EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: 5 Minutes With Rising Star Aya Anne

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: 5 Minutes With Rising Star Aya Anne

Aya Anne is the pint-sized,singer-songwriter making waves of some serious height since signing to leading UK label, Perfect Havoc in 2021.

While she’s now focusing on releasing original material, she has some key features in her armoury with Simon Field, Parx and Kokiri, always delivery velvet-likes tones on carefully penned lyrics.

To mark the release of her latest single, ‘Till Death Do We Party’ with the celebrated Swede, Oliver Nelson and Perfect Havoc label boss, Adam Griffin, Aya found time for a quickfire Q&A to discuss growing up on Lady Gaga, her exciting techno project, and what an Aya Anne DJ set sounds like.

Hi Aya, thanks for speaking with us. Where are you in the world right now?

Right now, I’m in London, after getting back from a busy week over at ADE!

Congrats on the release of Till Death Do We Party. Did the three of you have fun recording it?

This was actually my first ever session. I had the best time making it with everyone involved. Especially the part where we were all chanting the hook round the mic.

Do you have a formula for writing lyrics or is your process more fluid than that?

I usually start with a concept/title when writing lyrics to set a solid starting point which allows for quicker lyric writing.

Tell us how you got into music. We know you used to upload videos to YouTube as a child, but did you go onto study production and performance or are you self-taught?

I am entirely self-taught. I went to quite a musical school, so I was always involved but I never took it seriously until two years ago when I moved to London.

Have you had a mentor along the way that you feel you couldn’t have done this without?

I haven’t, but luckily, we have YouTube. My songwriting influencers have online video and interviews that I watch and learn from.

From your catalogue of work so far, do you have a track that you’re most proud of?

Definitely! That particular one is unreleased, but out of my released records I actually have always loved ‘Till Death Do We Party’ since the day we made it.

We hear we do you a lot of writing sessions and have recently been working with S1, ESSEL, Ben Pearce, Xoro, Tobtok and Ryan Arnold. Have any of those records been signed for release?

It’s been amazing to write with these talents. We’ll be scheduling release dates for a couple of the above,soon.

Let’s chat about performance. We know Aya Anne mainly as a recording artist, but that you’re a DJ too. What does an Aya Anne DJ set sound like? And do you have any shows lined up?

I actually love rave/donk/trance so that’s what I’m playing at the moment. I’ll have some shows in the pipeline for 2024 so watch this space!

What sort of music did you grow up listening to? Did you grow up in a musical household?

Yes, my family is all very musical, we’re a bunch of singers and writers. I loved Lady Gaga as a kid – I listened to her album on repeat.

What’s next for Aya Anne – is your focus more on writing and features or can we expect a solo production debut sometime soon?

I’m doing alot of writing and loving it. I’ve been busy with sessions but I’m focusing on getting some self-releases out. I’m also launching a techno alias under the name SHADXWGIRL in 2024; I’m very excited about this project.

Oliver Nelson x Adam Griffin ‘Till Death Do We Party (Feat. Aya Anne)’ is out now on Perfect Havoc.

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Connect with Aya Anne

Instagram | Spotify