AIDA is a Montréal based singer/songwriter originally from Paris (France). Introducing her debut EP “My Retrospective”, a sound full of funk, house and pop with a pinch of soul. follow at: IG: @aidasolive, twitter: @aidasolive, FB: @aidasolive, soundcloud: @aidasolive.
Exposed Vocals: How did you hear about Exposed Vocals? What made you decide to sign up?
AIDA: I heard about exposed vocals on twitter. I decided to sign up as I belive that exposed vocals is giving a chance to independent artists to gain exposure. Signing up is my way of thanking them.
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
AIDA: I am born in Paris (France). I started singing early around 8 I’d say. I realized that I had some kind of talent and I wanted share it with the people around me. I remember doing a show in elementary school to celebrate to end of the school year. I performed a Brandy song. I simply remember loving the stress before heading up on stage, loving the drive that pushes you to go forth with your performance, loving the reaction of the crowd and their participation. I really just loved the whole experience and was eager to get chances to experience that moment again I was eager to live and relive that experience and so pursue a career in music. My mom is my biggest influence. She is a strong, driven, ambitious and independent woman. Those traits and because have inspired me to pursue my dream into this business. She is also a huge music listener and is definitely the one who have introduced me to the funk/house genre music, which are the influences found in my music.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
AIDA: I searched for a stage name very hard. I remember asking the people who knew me what would be a name representative of myself as an artist. My mom told me to just use my real name : aida. I thought the idea was kind of lame at first as I believed that my name used as an artist name would have been boring to the people who knew me and called me by that name erveryday. I thought it wasn’t artistic enought too. But, I ended following her advice. My stage name is my real name written in capital letters : AIDA. Thinking back to when I refused to used that name is pretty funny cause now I feel like the name is just perfect. It is short, easy to remember, easy to google J and, it is an uncommon name in everyday’s life and it is an uncommon name in the industry as well.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
AIDA: Online music sharing is all I do right now. As an independent and unknown artist I don’t think my music needs to be sold right now. I believe that I need people to get to know me first and to follow me through social media before they buy my music.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
AIDA: My advice would be to: belive in your art, craft if, grind and network, but most of all DO NOT get discouraged by how long it might take or by some of the people you might encounter…
Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?
AIDA: All the time, I sometimes make mistakes with my lyrics or forget to breath while singing. To handle it, I just continue the performance and pretend like nothing happened. I practise at home in front of a mirror, and work on my breathing by doing warm up excercises either at home and down the street while walkng.
Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?
AIDA: I don’t tour yet…
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
AIDA: On one hand, I like to listen to the beats sent my way several times to kind of impregnate myself with the sounds playing, just kind of get a sense of the base of the instrumental. On the other hand, once I have listen to the instrumental so much so that it gets stuck in my head, I try to awaken lost or hidden everyday life experiences that have touched me, questioning and feelings and try to turned these into words.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
AIDA: I use my facebook artist page, soudncoud, instagram, twitter and youtube. https://soundcloud.com/aidasolive , https://www.instagram.com/aidasolive/ , https://www.facebook.com/aidasolive/?ref=hl , https://twitter.com/AidaSoLive, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXOV262GIP8.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
AIDA: I would apply to festivals and travel to those places to perfom. I would finance more music videos and i’d maybe get a team to work on my social media network.
Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?
AIDA: I record at my producers : Mastodoids production place. It has the necessary equipment and it’s been perfect for what I have been working on. We would definitely want to upgrade eventually.
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
AIDA: I use twitter and send messages to my followers, I talk to the people around me about my music so word of mouth, I try to get blog reviews.
Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?
AIDA: I’d redo the infamous « rhythm nation » dance along with Janet Jackson at any venue…
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
AIDA: I am planning to release my 1st ep « My Retrospective » for 2016. I have a new video coming out soon, and have my second and third ep on the making.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
AIDA: i’d would want to try to make a career as a couple’s therapist or an A&R…
Exposed Vocals: Do you remember buying your first album? Who was it? What was going through your head?
AIDA: My first album was offered to me by my mother. She actually bougth me two albums, for my 10th birthday I believe. Its was « vision of love » by Mariah Carey and « once again » by John Legend. I was very excited I played those albums on and on. I liked the John Legend more because it had the lyrics that came with it, I could sing along.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
AIDA: I got to work during the day and work on my music at night mainly. So studio session and shows take place at night. Songwriting and netwworking (thanks to smarphones) can be done at anytime and anywhere.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
AIDA: the launch of my 1st ep!