And Now: ERYN ALLEN KANE
Three months before the November release of her debut EP Aviary - Act 1 I had not heard of Eryn Allen Kane. But one day when I took an improptu trip to our Essence.com Entertainment Editor's office to trade thoughts on up and coming artists she played what was at the time Eryn's only track on Sound Cloud for me. Instantly, I was in awe of the powerful voice pouring from the iMac speakers. I wanted more, but sadly I had to settle for listening to "Have Mercy" on repeat.
About a week later I got an email in my inbox, subject line: Eryn Allen Kane Interview. "Can you interview Eryn today?" I was a little stunned. I was used to prepping for interviews for a few days but I figured it was an opportunity to do what I love that I couldn't pass up. I quickly replied "sure". I proceeded to mark my calendar with a note 15 minutes before the time that I was set to get on the line with her that simply read "Research Eryn" then got back to work at the tasks that actually pay my bills.
We both dialed in to my conference call line and I found Eryn to be semi-shy at first, extremely polite, and overtime quite talkative. It turned out the be one of my best interviews yet. Getting someone who's a talker yet thorough on the line is truly a writer's dream, it makes for the best stories. I learned three very interesting facts about the songstress:
1. After graduating college she uprooted to Australia to live with her father where she began recording herself. With her voice and a few objects for precussion she created all of the instrumental sounds, wrote the lyrics and, needless to say, sang every word flawlessly.
2. Prince is her mentor. Yes, that Prince. She shared the story about how he discovered her first song ever released to the world and tweeted her sharing his love for the track. He kept her on his radar and in due time reached out for a collaboration for a track he did to address the 2015 Baltimore Riots. While working with him he advised her to keep making the music she's making, to stay authentic, and let her know that her generation will be the one to break the cycle the ill practices the music industry is pressing upon artists.
3. Chance The Rapper is her homie, and she's worked with him (and his artsy circle of comrades) musically for years. They both have roots in Chicago and unbeknost to most of us it's her melodic voice gracing the background on a lot of his music. Most recently and notably are all of her featured across the entire Donnie Trumpet EP Surf, including my favorite: Go.
Check out the full story here.
And now, her EP is out and she's had her track "Piano Song" featured in the musically perfected TV drama Being Mary Jane. It's only up from here Eryn.
