We recently connected with Jay Aquarious and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jay, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I have recently released a new EP, my fourth EP entitled ‘The Great Vine’. The reason why this project is important to me is because I dove more into myself to truly highlights my brand as an artist here. Everything within me is various and has magic, magic is power, a show of power is influence. Marvin Gaye ‘The Grape Vine’ helped influence the meaning of this project and I view every song on it as a form of nutrient to influence your life for the better. All you have to do is take a bite.

Jay, 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 got into this industry because I grew a love for making music. As a child, I wanted to paint, draw, sketch, sculpt, but music became my calling by my teenage years.

The type of music that I make is Pop/R&B music that has flares of Hip-Hop, Dance, Rock, one of my friends call it Electrio Trap music. Some songs are very charged and energetic while some are very soft and sensual, some very sassy, and some very soulful.

My musical goal is to enhance the quality of life. When people hear my music, I want it to make them feel good, make them think, make them dance. It can either highten their feelings or take their minds off of the troubles their currently experiencing, giving them something else to focus on. I aim to relieve, heal myself within it, and for that same feeling to reflect to others.

It makes me very proud when someone tells me that I am inspiring them and they do go work themselves. Seeing myself develop as an artist, not holding myself back, challenging myself to do new things and executing them well. That’s what makes me happy. All my projects have themes so I want my audience to see who I evolved from and who I evolve into next.

Although my music is for everyone, I truly do this for my fellow outcasts. The people who never felt like they fit in, or when they do fit in, they stand out so well, they’re thee elephant in the room, the alien in the crawl space, the black sheep. ‘The Great Vine’ is me exploring my weird side and showing you new layers of me.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I first started this journey in 2011, there were not many artists like me out there. Not many black men that did Pop music or R&B music that were openly gay. Some of the openly black gay men I seen were rappers, but that was online. In person, they were even harder to come across. Instead of letting that deter me into becoming someone I’m not, I decided to remain who I was until I met the others like me or see some of them rise to mainstream stardom. What some worried that people wouldnt like about me is what made many people end up loving about me, or inspire to be: whether it was my sexual orientation, my race, or me just being myself. I’m very grateful for artists like Lil’ Nas X and Saucy Santana who make my journey more easier.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

A lot of people who are fans of music, especially those who study the business side, and/or big fans of art in general, have a huge amount of respect for the artists who aren’t signed to labels, who write, produce, arrange their own records, and own their own music. Not every artist understands that importance from the gate. Trying to understand these things as the artist and making sure you are obtaining these goals are more work then a lot of them realize, and can get confusing if you don’t know what you’re doing without the proper guidance. I truly believe we should push more music business and music creation related programs so people of all ages who need at least a crash course on the journey of the perspective of the vocalist.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jayaquarious.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayaquarious
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JayAquarious1
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JayAquarious
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JayAquarious

Image Credits
What Would Teo Say Photography