I really appreciate a good interview! I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way. There is certainly a skill involved in conducting an effective interview. Of course, the interview is conducted in order to help an audience understand the feelings and ideas of the subject. I’ve been on both sides of the interview, and I understand the work in not only asking the right questions, but also doing the research and gaining the knowledge of which questions to ask. However, there is a skill involved in knowing what to say when being interviewed. This week we will look at that side of the interview as we feature young, talented artist Ari Lennox.
Before I start with the introduction of Ari Lennox, and why I chose to feature her this week, I would like to continue my conversation about the interview itself.
In the early 1980’s, I remember working with a company to promote a young artist. In a meeting with the VP she explained the importance of the interview for a young artist. There was a need to prepare the artist to know what to say, and more importantly not to say during the interview. She went on to explain the comprehensive promotional services of her company. The goal of her company was to present the artist to the general public, and help the artist present an image that fans would like. Remember, all of this was long before social media. Print media, radio and broadcast television were the only avenues for promotion. Therefore, what an artist says, how they dress and even little things like gestures and voice inflections all matter when promoting an artist. Yes, there truly is an art in being interviewed.
All of this leads us to our featured artist for this week, Ari Lennox. She is an extremely talented singer/songwriter who has broken out and ready for a big career. She does present an intriguing story and interviews well. In fact, that’s how I was introduced to her, by way of a radio/video interview. For now, let’s go back to her story.
Courtney Shanade Salter, better known by her stage name Ari Lennox, is a 27 year-old American singer and songwriter from Washington, D.C. She is now signed to J. Cole’s record label, Dreamville Records. As with so many singers of today, Ari Lennox started by singing covers of well-known songs. Not unusual at all. Ari Lennox names Ella Fitzgerald, Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Bilal, Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, Lauryn Hill, and Minnie Riperton as her biggest influences. Lennox would need to take in a couple of history lessons to know much about some of those names on her list. Nevertheless, Ari Lennox does seem like a music historian when you hear her in interviews. The Gateway described Ari Lennox’s sound as “successfully blends individual slices of classic Motown, modern R&B, and new-age soul into one seamless product.” That should be of interest to many of you musical purist out there.
The biggest break in young Ari Lennox’ career had to be her introduction to rapper J Cole. In late 2015, it was announced that she, as well as Carolina rapper Lute, was signed to Dreamville Records. She made an appearance on the collaborative album Revenge of the Dreamers II, on the track “Backseat” with Cozz. On October 21, 2016, she released her début EP titled Pho. The critical acclaim garnered from this work is what fueled the rise of Ari Lennox. Stereo Champions gave the extended play a 9 out of 10 saying “Overall, this is a great EP, definitely one I’ll hold on to forever as it’s definitely some of her best work. I’m sure this year will also yield big results for Ms. Lennox as she’s just getting started. Hopefully, if she’s reading this she knows we appreciate her music and Washington, DC is watching and cheering her on all the way to the top.” I’m sure DC will always watch and cheer every step of her career.
As I mentioned before, my main introduction to Ari Lennox came by way of an interview on radio station Hot 97 (97.3 in New York). I learned a lot about the young artist, and I gained insight into why she creates her brand of music. Her EP Pho is one of those works that will possibly define Ari Lennox for the rest of her career. I’m not saying she will not evolve and grow as an artist, but it is so good it will forever be a reference point.
When she started working with Dreamville Records, there were many questions in her mind about what would happen. Those questions were soon answered. Lennox explained, “My music had been circling throughout Dreamville, and they wanted me to fly out to work with him on some references for Rihanna. But they wound up being my records cause I’m just not really a songwriter for other artists. It’s hard for me cause I’m always writing personal s**t. It’s just hard to do that.”
She went on about J Cole and other thoughts early on in her Billboard interview, “I didn’t really think Cole was into me. He was cool, but he was talking about Earthgang the whole time. ‘Cause Earthgang, is probably one of the most brilliant groups out, so I was definitely honored to be learning about them through Cole, but I was jealous. I was like, ‘Damn, he loves them! I wish he would love me like that. Damn the shade.’ But it wasn’t like that all, Cole is just hard to read sometimes.”
In our time the interview styles have changed quite a bit from what they were in the past. Most of the interviews were very polished with well thought out answers, hardly any foul language and nothing too personal. Today, the artist tends to be extremely honest in answering questions, and the interviewer does not shy away from personal questions. That’s what I noticed about Ari Lennox in her interview. The atmosphere was quite relaxed and it allowed her to be herself. Which is good, because we really want to know her.
Yes, there is an art to interviewing a person effectively. What are you trying to learn about the artist? How do they express themselves? All important things to know going into the interview. There is also an art when it comes to being interviewed. It seems like Ari Lennox understands that well.