Finding inspiration in the nostalgia of 90s R&B, New York native LAYA is making her mark, incorporating old formulas with new flavor. We spoke with the blossoming artist about her music and career goals.
For your song Sailor Moon, you shot, directed, and edited the visuals, on top of doing your own hair, makeup, and wardrobe. Can you talk a little bit about your process and how you managed all of that?
Well, this was during the quarantine of 2020, and I was stuck in the house like everyone else. I bought a green screen and lighting kit off amazon, and I used my phone. I had an iPhone 7 at the time. I got a new phone now, but I had an iPhone 7. I taught myself how to edit special effects via YouTube and I was like “I’m just going to go for it. I’m just going to do it”! I shot the footage. I just got dressed in my house, did my own hair, and my own makeup, and used my own clothes. I bought a sailor moon costume and just went for it. This was the first video that I created like this, so I was winging it, but also learning and experimenting at the same time. It was interesting. I learned how to make everything work, even in the sense of the sailor moon costume.
At the time I could only afford to buy one costume, so if there’s a scene where I’m playing all the different sailor guardians and I was wearing the same costume but then I digitally changing the colors for each shot. It was cool. It was a learning curve, but I knew where I wanted to take it and I just used everything that I had or anything that I could get my hands on to make it work.
I think a lot of people can take something from that. I know a lot of people have started new hustles during the pandemic.
Absolutely, I think it puts a fire under your ass, you know? You have to do something and there’s nothing else to do so, it’s like “what am I going to do with my time” and I went full force with it.
As far as directing and editing is that something you can see yourself doing as well or are you solely focused on your career as an artist?
I think it goes hand in hand with my music. It’s something that I believe I’m always going to have a hand in, and I’ll always be involved in. Now that I’m signed to a major label, I’m not independent anymore. I have more help and I’m finding more artists and creatives to elevate my visions and make them bigger and better. I’ll always have a hand in conceptualizing and executing my visions. I think now with my experience of building it from the ground up it’ll always come from me, in some way.
Your song “Brag” bumps. So, what was it like working with Fivio Foreign?
It was dope! It was really an organic thing. My team was just casually hanging out with him, and they happened to play the song. So, the song and the video were already done. I had already finished everything, and they were just playing it for him, they weren’t expecting anything, but he just really liked the record, so he was like you know what, I really want to get on this. So, it kind of just happened like that. We got in the studio. He made his verse. He was really quick about it, very professional. And then when it came time to put him in the video that I had already made, it was interesting. I was living in this tiny NY apartment, and I had just this corner of space with a green screen set up and my phone. We get him to come to my house and he has security guards. There’s this celebrity in my house and I have him performing through my phone. I know in his head he’s like ‘what the hell is this?” like, “what’s going on?” But he was very kind and I’m forever grateful. He was totally patient with me. It worked out great, so working with him was a breeze. I’m very grateful that he decided to hop on the record.
Is there anyone else specifically that you would like to work with in the future?
There are a lot of people I want to work with, but I’ll say one person that I’ve been wanting to work with in like the past year is Tia Carinne. She’s really dope. I’m a really big fan. She’s a rapper but she doesn’t give the general female rapper vibe. She’s a lot more chill and fun, and I just really like her vibe. So, I would love to collaborate with Tia Carinne at some point. But there are a lot of people, but I’ll shout her out.
Where do you get a lot of your inspiration for your music?
I get a lot of my inspiration from 90’s R&B. I’m a huge fan of 90s R&B, so I know a lot of it can be felt in the music that I make because that’s just a lot of my musical diet. That’s a lot of what I listen to. So, I think there’s just something that’s just funky and groovy about that point in time in music and in R&B especially. it wasn’t just sad, heartbroken, or I want to cry kind of music. Even though that was in there, there was a lot of R&B that slapped and a lot of joints that you could play in the club. And that’s what I miss about R&B so a lot of that inspires me in the music that I make. I like to bring that bop and that upbeat feeling to R&B. Even if it’s a midtempo, I want it to slap. I’m inspired by that whole period of R&B.
With that being said, are there any artists specifically that you’re inspired by during that era?
Oh definitely! I’m inspired by Missy Elliott, Brandy, Destiny Child, Jagged Edge, 112, Mya, and Aaliyah. I would say those in particular because they all had slow jams, but they all had joints that slapped. They had bops!
A lot of people feel a certain way about their favorite classics being touched so how did you feel taking on Missy’s sample in “Crazy Down”?
The beat originally had the sample from missy Elliott’s song, “Crazy Feelings” featuring Beyonce and then I took an interpolation of Brandy’s “I Wanna Be Down” lyrics and used that in the lyrics. It’s this fusion of Missy Elliot featuring Beyonce with brandy lyrics. It’s a little bit of all of them. Taking that on could be some pressure, could be nerve-wracking and a little scary, but it just naturally happened so well. It organically came together. It felt right. There was nothing to be scared of. I think I was more intimidated by the cover that I did for Amazon, of Missy Elliot’s, “Sock It To Me”. I was more nervous about that because that was an entire cover of her original. That was a little more nerve-wracking where I was like “Oh my God! I hope this is good!” But crazy down just organically came out that way. I love when things just happen organically, so it felt really good. I think that’s why people like it because it feels good more than anything else.
For the people that aren’t familiar with your work, what would you like the listeners to know about you and your music?
I want them to know my music slaps. I want them to know that there are some bops! I intend to never create anything boring or for there to never be a dull moment. I’m proud when hearing a lot of my fans tell me that they go through my project without really skipping records, that they can just ride through it. I would tell them it’s a ride. It’s a really boppy ride, so you gotta buckle up!
For the rest of 2022, what can we look forward to from you?
Well, for this year I’ll definitely be doing a lot more performances. There might be a tour. I will be doing a lot of traveling, and doing a lot of in-person stuff, so people will definitely get to see me! And before the year is over, I’ll definitely be dropping another project. I’m excited about that! There will be a lot more music and a lot more content, more videos, more shows especially. I just did my first show a couple of days ago since the project, “Umm Hello” dropped. It was incredible! It was so much fun, and everybody had a blast. I had a blast really seeing people. I’m excited this year to just get around and see everybody! Definitely expect all of that from me this year!
You can find announcements on upcoming records and events on all social media with the handle Layaface.
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