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Over the past 6-7 years, that’s changed and I’ve been writing music that highlights some of the things that I do best like playing bass and coming up with chords. Raphael Saadiq: I think this is a standalone project, and while I think we can always have bridges to different moments in our life, this project is a compilation of life experiences between family, addiction, and a lot of different things that I purposefully never really talked about or wrote about. How does your new album fit into the diverse narrative of your career and does it bridge together the varied experiences you’ve had as a musician?
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#You should be here raphael saadiq tv#
His next album, the fifth solo album of his career, is slated for release later this year.īrightestYoungThings: June 22 marked the 25th year anniversary of Tony! Toni! Toné!’s Son of Soul album, and shortly after it was released you said that with that album the group embodied, “the bridge between hip-hop and soul and R&B.” Since that album your career has gone in many different directions, including music scores for movies and TV shows. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on July 27, 2018. Raphael Saadiq will be performing at the The John F. But luckily for me, people liked the music I was making.” “The whole time I’ve been making music, I’ve been making music for nobody but me. I’m not going to give them any special attention,” Raphael says assertively. “I feel like you can’t really worry too much about the younger generation, they have to worry about you. Raphael isn’t fazed by this, responding the only way you’d imagine a musician would who’s written for D’Angelo and Erykah Badu and who counts Stevie Wonder as a close friend: In approaching these topics, Raphael also enters a new chapter in his career, one in which a new demographic of listeners who are just now discovering the silkiness of Percy Sledge, the luxurious gravel of Howlin’ Wolf, or the assertiveness of John Lee Hooker, look to him as the embodiment of a more “pure” bygone era. “Over the past 6-7 years, that’s changed and I’ve been writing music that highlights some of the things that I do best like playing bass and coming up with chords.” “This project is a compilation of life experiences between family, addiction, and a lot of different things that I purposefully never really talked about or wrote about,” Raphael says. For a man with nothing to prove, Raphael’s only question mark is himself. At the same time, music reached a songwriting zenith driven by daring artists who, in many cases, were finding their voices and musical directions in Raphael’s music. The past seven years have seen him receive accolades for his music on 2017’s period drama, Mudbound, while also making compositions for HBO’s Insecure and Netflix’s Step Sisters. Raphael’s challenge is seemingly completely removed from music. “I want to compete with whoever, across all genres.” “I don’t want to be judged as just someone who plays a particular style of music or with specific people,” Raphael reflects. And in speaking with Raphael, you quickly understand that challenge is internal a challenge facing many great musicians who have done it all but consider themselves a work-in-progress. But what’s the maxim for an artist’s first album in seven years? Or the maxim for an artist making a statement in a career defined by musical statements that define eras and influence present-day luminaries like Kendrick Lamar and Solange? For Raphael Saadiq, a man whose career is the definition of success and influence, the challenge now is, quite simply, finding a challenge. The reasoning behind that is quite understandable an artist has their entire life to make the first.
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A popular maxim in music is that an artist’s second album is the hardest album they’ll ever make.