10 Things We Love About: B-ahwe

To the untrained ear, not many these days are tapping into the origin nostalgia of Jazz. But unlike many of her peers, B-ahwe has nurtured a wistful essence for the genre. Taking a moment to sit with New Wave, singer B-ahwe feels calm and refreshed for our afternoon Zoom call. Beating off the summer’s city humidity, she flicks back her blonde mane - coolly greeting me before we settle into our convo. Like a mirror to her gem-laden discography of jazzy fusion ballads, she appears every bit of the soothing and expressive homegrown span felt in her music.

Bursting on the scene in 2017, the artist has garnered a sturdy cult following; her sultry creativity carring easily into conversations among ones to watch coming up on the British circuit. Interpreting a treated silkiness credited to her inspired sound sybils like Erykah Badu to peers like Ojerime, the artist is on a mission to explore her sound, laboring an emotional and personal dexterity as she expands her artistry into producing music. Initially pulling from the somber soulfulness of jazz, emerges a new patent for the talent as she reflects on her journey to her newest release ‘Ride 2 Nowhere’ and the upcoming project she’s keeping under wraps for now, that will see a bright shift in perspective - shedding the old as she steps into new territories. Her newest release, produced by close pal and frequent collaborator TAMBALA while on their travels across Vietnam, see the pair lean into the escapism brought on by their pilgrimage, gifting listeners to their easy synergy. Observed for her lyrism as much as her grounded edge, B-awhe’s witty verses feel elemental in the artist's allure. Finding room to explore themes and discourse on femininity to mental health, echoing the volume of her distinction and creative depth. Touching on everything from her recent track to what’s got her inspired recently, B-ahwe gets candid as we run through 10 things we love about the artist.

We love your evolution, your new single recently dropped ‘Ride 2 Nowhere’. You and TAMBALA are well-acquainted collaborators but this newest release is a slightly different energy from what we’ve heard of you both, what was the shift or inspiration for this newest release?

I came from a jazz and soul background and I am still obsessed with very silky smooth ballads. But I’ve started producing more over the last two years. I always had a bit of drum and bass and garage and other influences in my background and I’ve always loved playing with different genres and bringing them together and TAMBALA is the same. He came up with that silky smooth, lofi background. But has always had a love of dance. When he talks about his sound, he talks about how it’s really a unique amalgamation of genres. It’s probably why we enjoy working together so much. I think coming from a more soulful background, people might want me to do more chill songs, but I love it when someone pushes me into a new place. It makes you think about melodies in a new way. Because we were traveling as well, the song almost captures us being excited; new things were happening all the time, I was quite inspired at the time as well. We actually went to Uni together. I call him Tamby! We got put together in halls.

We love your imagination. The visuals for your newest release are a whimsy medium to the sentiments of the song, what inspired the visuals?

I’m a lover of the fantastical, I love magic, I love running away and escapism. I’ve always tried to bring that into the visuals of my music. And I’ve tried to bring that into videos, but this is the first time I've really been able to do that with my visuals and bring the two worlds together. I worked with artists, painters, and illustrators and wanted to bridge the video and the real world. I worked with a friend of mine on all the painted artwork and luckily he was super up for being involved with bringing the paintings into the video. We completely merged the two worlds and I was so thrilled he was up for it. He was ridiculously good! It was similar to TAMBALA, where we had a really personal relationship and a love of similar artwork. We built this world together in what we wanted the vibe to be. I think because of the song, it’s one of the more whimsical songs I’ve done - you know, being away, finding your best you and giving a bit less of a fuck for once. So it was really nice to just have fun with the visuals.

We love your storytelling! We’ve heard you really develop your songwriting and it’s always a rooted essential component in your music - where I feel you really have something to say. What is your songwriting process?

It’s different for every single song. Like with working with TAMBALA, it can be a track that I've brought to him that I’ve produced myself and then he brings in his flair and production to help take the sound to a whole new place, and I love him taking it to an unconventional place I wouldn't have thought of. But with this one we were traveling and just had a little Ipad and some basic beats , I’d bought this tiny-little recorder, that you can plug a mic into. We were just in a hostel, and I improvised over this looped beat and he built the beat up around the structure I created. I fine tuned all the lyrics and really delved into where everything should be and present. How we could tell the story with the lyrics. Which is why we work so well together. We really give each other that creative space and just trust each other. So with the song, it can be completely different, sometimes I can start at the computer and sometimes it can be the piano or with other people. I think it's really good to open yourself up to different ways so that you don’t get too stagnant.

