ARTIST ON OUR RADAR: ANNAHSTASIA
Meet Annahstasia, the self taught singer-songwriter who is able to create whole worlds with the magical touch of her pen. For her, this artistic practice is steeped in fantasy and romanticism. Her upcoming EP, Revival (released April 27th), is a 19 minute showcase of her enchantingly sumptuous, acrobatic voice and rose coloured perspective.
Describing her own music, Annahstasia says "it sounds like digging clean hands into good moist soil. It sounds like laying down in overgrown grass and staring too far into the sky. It sounds like a warm bedside lamp left at 2 am casting shadows of someone pacing in their room; seen from across the street by your lonesome neighbour who went for a late night walk to clear their mind."
Revival comes four years after her first independent release, Sacred Bull which was so raw and honest "It holds a special place in my heart because it was the reimagining of my dream. I was discovered pretty young by a major label and was filled with these ideas of what stardom was and how it came about and what you had to do to get there."
"Sacred Bull was a break away from all of that conditioning and also made after a long awaited freedom from those contracts. I found myself running my own ship with barely a rudder or sail to navigate with but the newfound creative freedom allowed for me to step into myself for the first time. I discovered what I liked about collaboration and what I didn’t and where my boundaries were."
Revival feels like a continuation of this. To no coincidence, her name comes from the Greek word for 'revival' and this EP was born out of her picking up her guitar and resurrecting some of the songs she had written throughout college. Initially, this was meant to be Annahstasia’s final project due to her discontent at the commercialism of the music industry.
However, experimenting and developing during the pandemic, she rediscovered her passion and now refuses to settle. She said "in the pandemic my resources shrunk and I was left to find myself with just my voice and a guitar. I hadn’t really nurtured my relationship with the instrument in previous years because there was always someone around who could play better than me. For the first time since I started writing music at 16 I actually had the luxury of time to explore on my own and found that what I needed and where I thrived was in a more organic and subtle environment."
She made it clear to us that her music is truly authentic to her. "My music is a reflection of myself and my own psyche and healing and if people see their journeys in it as well that is a blessing. I don't make this music for anyone besides me." She refuses to succumb to the pressures of the music industry and the racialised R&B standard many black artists feel they are prescribed to. Inspired by elements of rock, late 70s soul and gospel, Annahstasia describes her main genre as ‘folk, a genre rooted in essentials, there’s no fluff, there’s just the expression of your life experiences in your standing and the world and your cultural viewpoint.’
Her ‘no-frills’ way of making music has granted her a lot of opportunities, including a COLORS performance and a collaboration with singer Raveena who features on Revival’s lead single ‘While You Were Sleeping’. As well as being an opening act for Lenny Kravitz on his ‘Raise Vibrations’ European tour in 2019 and she will be performing as part of a stellar line up, at the Cross the Tracks Festival this summer.
When we asked her how she was feeling about it all, she said "I'm really excited! This will be my first festival gig ever. I’m honoured that it's this one. The line up is super strong and I look forward to enjoying it as an audience member as well."
This was followed by talks of how she plans to prepare, to which she said “It’s going to be me alone on a stage with a guitar and my voice so a lot of the preparation is mental. Preparing to fill all that space with just myself and the power I hold. Preparing to really stand behind what I’m saying and live within the lyrics. Folk music is storytelling, so I just get up there and prepare to bare my heart on the burning fire. I imagine I will feel quite vulnerable and hope people hold space for that vulnerability especially in a more chaotic environment.”
Being that the multidisciplinary artist, Annahstasia is also a model, recently having featured in a DKNY campaign. We decided to talk a bit about her fashion identity and whether this is influenced by her music.
”There is a bit of separation between my music self and how I like to dress. I’m a maximalist at heart and love to layer and push the envelope, but practicality and comfort often get in the way. When I perform solo my utmost priority is that I’m comfortable, I often play without shoes, in blue jeans and a white tank. It's classic but underwhelming when I know what I would do with a different performance arrangement. Blue jeans and a white tee match the music pretty well though. I am a folk singer at the moment. So it's canon...”
We also asked her about her favourite performance to date. ”I played a club show in Berlin last year. There are many ghosts in that city and I could feel them passing through my throat the entire set. On the last song I started crying, I couldn’t hold back the tears, but when I was able to look up through the tears I saw much of the crowd was also crying. It was really cathartic to cry with strangers like that.” Through her music and performances, Annahstasia is able to create a truly emotive experience within audiences and listeners, we expect nothing less when she graces the UK stage for Cross the Tracks next month.
Inspired by the likes of Sade, Bill Withers, Nina Simone, Fela Kuti and Miriam Makeba who were all known for making music for the people. Annahstasia tells us she hopes to do the same, "my overall ethos is to encourage people to think holistically about the world around them and themselves. My new project, Revival, is about rebirth and the ability to rebuild yourself time and time again even as things change or are taken."
