R&B singer, Angel caught my attention when I first heard her song I Swear and I liked it so much I sought her out on Twitter. After some back and forth interaction via the twittershpere, we decided that we had to get together and talk music and a possible collaboration with EMCEE. As it turned out, she ended up taking an opportunity that lead her to be in Miami for a few weeks and while she was here we linked up, talked about her EP, Candid, and discussed everything from past relationships, to what music does for her. Keep reading to find out more about the songstress that I think is going to blow, and check out her first music video for Follow, released exclusively with EMCEE below.
Angel’s voice is like butter–it’s smooth and floats around the song effortlessly even though the way she harmonizes is complex. When I met her, I immediately felt that her personality was just as warm and inviting as her music; she had this openness about her and we just clicked. The 20 year old is originally from Maryland but now lives in LA where she is going to school for Dance, something she’s done all of her life, and starting to focus on her music career which is her passion. When Iasked her what writing music does for her she explained, “the reason i’m writing is because i’m feeling something I can’t express any other way. Sometimes I can’t talk to anyone about shit, I have to end up writing it down. Writing can be a draining thing though because you have to find a way to say it so that people will understand what you’re trying to say.” She went on to talk about her parents who are very traditional and how she and her siblings were all expected to “fall in line” so to speak, and go down the path they were expected to. When talking about breaking the mold and finding her own independence, she said, “growing up I had really protective parents, and my siblings would always just do everything they said but I was always the one to step up and disagree with my parents if I disagreed with them, like I am my own person and they need to understand that. They need to hear that i’m different, I have my own feelings and experiences. I’m not a robot to be programmed. It’s not really your life to live, support me if you’re gonna support me or don’t if you don’t.”
She definitely finds her independence through the stories she tells throughout Candid. In the song that caught my attention, I Swear, she draws from her own experiences with a past relationship to tell a story. She starts out in the beginning being so focused on this person she’s in love with and talks about how down she is for him. But by the end of the song, she’s been wronged so many times by him that she gets the courage to do better for herself and leave him, feeling stronger in the end. She explained to me that she wants to use her music to help younger girls learn what they are capable of. She says, “I need little girls who know me to listen to I Swear and feel it and do the same thing, learn from me, moving on from a guy who wasn’t treating me right and know that they can be independent and find someone that makes them feel worth it.”
Angel also broke down what’s going on in the song in her video below. “In the song Follow, it’s about somebody going through emotional problems. They express them to you, but when you propose things to help them feel better, nothing works. Sometimes all people need is for someone to just be there and cuddle up and be able to cry to them. But when you let someone do that, you take on the burden of this other person’s emotions, who won’t even take your help, and suddenly you’re headspace its taken up with their issues on top of your own.” She depicts this in her video, and even ties in her dance skills to express her emotion in the song. Press play on the video below to take a peek inside Angel’s artistic vision and her take on dealing with someone else’s burdens.
While we chatted a lot of real-life stuff, like relationships and growth, I did also ask Angel who inspires her in the industry and what artists she personally listens to: “I mostly listen to Frank Ocean, SYD, Tyler The Creator. As far as R&B goes, I fuck with SZA and H.E.R, I like what both of them are doing in R&B. I also listen to underground rap from the DMV area since i’m from there and like to support local artists like Will the Rapper and Lightshow. When it comes to mainstream rap I love Lil Yachty, and Migos.” Getting to know an artist in the beginning and hear them in the process of finding themselves and where they fit in the music industry is always really exciting, and I definitely think we will hear big things from Angel in the future. Check out here EP, Candid, on SoundCloud here: https://soundcloud.com/angelknaomi/sets/candid.
