Exposed Vocals just caught an exclusive interview with ELYA “talks upcoming EP ‘Crayons”

Exposed Vocals: So tell us what your story is, where did you grow up?

I grew up in the Netherlands, in a small town called ‘Baarn’. Picture a polder landscape with a bunch of cows and this in combination with a surplus of posh people.
I discovered my passion for songwriting before I discovered my passion for singing. I met a professional songwriter at a birthday party of a mutual friend at the age of 15.
After writing a couple of songs together I couldn’t help but feeling total determination: this would be my life purpose. Unfortunately he continued touring so we only wrote 3 songs together before he left the Netherlands. Somehow it triggered a big desire in me within this very short period of time.
I am not really sure why. It was like I discovered who I was more then what I wanted to do.

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?

I am kind of in that same fase right now as well. I’ve got years of experience under my belt, performing in the nightclubs of China’s biggest cities, sang on a couple of Cruise ships, performed on both big festivals and smaller venues- but I haven’t established my own name with my original music just yet.
I’ve chosen to start working as a session musician first to gain experience and to increase my skills.
It has been my main aspiration all along to become a singer-songwriter and it’s the why behind all that I’ve done so far. Redirecting the focus on my own material comes with new challenges, such as the promotion. It may be the toughest nut to crack.

Exposed Vocals: Let’s see what we can do for you. Do you have any other advice for beginning songwriters?

Wisdom comes with failure. In that sense I gained a lot of wisdom to share..
Be patient and gain experience – but learn from my mistake and don’t necessarily wait 10 years until you dare to dive head first into your actual life goals.
Don’t wait until you are 100 percent sure about yourself, you will need to push through doubts no matter how much experience or great songs you’ll have.
It is important to know that everybody needs to push trhough fears in these things, so that you will recognize it and guard yourself so you can push through.
When you’re trying to do the impossible it would be weird if you wouldn’t feel any doubt.

There is an overload of great artists- but people will notice it when you’ve pored a lot of love and thought into your product.
This would be my second advice- Be realistic about your music. Staying hopeful and critical at the same time is not the easiest thing to do either. Show your work to both layman’s and professionals and listen to their responses- don’t be too sensitive when you get the feedback but learn from it.
I believe that success depends on a lot of small and bigger steps and they are all equally important.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

I’ve made loads of mistakes during live performances.  I study pretty intensely on songs before performing them, making sure all the notes are in my muscle memory so that I can manage the songs with conditions like terrible sound or with a lot of nerves. I hate making mistakes while playing live.
Performing on cruise ships was a challenge – since I sometimes had to perform songs that I had just heard for the first time that same day. There would never be a full band rehearsal and a quick rehearsal with only piano was already considered a big luxury. The pressure made me sick to my stomach and I am not amongst those that become better singers when they get too much adrenaline running through their veins. I just don’t possess that kind of super power. People can be so mad at you for making mistakes while they have themselves made the pressure way to high.
Do the best to your ability without taking yourself or your band leader too seriously,
You will fail, and sometimes that is during a live performance. It will suck. You will live. So will the band leader. Hakunamatata. Glad that is over with.

Exposed Vocals: Do you tour? Anything interesting happen on tour that you think our readers would enjoy hearing about?

I have toured a lot- but not with my own music just yet. I’ve had the privilege to see so much of the world because of music. I am aware that I am already very blessed.
I wouldn’t be able to continue it this same way because I’ve always had to compromise and adjust my own persona into this character that was needed for the role.
In China for example, it was expected of me to drink alcoholic beverages with the people sitting at the more expensive tables. This kind of hierarchy and me have never been things that go well together, and I am bored out of my mind by small talk.
It was so out of character that it became very awkward for me to go to work and my days involved around escaping this feeling of being some sort of slave of my own ambition.
Being able to be me while touring would be an absolute different story.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

We’ve been working very hard on EP Crayons, which actually released it’s first song TODAY on 17th of April. So you can go check it out on spotify or Itunes! 🙂
The 4 songs of the EP will be released one by one, starting with the song ‘I’ll cry with you’.
This song is written on Bali with Balinese musicians, amongst which singer Dee Dice.
The final versions of the songs of the EP are recorded in Power sound studio, Amsterdam in the Netherlands with some well known musicians from the Netherlands.
The producers of the EP are Martijn Heijmans (radio 2) and Tico Pierhagen (jazz pianist and composer).

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

I kind of fall in love with Jonathan Mc Reynolds’ work and voice- and maybe also a little bit with his character- so he might be my first choice at the moment…
He is an American gospel musician. I don’t usually listen to gospel but somehow I stumbled upon it and I couldn’t stop listening to it. And he is just so cute.
I also like the Moroccan singer- songwriter Oum for her creativity and authenticity.
I love Gnarls Barkley’s clever lyrics and I think lady gaga’s way of creating a visual concept around the music is also a skill to be admired.

I think loads of artists have something I could learn from, I think I would chose to work with either one of them and if this is amongst the choices, I would love to write a new song with them in a music studio. That would actually be even better, I want them all to myself..

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

I’ve recently looked into a study of bioinformatics. Shortly put this is the administration of the research done by researchers in the lab, and analyzing the results. This research is mainly related to DNA.
I believe that we will gain so much knowledge in the near future, that the future will change drastically because of it. At the same time I fear that human beings are not able to handle the responsibility that comes with this kind of knowledge. If it wasn’t for these moral issues I probably would have started this study by now.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

The EP Crayons with 4 songs and 4 music video’s. There is also a lot more in store: there will be remix versions which is good news for our more mainstream music loving fans.
We will start playing live in the Netherlands soon, and hopefully we will get the chance to do a tour through Europe or maybe even Asia within this next year.

Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?

The EP obviously is my life long well thought out dream, my baby and to have other people nurturing your dreams as if it were their own- that’s such a heart warming thing to witness.
Without the producers of the EP Tico Pierhagen and Martijn Heijmans I could not have made this product. I am very thankful that they’ve sticked with me throughout this whole process, which also took way more time then initially planned. Shout outs to all songwriters involved from around the globe, to my dear friends Alena Akudovich and Sergii Kvitych for their beautiful dance to the song vulnerability, to Fvx artists working on the finalization of the music video’s, to my dear friend Gergana doing my hair and make up for the video shoot- I feel very blessed. I think Crayons contains a lot of love from very crafted, talented people from all over the globe and that is exactly what makes it so valuable. They all have become an inseparable part of EP Crayons. You can see and hear it in all the little details. There is a lot of effort put into this product, that I hope your readers will enjoy it. That it may cheer you up, uplift you so you can ‘go forward now’ to continue working on your dreams, whatever they may be.

Follow Elya:
via her website: www.elyamusic.com
on instagram: www.instagram.com/Elya_music
on facebook: www.facebook.com/thisisElya