chaka Khan or Diana Ross song that she loved in a moment. I come from a long line of southern musicians who mainly played and studied jazz; however, I found love in classical instruments, specifically the viola. Growing up in the city with an older brother and older cousins gave me a love for hip hop and R&B. Music, for me, was what kept my family and community bound. My work combines the soul & jazzy sounds of my ancestry, the classical sounds of my favorite instrument, and the hip hop and R&B of my childhood to create an eclectic, therapeutic musical sound and experience.

For me, creation is a sacred process. When I create, I use my guitar to create the vibe or feel of the song. As a therapist who uses music in my practice, I understand the relationship between music and human experience. This knowledge allows me to give space for the chord progressions to spark an emotion. Once the chords and emotion are solidified, I begin to sing about my experience with the emotion without writing anything down. For me, whatever is meant to be on the song will stick, whether I write it or not. After recording the words that feel right, I start layering other instruments. First, I add viola for the classical, smooth layer. Then, I add other instruments like bass, drums, and piano. My music heavily influences my therapy practice and how I work with clients and my life experiences are the inspiration behind every creation and move I’ve made.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

In my view, society can best support artists, creatives, and a thriving creative community by actively engaging with creatives and supporting the arts in kids and young people.

As a kid, I saw the messaging about the arts: it’s cool but, it’s not practical. If we, as a society, would lend more voices to the seriousness of the arts and drive decision-makers to include the arts in education more robustly, the view of artists can see change. For example, in city schools, band and orchestra aren’t offered in most of the elementary schools. Kids don’t get a chance to be a part of art clubs or network with other artists unless they’re really at a specialized school. If the community were more actively engaged in the arts, they would understand how detrimental that even the lack of access to the arts really is for our community. We need people actively engaged who can speak up about the beauty and benefits of arts programs and arts support throughout the community.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is the amount of pure fun I’m allowed to have in my day-to-day life. I genuinely enjoy the arts and love the fact that I am allowed to be creative all day long. As a therapist, I use the arts to work with my people and, as a singer and musician, I get to work with myself. People sometimes undervalue fun but, for me, fun means enjoyment; enjoyment means feeling fulfilled; feeling fulfilled means being able to give back to my community. There is a saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup” meaning, we can’t give anything when we have nothing. Being an artist fills my cup and allows me to pour into others – and it all starts with the genuine fun I have in this artist role. To have a life surrounded by creativity has been purely joyful. I am indescribably grateful for the fun I am able to have as a creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.AidaAde.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aida__ade/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aidasings314/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AidaAde
• Other: https://linkr.bio/aidaade

Image Credits
Smiling in overalls – Dustin Davis Dark Room – Cyrus Poitier