CREDITS:
Written by - Leonie Belle
Photography by - Cheril Sanchez, Paley Fairman, Ashley Darian Olah, Jeremy Herron, Amy Maldonado, Kobe Wagstaff, Sina Lesnik and Zamar Velez
ARTIST ON OUR RADAR: ANNAHSTASIA
Meet Annahstasia, the self taught singer-songwriter who is able to create whole worlds with the magical touch of her pen. For her, this artistic practice is steeped in fantasy and romanticism. Her upcoming EP, Revival (released April 27th), is a 19 minute showcase of her enchantingly sumptuous, acrobatic voice and rose coloured perspective.
Describing her own music, Annahstasia says "it sounds like digging clean hands into good moist soil. It sounds like laying down in overgrown grass and staring too far into the sky. It sounds like a warm bedside lamp left at 2 am casting shadows of someone pacing in their room; seen from across the street by your lonesome neighbour who went for a late night walk to clear their mind."
Revival comes four years after her first independent release, Sacred Bull which was so raw and honest "It holds a special place in my heart because it was the reimagining of my dream. I was discovered pretty young by a major label and was filled with these ideas of what stardom was and how it came about and what you had to do to get there."
"Sacred Bull was a break away from all of that conditioning and also made after a long awaited freedom from those contracts. I found myself running my own ship with barely a rudder or sail to navigate with but the newfound creative freedom allowed for me to step into myself for the first time. I discovered what I liked about collaboration and what I didn’t and where my boundaries were."
Revival feels like a continuation of this. To no coincidence, her name comes from the Greek word for 'revival' and this EP was born out of her picking up her guitar and resurrecting some of the songs she had written throughout college. Initially, this was meant to be Annahstasia’s final project due to her discontent at the commercialism of the music industry.
However, experimenting and developing during the pandemic, she rediscovered her passion and now refuses to settle. She said "in the pandemic my resources shrunk and I was left to find myself with just my voice and a guitar. I hadn’t really nurtured my relationship with the instrument in previous years because there was always someone around who could play better than me. For the first time since I started writing music at 16 I actually had the luxury of time to explore on my own and found that what I needed and where I thrived was in a more organic and subtle environment."
She made it clear to us that her music is truly authentic to her. "My music is a reflection of myself and my own psyche and healing and if people see their journeys in it as well that is a blessing. I don't make this music for anyone besides me." She refuses to succumb to the pressures of the music industry and the racialised R&B standard many black artists feel they are prescribed to. Inspired by elements of rock, late 70s soul and gospel, Annahstasia describes her main genre as ‘folk, a genre rooted in essentials, there’s no fluff, there’s just the expression of your life experiences in your standing and the world and your cultural viewpoint.’
Her ‘no-frills’ way of making music has granted her a lot of opportunities, including a COLORS performance and a collaboration with singer Raveena who features on Revival’s lead single ‘While You Were Sleeping’. As well as being an opening act for Lenny Kravitz on his ‘Raise Vibrations’ European tour in 2019 and she will be performing as part of a stellar line up, at the Cross the Tracks Festival this summer.
When we asked her how she was feeling about it all, she said "I'm really excited! This will be my first festival gig ever. I’m honoured that it's this one. The line up is super strong and I look forward to enjoying it as an audience member as well."
This was followed by talks of how she plans to prepare, to which she said “It’s going to be me alone on a stage with a guitar and my voice so a lot of the preparation is mental. Preparing to fill all that space with just myself and the power I hold. Preparing to really stand behind what I’m saying and live within the lyrics. Folk music is storytelling, so I just get up there and prepare to bare my heart on the burning fire. I imagine I will feel quite vulnerable and hope people hold space for that vulnerability especially in a more chaotic environment.”
Being that the multidisciplinary artist, Annahstasia is also a model, recently having featured in a DKNY campaign. We decided to talk a bit about her fashion identity and whether this is influenced by her music.
”There is a bit of separation between my music self and how I like to dress. I’m a maximalist at heart and love to layer and push the envelope, but practicality and comfort often get in the way. When I perform solo my utmost priority is that I’m comfortable, I often play without shoes, in blue jeans and a white tank. It's classic but underwhelming when I know what I would do with a different performance arrangement. Blue jeans and a white tee match the music pretty well though. I am a folk singer at the moment. So it's canon...”
We also asked her about her favourite performance to date. ”I played a club show in Berlin last year. There are many ghosts in that city and I could feel them passing through my throat the entire set. On the last song I started crying, I couldn’t hold back the tears, but when I was able to look up through the tears I saw much of the crowd was also crying. It was really cathartic to cry with strangers like that.” Through her music and performances, Annahstasia is able to create a truly emotive experience within audiences and listeners, we expect nothing less when she graces the UK stage for Cross the Tracks next month.
Inspired by the likes of Sade, Bill Withers, Nina Simone, Fela Kuti and Miriam Makeba who were all known for making music for the people. Annahstasia tells us she hopes to do the same, "my overall ethos is to encourage people to think holistically about the world around them and themselves. My new project, Revival, is about rebirth and the ability to rebuild yourself time and time again even as things change or are taken."
CREDITS:
Written by - Leonie Belle
Photography by - Cheril Sanchez, Paley Fairman, Ashley Darian Olah, Jeremy Herron, Amy Maldonado, Kobe Wagstaff, Sina Lesnik and Zamar Velez