Eleaze is an emerging R&B artist with an awe-inspiring outlook on life. He carries a palpable drive to succeed as well as a natural knowing in regard to his strengths and capabilities. It was utter faith in himself and his craft that brought Eleaze from Michigan to Los Angeles. The singer-songwriter enjoys all that surrounds him on the pathway to filling hearts with his music. I would say that makes him even more ready to become a household name one day.

As a proud independent artist, Eleaze feels that he is actively living his dreams now, saying “It’s a struggle, but it’s a beautiful struggle.” With that sense of wonder and appreciation for the art of songwriting and singing, the artist carries a natural and infectious optimism.

Eleaze and I recently had an in-depth conversation, exploring his career, the R&B genre, and pivotal moments throughout his journey. He has released more singles since his first EP entitled HER. You’ll swoon over Eleaze’s latest offerings with “Headboard,” “Passion Casserole,” “Dream Girl” and more. The singles showcase the range of his songs from smooth old-school inspired rhythm to bumping hip-hop.

Please tell us about yourself, where are you  from and what inspired you to follow music?

Eleaze: Early on as a child I lived in Long Island, then my parents split and we moved to Virginia for a few years before settling in Michigan. I’ve lived there for the majority of my life. I fell in love with being an entertainer before I was into music. Still to this day Michael Jackson is my biggest inspiration for music. At an early age, when we lived in New York, I would actually do little performances outside of my grandmother’s daycare. There would be old ladies and a bunch of kids and I would be out with Michael Jackson on, singing. They would throw coins and dollars into the bucket I had. I would always make songs about things too, my mother used to tell me I would be in the kitchen, making a PB&J sandwich and minutes later I’d have a whole damn album about making that sandwich. I made everything into music.

I can’t say when I fell in love with music, it just came naturally from being able to entertain and write music. I started singing in the church choir when I was eight or nine and when I was twelve I actually wrote my first song. I took the demo back to school and sold it. It was in that moment when I knew I had to do something with music. I like the feeling of making people feel good and that always stuck with me.

How often do you make music?

Eleaze: Half of my EP I didn’t write in a setting designed to purposely create. I wrote song “Ran Out Of Gas” when I moved to LA. I was driving in Nebraska and there was nothing there, just wind turbines. At the beginning of the song, I was like “all I see is large plains, gray skies, dark clouds, no life.” I was literally writing down what I saw as I drove but I also related it to running out of energy and the ability to love someone. That’s probably when I work at my best because before I would sit down and try to write but I would just come up with the same stuff. I like to make metaphors out of what I see, so typically when I’m writing music I could be anywhere but most of the time I’m in a car going somewhere.

What’s it been like being an independent artist, are there any highlights to your journey so far?

Eleaze: Being an independent artist has been amazing. I get to create what I want, when I want. One of the struggles with it is that you can’t just be an artist, you have to think of yourself as a business to get your music out there. At this point a lot of people feel like their stuff doesn’t get enough exposure. I think as an independent artist, your art still touches people. I always think back to when a friend back in high school told me, “think about when you get to a point where you’re actually accomplishing your dreams, and you reach that star height.” It may sound cliche but I’m accomplishing my dreams now. There are people in Germany who’ve heard my music, and they message me about how a song was therapeutic for them. People I may never meet in my life. That’s the ultimate dream, I’m living it now just not quite at the stage that I hope to be someday.

As an artist of any kind– whether you’re a singer, writer — at this level when it’s not about money but about creating what you love and letting people take that in— it’s really special. I think artists that get to that “star” status, sometimes need to go back to those independent days, grinding it out, to remember why they loved doing music. It’s a struggle, but it’s a beautiful struggle.

Do you feel that you have a song representative of your style? Do you want to cultivate your image?

Eleaze: I have such a wide variety of music and, when people ask me, I say I’m an R&B artist. Some of the music I’ve written is inspired by Rock and even though I don’t listen to Country music, I love the storytelling. I don’t try to focus on one sound. Some days I feel like “Ain’t Nobody Taking My Baby” is the one song that portrays me. It’s lively, vibrant, it makes you want to dance– it’s just happy. That’s the type of person I am. There’s also “Ran Out of Gas” that’s a little more serious, it’s deep, reflective– I can be that same person. Then you have “Passion Casserole” which is just smooth. I would say all of my music reflects me, I can’t really pick one song.

