Q&A with Haley Small

Toronto’s 19-year-old R&B singer/songwriter Haley Small, who recently joined forces with Disturbing Tha Peace’s Ebony Son Management has finally found her voice and is ready to share herself with her city at her upcoming showcase at Revival on December 29.
HOW HAS IT BEEN FOR YOU AFTER RECENTLY SIGNING TO EBONY SON MANAGEMENT? It’s been awesome! I met Jay Dixon, who is my manager now, two years ago, and we were working together on and off and eventually we decided to unofficially partner up and try and get things going for my career so that worked really well. We recorded a lot of music. He came down to Toronto and I went to LA, we took a bunch of different trips and then after a certain period of time we felt like having more of a team on board would have been great. His brothers are Chaka Zulu and Jeff Dixon from Disturbing Tha Peace and Ebony Son is obviously owned by DTP so he showed them the music and I went down to Atlanta and met them and they were down to come on to the project. We decided to join forces and it’s been great because it’s another bunch of people working towards the same goal. Ever since then, I’ve just been going back and forth to Atlanta and recording with different producers.
HOW ARE YOU USING THIS NEW DEVELOPMENT TO PROPEL YOUR CAREER? Ebony Sons, obviously being owned by DTP and having the success of Ludacris, they have a lot of connections, so using it to get heard and have the right people hear what I’m doing and get to know me. The advice from people that have been a success story already has been great, letting me know what I need to be doing and working with different people that can shed insight on different things vocally, musically, business wise and promotion wise.
WHAT WAS SOME OF THE ADVICE YOU WERE GIVEN? The last time I went down to Atlanta, I felt like I really found myself, which is something that I feel artists have to take time to do. For me, I grew up mimicking people and not really knowing what I want to sound like. Eventually, I realized I needed to find my own sound. I worked with a guy named J-Rel in the studio for about a week and he helped me define my sound and really pushed my limits in the studio, which helped me, grow vocally. When I got back to Toronto, I felt different, that my voice was defined and I knew more where I was going.
WHAT CAN PEOPLE EXPECT FROM YOUR UPCOMING SHOW AT REVIVAL ON DECEMBER 29? I know a lot of people haven’t heard a lot of my original music, because over the years, I’ve created so much, but I never put anything out, for a lot of different reasons. I was always scared to put music out, because I didn’t really know my sound, but over the past year and a half, I’ve really found that sound so I really want to share that with everyone and put on a good show and have fun. I want people to get a sense of who I am, through the show.

Q&A With Grammy Awarding Winning Estelle

Four years after her releasing her last album and three years after winning a Grammy for “American Boy”, English R&B artist Estelle has dropped her third album All Of Me. She spoke with Urbanology Magazine about her journey making the new record, why she took so long to release another album, her growth, and what she has planned next.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT THE JOURNEY OF RECORDING THIS NEW ALBUM, ALL OF ME, WAS LIKE? I took my time with it. I wasn’t in a rush to create it. I just did what I felt, the way I felt and just kept it moving like that. I didn’t want to create something just to create something. It got a little personal. It was how I felt at the present moment. WHERE DID YOU RECORD THE ALBUM? I recorded it in LA, New York, Miami, London — wherever I basically landed, is where I recorded it.

DID THIS AFFECT THE SOUND OF THE ALBUM? Nah. I create music based on how I feel versus where I’m at. Why should the music change every 10 seconds, or have a different vibe or energy? There were a lot of things that happened personally for me at the same time so I didn’t want to rush into anything or do anything that was not going to be timely or classic or anything in that lane. I wanted it to feel like something that you want to hear 10 or 15 years from now. So I was just concentrating on that moment, or how I felt, versus the city that I was in.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR GROWTH FROM 2008’S SHINE TO ALL OF ME? I got a bit more vulnerable. I got a little more open, a little less nervous about being the person I was and being the person I am and less nervous about showing it. I was just kind of like over having to process in my head how I felt and going back and writing about it. I just kind of let it go. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN THROUGH IN THE PAST FEW YEARS THAT INFLUENCED YOUR NEW ALBUM? I didn’t literally live it. I’ve been on the road for almost 350 days out of the entire year so I have not had the chance to really live a little bit, so as I was working on the road, I was writing. Up, down, excited, sad, t-ed off, happy — I would write, and it set the tone of the album.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE COLLABORATING WITH ARTISTS LIKE NAS AND RICK ROSS? Nas is my older brother. We’ve been wanting to work together for awhile. We wanted to write for writing’s sake and that’s what we did. I was excited to write with the guy, because I admire him as a young man; just as an evolving human being and the fact that he’s so honest with who he is and where he’s been makes me love him even more. A lot of artists act a bit righteous and he’s definitely not trying to be perfect. He’s just trying to be a human being and I commend that. Ross as well, I love him as well, as a human being. He’s funny as hell. He’s cool, he’s so sweet, he’s a real dude and I like that. My whole thing is working with people who are actually human.

HOW HAS WORKING WITH JOHN LEGEND AND HOMESCHOOL RECORDS BEEN FOR YOUR CAREER? John is like my partner. He knew that I had records and I had a career before I came out here. He had faith in me to sign me and make things go the way they went and really have my back. He wasn’t about making my life happen, he didn’t have to do that, he has his own career to worry about, so he was definitely like, ‘look I’m gonna co-sign you — go!’ and I was like, ‘Great, that’s all I need. Let’s do it,’ and I appreciated that. There’s not a lot of artists that will do that and give the freedom without trying to be all over the project or draped all over your work or draped all over who you are as an artist, claiming you. So he gives me my space and lets me be who I am and lets me make the music that I want to make. He’s the one person that I trust without anything to make sure my things are together and my records are played — the one person. He’s the one person I can be like, ‘yo, listen to this,’ and I know that he’s not going to give me a random weird type of response based on an agenda and that’s hard to come by in this industry.

SINCE YOU ALREADY WON A GRAMMY, WHAT IS NEXT FOR YOU? I want to win 10 or 12 more. I’m just gonna keep going; I’m doing a lot more branding, TV acting, a lot more things outside of music. I’m not waiting or worried about the music, because I can do that with my eyes closed; now I’m just working. I’m making sure I don’t stop; it doesn’t stop, it doesn’t quit… There’s acting, there’s voiceover work, cartoons, a lot of acting and that kind of stuff. I have a foundation I started called the All of Me Foundation, where we raise money for people that need mentoring and give kids an extra shot outside of their estate, or their block or their house or whatever their limitations are. I’m a photographer too so I take pictures and I’m going to compile a book, which I’m excited as hell about. I’m just gonna keep going