Though her album was snubbed across the board, she came out with a lesson more valuable than a golden megaphone. He had heard through the grapevine that she would get three noms, but to her surprise, she got seven, including Album of the Year and Best R&B Album. I was more busy living and feeling things out than thinking about how many numbers I had and where I was at that day.”Īrie’s favorite song from the album was “Ready For Love.” She made a deal with Motown Records executive Kedar Massenburg, who signed her, that if she received a Grammy nomination she could make a music video for the song. Someone like Sade choosing you to be her opening act was a success. “My album wasn’t selling great but it was getting a lot of critical acclaim. That same year, Sade chose India Arie to open for her on her Lover’s Rock Tour. I was not trying to make a radio record, but I got one.” “The label wanted something with a radio feel and that’s not naturally how I thought. “When I say, ‘I learn to love myself unconditionally,’ I’m saying there are things here that I could have a problem with but I choose not to,” she said. But with the release of “Video,” Arie skyrocketed to mainstream fame. All she wanted was an underground career where she would make music and people would happen to like it. I knew that everyone was about to hear it so I don’t know why my brain did that, but it wasn’t an ‘it’s done, it’s great’ moment.”Īrie didn’t imagine having a conventional journey in the music industry with appearances on 106 & Park and the Today show. I remember saying, ‘This is good enough where I won’t be embarrassed when it comes out. “I remember being on an airplane and playing the album to myself. “I remember distinctly it went away on my 25th birthday,” she said. That energy during her Acoustic Soul days was a looming feeling of “a cloud” being over her, Arie said, sharing that she was depressed for eight months out of the two-and-a-half-year creative process. I’m not gonna have a party, I’ll just scream.” “I’ll go outside and be screaming out of the car because I feel like there’s this energy that needs to be done. 1, Arie came up with a celebratory ritual to mark the completion of a project.
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“I mean, it gets easier, but every time there’s something different that you have to learn.”Īfter her third album, Testimony Vol. “All the albums have been hard to make ever since,” she said laughing. It was a big-time metamorphosis and it was the first time I really had to go through anything with no help. “It was a really challenging time of going into a cocoon and coming out.
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New to the industry, Arie didn’t know the basics of production nor was she sure which direction she wanted to take her sound. The process of creating Acoustic Soul was difficult in itself. “When I listen to Acoustic Soul,” Arie said, “I hear a kid.” As a fellow singer, her mother always told her that she would get better with age. Every album released after her first, the “Brown Skin” singer would call up her mother for affirmation of her vocal growth. There’s a whole part of me that’s not even there but I didn’t have it then,” she added. “When I listen to Acoustic Soul, I really hear where I was emotionally and developmentally because there was part of my voice that’s not even on that album at all. She points to her vocal evolution as tangible proof of her growth over the past two decades. I’ve probably been five different people in the past 20 years and I for real mean that.” “I’ve released eight projects, and every single song on every single project is something that I’ve lived. “This life I chose has been so dynamic,” the 45-year-old said. When Arie released Acoustic Soul on March 27, 2001, she was only 25 years old and had been working on the project since she was signed to Motown Records at 22. When she listened, she recognized the power in her voice at such a young age and its ability to effect change in the music industry. The “Steady Love” songstress shared that she hadn’t heard her first album in a while until recently. (Photo by David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 26: India.Arie attends the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center on Januin Los Angeles, CA.