How do you feel about the R&B genre right now?

Eleaze: I was actually talking to a friend about this a few weeks ago. I hate when people say it’s in a bad place. I even got caught up in it when people said R&B is dead, or that it’s a dying genre. I think we put a cap on a certain kind of music if it’s not what we’re used to. What if DMX and Ludacris were doing their thing and then hip-hop heads said, “hip hop’s changed, it’s not the same” they wouldn’t have let rap grow. R&B never dies, it just switches up a little bit. I think I only believed it at one point because my favorite type of R&B is the old-school R&B– Jodeci, K-Ci and JoJo, and the male groups that wrote what we consider to be R&B.

Everybody has a preference and at the end of the day, people have to accept that music continues and it’s going to change. You can still go back and listen to old music, instead of saying R&B is dead, just say that a style isn’t prevalent anymore. I love the stage music is in right now. If you listen, all of it is inspired by old stuff.

What was it like making “HER” since it was your first project?

Eleaze: I started writing for the EP in May and I had it recorded and put out by October. I produced it and had a good friend engineer it. At first, I wasn’t going to release an EP, just a few singles. While I was making it, it just felt good, none of it was straining. The EP is an introduction to Eleaze as an artist. I wanted it to be perfect but I was never in a perfectionist mode. Writing and putting it together, I was just in a zone and I wasn’t worried about what people thought about it. I knew at least a couple songs would relate to people.

I found your song “Dream Girl,” very interesting since you decided to rap. What was your inspiration for making the song in that way?

At this point all of the music I write is about stuff that I’ve gone through or something I relate heavily to.  In order to put that emotion out through a song, I have to be gritty about it and a little more aggressive. I can’t imagine myself singing “Dream Girl” I have to rap that song. It wasn’t a goal to make sure I split it between rapping and singing, I think there was no other way to portay that message. I also don’t want to pigeon-hole myself and give people an expectation for me to only do one thing. Some of my supporters will say “I like when you rap,” and “you should rap more,” while others say the exact opposite. Whatever I’m feeling at the moment, I want to get that out as much as possible and that’s the mood I was in when I wrote “Dream Girl.”

How do you feel about live music, do you have any favorite performances or moments as an entertainer?

Eleaze: I can’t say I prefer one over the other. I’ve done performances where it was more live and the audience was hyped for a concert. I’ve done performances with intimate crowds, who were there to just hear music not necessarily a party/concert atmosphere. I love both just as much because I love to work the crowd and get people into the music. My first big show out here was in Santa Ana at The Observatory. I opened up for Eric Bellinger on his Malibu Nights Tour. The crowd was really there for a show and they were rocking with it. Then a couple weeks later I performed at a smaller venue, I performed “Wrecking Homes” from my EP. The energy in that room was electric too.  

At the Eric Bellinger concert, I sang ‘Beverly Babe” and it was the first time that I performed music from my EP in front of a live crowd. It was special to me because there were around 500 people.  Only a few people were there for me, people that I knew and asked to see me. By the end of the first song, more than half of the crowd were throwing their hands up and singing along with me. It’s a moment I’ll never forget because I didn’t know any of those people and they didn’t know my music. That moment was like “okay, you really have something to work with.”

Is there anything more you would like to share?

What’s helped me the most as an independent artist is becoming more aware of myself through self-help. Before I moved to L.A., I had a decent job that paid well. I kind of liked what I was doing because I was helping people, but I didn’t like that I wasn’t pursuing my dream. I spent 9 hours a day doing something that I didn’t really want to do only to come home and have 3 hours to do what I actually cared about. I needed to make a change so I saved up, quit my job and drove across the country a month later. I didn’t know anyone in L.A. and I wasn’t confident about moving but I knew I was ready to get away. Then I read You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero. The book gave me the confidence I needed and it helped me question myself and acknowledge my fears. Two days after reading the book, I got on the road.  It was the gut check I needed to say “If you have breath in your body, you’re capable of doing anything.”

If you haven’t yet listened to Eleaze, I highly recommend you do. You can listen to the artist on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Music. Be sure to check out the full EP, for now, you can listen to one of his new tracks below. 

#OnlyOneEleaze

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Best,

Kai 😀