We love that you're unapologetic. It feels like you've playing around with sounds over the years from your soulful breakout ‘Blue Print’. There’s a natural comfort present to experiment and branch out. What can we look forward to seeing from your future projects?

This next project has been a huge experiment for me. I would say it’s the first time that I've produced tracks myself that I’m really proud of, that feel like they’re true to me and a very different sound world. The first time I worked with some different producers that have become dear friends, I've been very open to just seeing where it goes and playing around with genres that I’ve wanted to for ages. B-ahwe drum and bass! She’s coming. The soul is still there but it’s like a gospel choir crammed into a D&B song. I’ve just been really open to stuff for the past two years because I was just ready for a big change. Coming out of lockdown, I graduated, was also ill for 2 years, and then I moved to London. My body’s been through things, and I was just ready to experiment. I also learned that for me each genre almost brings out a different part of me and I thought a different kind of song would make me process a different kind of thing. Whenever I’ve used rap or spoken word, those things were really difficult that I needed to process. I needed to really sit down and force myself to find the words to figure out what I was feeling. Whereas something that was more melodic made me feel more reflective and romantic or sentimental. And with dance genres, it was about pushing myself and growing.

We love your growth, how have you found yourself and your music grow?

It's been about finding myself and different parts of my personality. Having this journey of going through and delving into different genres more, there’s also been this reflection of who I am as a person. A lot has changed and music is quite a grounding force while I was going through those changes. I feel like a completely different person from the past two years.

We love your sound, genre is definitely more of an afterthought these days, so how would you define your sound now?

It’s funny because I was just talking about how I think genre is a thing of the past. I think it's more about moods and how each song captures an experience or creates a feeling. Some parts of my music are more the same - very bridged together by vocals and melody, I love warm harmonies and almost unexpected grooves. With this next project, it’s like a warm hug you didn't know you needed. And I think that’s what I would like music to feel like to people.

We love to see you on stage! You’ve been doing quite a lot of touring and live sets over the past few years. Your touring and recently performed for The Great Escape festival, how do you prepare for your live sets?

A lot of rehearsals with bands definitely gets you back into that mindset of playing live. I don’t really glam up as much as I used to on the day-to-day, so I feel like B-ahwe is this crazy part of me and it's become something where I feel, like when I put on my makeup, I'm putting on my war paint. Like I’m going into battle, so I need to prepare myself. I need to warm up and stretch. It sounds crazy - like I’m an athlete or something! I need to be Zen and get the moment. Life feels so crazy and there's so much going on that sometimes the gigs are back-to-back, and then sometimes it could be once a month. So it has become something I look forward to. My band are friends that I met at uni, that I’ve known for 7 years, so I get to see them and make music together which is such a joyous thing. You get to share music with all these humans and it’s such a communal experience. It’s spiritual.

We love who you collab with… even when you collaborate your essence is always unwavering, what do you think the core element of your music is?

If I've got more time on my hands and someone sends me something and I have an immediate emotional reaction to it, I have ideas in my straight away. I could just freestyle over it or something, it’s brought out something in me. Often it's someone that I really admire and have been listening to for a while or people you meet at random gigs maybe and you just fall in love with this person because you’ve seen them live. I would probably say that's the most factual one. You also just get immediate energy, you just feel comfortable straight away. Like I said my band are people that I’ve been playing with since university or TAMBALA, I’ve been a little too lucky working with these people that I’ve known for so long. We have this really natural relationship because we’re like family at this point, so I’ve been spoilt. So it’s a bit hard when I meet new people! But I have started opening up more in trusting people and giving them a chance.

We love your passion. What’s got you inspired lately?

Lately summer! That escape. I need a holiday badly. I’m in love for the first time at the moment and that definitely has me in my sentimental feels. And just books and films, when I can. I also started therapy a few months ago, and that’s been very eye-opening. It’s life-changing!

We love that you’re a go-getter, what is next for you?

I’ve been at it ever since my last release, so I'm super excited to share all these things I've been working on. Producing for the first time and experimenting with new friendships and new producers that have become like dear friends. I’m very open to genres and life.