ALLO, ALOE
Platinum-selling singer Aloe Blacc is a powerful voice calling for change and he tells MARION McMULLEN that he wants his new album to be a positive force
‘WHEN you are on the road you feel like, ‘I just want to get home’, but now I’ve been home for so long I’m ready to get back on the road,” laughs Aloe Blacc.
He recorded his long-awaited fifth studio album, All Love Everything, at the end of last year and the start of 2020 with plans in place to tour... and then Covid-19 struck.
“Yeah, this is a whole different world that we are experiencing since I recorded the album,” says the American singer.
“There was a tour and I wanted to share the songs on stage, on television shows and everything, but this is a very different experience for releasing an album.
“I miss being on stage and performing, sharing my songs and that relationship with fans. I felt like we could potentially wait to release the album but there is no telling how long this is going to last and this is a message I think that is necessary for right now.
“The idea for the album is people I relate to, my friends and my family, sharing my stories about my most intimate relationships that people are all experiencing in many different ways right now.
“So I’m hoping that the music will help connect people and give them the soundtrack to the most important relationships in their lives.”
The 41-year-old father-of-two says it has been tough on everyone.
“The kids are really starting to miss normalcy and wondering when is Covid going to be over and why all this had to happen.
“It’s difficult, but I feel like they are young enough that either this becomes the new normal or, if things get back to normal, than this will have only been a blip for them.
“It’s been difficult for them to social meet with friends and finding ways to make school work safely as well.”
Aloe has been performing online and sang his international hit I Need A Dollar and his new single My Way online with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recently for BBC Radio 2’s House Sessions with Ken Bruce.
He is also known for singing and co-writing one of the biggest global pop hits, Wake Me Up with Swedish DJ Avicii, which topped charts around the world. Several other collaborations with hit producers including David Guetta and Pharrell Williams have followed.
Aloe says about All Love Everything: “Rather than a genre, my music is about A.I.M.: affirmation, inspiration, and motivation. After so many opportunities to talk about my music and not feel comfortable saying, ‘I’m a pop artist’ or ‘I’m a folk artist,’ I had this realisation. My songwriting genre is thematic.”
He adds: “It’s definitely more personal, more revealing, than in the past. I think I’ve still a long way to go in terms of revealing more, but this is what I feel am comfortable with at this time.
“My daughter and my son were the first to hear the songs.
“Whenever I was in the studio recording, the next morning I would be driving them to school and they would hear the freshest demo of a song in progress. I think the harshest critique would be that they don’t request to hear the song again or they don’t unconsciously hum the tune. You kind of get a sense of what’s working with little kids who have no stake in the game. Who are very honest.
“I feel like my goal with music is to create positivity, to stand as representative of optimism and hope and compassion in an industry, an entertainment industry, that often is saturated with depression and negativity and violence.
“I think music has the power to change people’s emotions and feelings and if you are feeling good because of the music you are listening to then that is going to affect your day and hopefully the way you treat other people.”
He says his daughter loves singing and songwriting and plays the piano while his son’s first word was “guitar”.
“We keep them insulated from all the ills of the world and give them their childhood as much as possible, especially during this pandemic. There is no reason why they need to be dealing with the issues of police brutality and a megalomaniacal president.”
Aloe is a prominent figure in the Black Lives Matter movement in America and campaigns for climate change and widespread reform to overcome racial injustice.
He famously wrote I Need a Dollar while living in a squat .
Aloe recently hosted a virtual town hall to discuss America during the Black Lives Matter protests and quarantine and was joined by 2 Fast 2 Furious actor Michael Ealy, basketball player JaVale McGee, and rapper Talib Kweli to discuss a range of topics from the death of George Floyd and policy brutality to Covid and mental health.
“I would venture to suggest that all black people in the developed Western world experience racism at some point,” says Aloe.
“As young as nine years old I had that experience and it earmarks the relationship that I have with my society as a black man.
“We all have access to social media and we’re seeing in our feed and whatever echo chamber you are in some discussion about the pandemic and race. People feel as though if they post a message online they’ve done their job on activism, which isn’t really true.
“You have to decide ‘are you actually going to change to modify your behaviour to no longer be part of the problem?’. These kind of things are way harder than just sending a tweet saying stand up for the climate.
“The volume of small change, the more people who are doing something, the bigger the opportunity is for there to make a huge difference.”
All Love Everything is out on October 2. See AloeBlacc.com