We introduce to you rising Filipino-Black alt-star Jelani Aryeh.
One of the most talked about young alt pop-rock stars everywhere from Rolling Stone to NME, the 23 year old genre-transcending artist has garnered over 20 million streams with hit “Stella Brown” and “Marigold”. Jelani is back with his latest release, the upcoming The Sweater Club, dropping June 14.
Jelani welcome to OLC! So can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your musical journey began?
Thank you for having me ! I’m a 24 year old afro – Filipino creative based in San Diego California. I’d say my musical journey started around 4 years old when my uncle lived with us. My family had a home studio built for him and I always sat in there and watched him rap. He let me record my first song which was a freestyle called scooter ride. After that football kind of took up my life until junior of high school when I hurt my hip flexor. I was bored and didn’t know what to do with myself and randomly decided to form a music collective over reddit in 2017. I really didn’t have any musical experience but met my friend Jack Kolbe, who had just started making beats in fruity loops himself, began adding guitar to them for me to record over. We ended up making the song where we go which the blog pigeons and planes luckily chose to cover! I think that’s what kickstarted my career 🙂
Who inspired you to want to be a musician?
I think different members of my family made a collective impact. My dad’s little brother who I mentioned earlier. I loved watching him rap in coffee shops near our house. My lolo (grandpa in tagalog) and I always sang karaoke together – I think that gave me the confidence to sing in front of others. I’d also have to add my Uncle Lenny who worked in radio for the longest time. He’d bring me with him to concerts and put me on to new music. also, our family was always making home videos and it was uncle Lenny who put me in front of the camera every time.
Your upcoming release, *The Sweater Club*, drops soon. Can you tell us a bit about the themes and inspirations behind this project?
I feel like it’s always the same themes just different stories – a desire to hold onto innocence and maintaining a childlike wonder. Navigating relationships or the lack thereof. And yearning for something spiritual outside and within myself. I think all of that is filtered through the last few years of me living in Los Angeles.
Your new single “Hang On” released today, How does this track differ from or build upon your previous work?
Hang on is a sister song to I’m in love. It’s like the sister that presents as super happy and everything’s good on the surface but has some dark shit underneath.
As an Afro-Filipino indie artist, how do your cultural backgrounds influence your music and creative process?
Being Filipino and Black has played a massive role in how I how I approach art and creative spaces. Filipinos are generally very open, passionate and accepting people. We’re family/community-oriented and openly welcome others into our circles – I’ve realized I consume music in the same way, gathering gems from a wide variety of genres.
You’ve previously described yourself as getting too excited too fast in relationships, and attributing it to your Aries moon. How do astrology and 7. your personal traits play into your songwriting?
Well I don’t know too much about my rising but someone said cap rising is daddy energy which sounds pimped out to me. I think my Aries moon gets me excited to start a project or anything but that flame dies out very fast. My Taurus sun helps me see it through though but in a very slow manner. I’m also very stubborn and move at my own pace which is not good when deadlines are in the picture. Otherwise you would’ve had this album a year ago!
What are you most excited for your fans to experience with *The Sweater Club*, and what do you hope they take away from your music?
I hope more than anything they feel like they can hear and see themselves in it. Maybe feel like I’m a long lost pal or something. I am!
Email:neill@outloudculture.com
Socials: @neillfrazer
