We recently connected with ASHER YELO and have shared our conversation below.
ASHER, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I started producing when I was 11 years old on GarageBand simply because I found such joy in creating sonic landscapes and worlds I could dive into. I picked up writing at 14 and singing (without puberty and voice cracks) at 16. At this point, music had become more than a hobby for me, and I couldn’t really see myself doing anything else. But I needed clarity on where I actually stood skill-wise since I didn’t have peers with the same interest. So during the summer going in to my junior year at Oaks Christian, I got accepted to attend the Electronic Music Institute at NYU, which in and of itself was incredibly encouraging, to challenge myself and expand my mind collaboratively with music. Very quickly however, I realized I had already been sharpening and developing a lot of the skills being taught at the Institute by just creating myself. So after completing the program, I committed to NOT going to college (which was pretty unheard of at my High School since it was a college prep school) and going straight into the music industry! This was a very exciting decision for me up until the pandemic hit right in the middle of my senior year… But nonetheless, it was truly a blessing in disguise for so many reasons. And I’m glad I stuck to my word and am continuing to discover myself and the value I want to bring to the music industry.
ASHER, 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?
My initial doorway into the music industry was when I met Alyssa Lein Bryant (who was Vice President at Quincy Jones Productions at the time and is now my manager) at a Masterclass being put on at my school for kids aspiring to work in the music industry. Most Masterclasses you go to, I’m sure most of you can attest to this, are just a lot of common sense, vapid, generic information and phrases like “just be yourself”, “if you manifest it, it’ll happen”, “blah blah blah”. When it comes to business and industry, I am very pragmatic, and Alyssa was touching on so many amazing, valuable points about how to practically cultivate relationships, the importance of character, and later finding out she was a person of faith as well! We chatted after her talk and set up a meeting a month later. I told her about myself and my desire to create music for people like me who have felt misunderstood, undervalued, and unappreciated in so many aspects; how my songs and my life point towards the importance of identity and unwavering character in a turbulent, volatile, and dangerous culture, especially for teenagers and young adults. She hadn’t even heard a single song of mine when I was explaining this to her (I could have been absolutely atrocious haha), and she wanted to help me in any capacity she could. And after I graduated, she signed me to management under the Quincy Jones Productions umbrella!
To expand further on my mission as an artist and person, I’ll give a bit of context as to why these points are so important to me. I was born in Brighton, England and my parents felt called to move to LA when I was 6 years old. The move took a tremendous toll on me and I was deeply struggling to acclimate to the culture of the U.S. From this point on, I have always felt bizarre and like an alien for so many reasons; being Nigerian and English, being an immigrant, having lived in 5 different continents, being a creative, having the family I do, etc. Simply put, if I did not work towards finding who I am and finding a love for growth in every aspect, I simply would not have survived my circumstances mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. I know that there are sooo many people out there who are lost, alone, broken, and stuck, and I deeply empathize with that experience. So my hope as someone who is continually met with isolation and hardship is that my ability to express these emotions and situations will give voice to things people have been facing in the dark. I’m proud of the man I’m becoming and am continuously sharpening my skills to be able to bring music and experiences that bring people up and ultimately for me to bring value to their journey in life.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
To be fully transparent, and I speak on behalf of most independent artists, we deeply appreciate genuine engagement on social media platforms and DSPs (streaming platforms). In this era of the music industry, it is all a numbers game to these platforms and companies, which means us creatives are solely dependent on how much people are willing to like, comment, share, follow, engage, pre-save, and add a song to their playlists (the more playlists the better). And yes, those are a lot of touch points. But, to put things into perspective, social media and DSPs are not entertainment companies: they are tech companies that happen to host creative media. So, since these are the places that consumers go to do pretty much everything in this modern age (i.e. discover music and products, stay up to date with trends, news, family, friends, etc.), we as creators use these tools to build a sustainable brand and business. What’s amazing is we have the blessing to cut the middle man and go straight to the consumer, which has never been the case before social media. However, I think naturally it can be hard to understand just how much power the audience has in participating in an artist’s growth and development. All that to say, if you get the chance and hear a song you like, or stumble upon an artist you think is doing something dope, like the post, comment anything at all, give them a follow and add their music to some of your playlists. It goes a loooooong way!
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I am always looking for collaborators, but since I produce, write, and record most of my music, it is quite the in-depth process for me to churn out songs. For those who may not know what that means exactly, I make the instrumental (keys, drums, synths… all the musical stuff), map out melodies that help compliment the structure of the song (verses, pre-chorus, chorus, sometimes a bridge), write lyrics that cater well to the vision and feel of the song, record the leads and background vocals, arrange them in a way that keeps the listener engaged and attentive, and then go back into all these different parts of the song and refine them in a way that sounds professional and up to par. Usually these roles are spread out to designated people who are collaborating on a project, song, album, EP, etc., but I have cultivated all of these skills over the past 10 years to get to this point. Do I recommend it? Not necessarily. It’s a lot of work—hence why I’m still trying to find like-minded creatives to collaborate with, because collaboration is such an amazing practice, especially in the music space. Is it worth it? Yes. Due to the fact that I am an all-around creative, I can see and hear everything when it comes to making songs, and when I have a story to tell, I know how to tell it to the best of my ability, and that is priceless. Most of this can be attributed to my strong desire for personal growth, self-awareness, understanding of the world and love for God, and then the rest is persistence and work ethic. This is what it takes for many of us in the music industry just to even create the music you love and enjoy, let alone deal with social media promo, the politics of the industry, distribution, marketing and strategy, creating visuals around the songs, funding tours, etc. So again, if you get a chance to support artists along their journey, please do!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://asheryelo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asheryelo?igsh=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@asheryelo?si=voktcn0KhDttPrZQ
Image Credits
Kane Borchert, Nico Marks and Adam Hart