Emanuel on his latest works—oh it's solid

EMANUEL

A Q+A Interview WITH WRITER OLIVIA JORDAN

PHOTO CREDIT // Matt Barnes

O: How did you get your start in music?

E: That’s a really good question. I was working at two hospitals in London, Ontario in 2017-18 and I started taking music really seriously, I was really happy with my job but I started to really chip at what my purpose was and what I was put on this earth for. And um, it came down to music and I really started to take myself seriously—to take it seriously, to do shows more. I started to try to be open to linking up with more creatives and to try to develop a sound. I started doing shows and I met a couple of people who have been instrumental like Cardinal and a few others, and yeah it’s been an amazing ride really.

O: How do you find the confidence to be so open in your music? 

E: I think when it comes to songs like Black Women, and being honest—I want to speak to the times and I don’t want to water it down. I don’t want to trivialize the things that are going on, that’s the subject matter. I think it comes from a yearning and to be honest, a burden of proof in that sense. And when I look back on my music, I want to try my best to tell the whole truth, as raw as possible. 

O: Tell us about your single Black Women—since you touched on it. 

E: Well it’s a song that’s inspired by black women. It’s centered around appreciating the contributions and appreciating the women that are in my life that I’ve known, and that I appreciate, and I want to give that ode to. It’s centered around like—the questions that I ask in the song are the questions that hit me hard. As I come to know myself as a man and the world around me a little better, I learn about the utter disenfranchisement of our people. I see the effects and I see how it is still prevalent in this day. I look to women like my mom and I wonder how they weathered that storm, and how they put on that brave face, and how she was still able to raise two kids in a world like that—and to create such a safe space for us. I had a real childhood and my mom was enough.  When I was in the Cayman Islands writing the record, I really wanted to make a song that was about something that was really important to me, something that brought to light these things that were on my heart and these weights that were on my chest. I think it came from a genuine love and appreciation for black women and also an awakening to that. In that awakening I wanted to try to share that with people.

 O: How did black women shape you? You mentioned your mom obviously—how did they mold you into the man that you are today?

E: I can say for certain, my mom raised me—so everything I am is an expression of who she is. She gave me my faith, she gave me my morals, she gave me my principles that I stand by when it comes to work, when it comes to charity, when it comes to how I love and how I respect all walks of life. All of those principles, my mom has been champion of. Black women mean everything to me. 

O: Do you think too much pressure is put on black women?

E: Most definitely, I think a pressure to be strong while also being docile. Like a pressure to accept the places that people would have you sit, the glass ceiling they put over you, like all of those things. I think that there is tremendous pressure that people put on black women to perform. And I think, I speak about it in the song how strong black women are—that’s also one of those things that people always talk about, how strong black women are to be able to deal with all those things. But in the same breath they ask them to chill.

O: You also talk about how sad black women are.

E:  I love to answer this question because I think reading about, in my faith reading about Christ and reading how he wasn’t able to escape, even in his divinity, he was not able to escape the sadness that comes with the human condition. But within that same breath, that sadness that black women deal with while also carrying all these burdens and carrying all these families and babies, and being the benefactor for other people’s children—being king maker for other people. I think to have that type of weight put on you and to look back in history, and look back and see such powerful women in antiquity, and also to see how black people’s backs were broken—and they literally raised generations and generations of other people’s kids and children. So, I definitely wanted to touch on that, I didn’t want to talk about the majesty of black women without talking about the black woman’s experience to the best of my knowledge. 

Spotify surprised Emanuel (who they selected to be the first ever Canadian artist chosen for Spotify’s On The Radar program earlier this year) with a billboard in NYC’s Times Square in celebration of THE release of his Session 2: Transformation EP! 

O: How did you get connect with Supa Dups?

E: Supa Dups is a legend. We worked on so many amazing projects. His discography speaks for itself. I think through mutual acquaintances he got to hear to the records. I think he got a bit of an early listen, and he loved the records, and he reached out. He has a relationship with Tarrus Riley, and was able to get a record out to Tarrus Riley. So, Supa Dups—he hopped on the record, he puts up amazing instrumentation on there, he put his DJ stuff on there. I’m supposed to feel gassed up about that link up and I can’t wait for everyone to hear the remix.

O: What is your favourite era of RnB? 

E: I think like, the late ‘90s and early 2000s—the Carl Thomas days. I’ve been listening to a lot lately. Giving you all my love has been on repeat. Recently, Late ‘90s early 2000s big Jodeci vibes. Hahahahah

O: Big Jodeci vibes absolutely, I agree—How would you describe your sound?

E: I try not to box my sound in. Definitely rooted in RnB, I take inspiration from a lot of different eras. A lot of different clashes. Right now, I’ve been diving in the Ethiopian swing era. So like the ‘60s, ‘70s during a certain political regime, a certain music was fostered with like American instruments and core progressions, but Ethiopian vocals and sounds. I like finding interesting mixes and interesting times of history.

O: How does your Ethiopian background influence your music? 

E: I think it informs my sound in every way. From the way that I sing, again from reference the pentatonic scale and trying to find interesting pockets to sing in—I hope it creates different energies and experiences.  And the Ethiopian sound, the instrument choices, a lot if it is strings. The way that Ethiopians sing, there’s a lot of lamenting. There’s a lot of the roots, like RnB and singing, where that type of singing comes from gutter ally. I think that it informs my sound and the soul too. I feel like a lot of times I’m singing, I’m visualizing a lot of things, a lot of things that had to do with my history. Those really special songs, sometimes when we can get those sounds into the core progressions, that come from that scale, it really ushers in that feeling and that sound. I think that it informs my sound a lot really, for sure. 

O: Who are your favourite Ethiopian artists?

E: Hmm, Teddy Afro, a big one. He’s like he’s still around today—he’s had legendary hits. Seifu Yohannes is one of those swing singers from the ‘60s, ‘70s that I’ve been really into. Yeah, those are a couple of the really big names.

O: Alt Therapy. Tell me everything.

E:  So it’s three songs—it’s ‘Black Women,’ the second song is ‘Magazines,’ it’s sort of a sad song. It’s me kind of realizing the childish kind state I was in—what I was doing was not conducive to the end goal type of realization. It’s really about broken parts and people trying to feel them in ways that they shouldn’t. People existing in toxic relationships and continuing to reinforce them when it’s to everybody’s detriment. It’s about the wild spending you could do. I think a lot of things that I touch on in the song, people glamourize. I kind of wanted to sing this song, almost in a way where I was still within that type of mantra, that type of thinking.  I feel like the end goal is to kind of realize the trivial nature of those things. 

O: That’s my favourite record actually.

E: I appreciate you. I feel like the music and the type of sounds that we put into it, we had Ace G lay some insane sound—we had to slow it down, this guy had like 900 instruments on the record. 

O: The instrumental was crazy actually. 

E: And some vocals from a singer named Saveria—she’s like a young Whitney. She’s on tour with Daniel Caesar. She has this amazing record that’s coming out in the summer.  But yeah, it was a really fun record and I think that was the record that took the longest to make because we added to it the most. It was the one that had the most hands of all of them.

Motown Records announced that Emanuel has joined the Motown family as one of their newest signings.  

 Motown Records President and EVP of Capitol Music Group Ethiopia Habtemariam said:

 “Emanuel is an incredibly introspective and emotional artist. I’m deeply moved by his captivating voice and beautiful artistry. We’re excited to welcome him to the Motown roster and help amplify his sound and message.” 

Congratulations to Emanuel on creating this impact on music.