Blue Will: Experiencing culture shock and building up to her next project
Blue Will born in Trinidad settled in the mosaic of Toronto. She started pursuing a music career after attending hair school which led to her career in TV and makeup. In 2017 she was a top 4 finalist in the competition CBC searchlight where she was a judge’s favourite.
“I feel very blessed to be able to release my music and connect with different people around the world”
The competition launched her into the national spotlight as she worked with industry professionals such as Bebe Rhexa, Marie-May and the legendary Niles Rodgers. She managed to make the top 2 which saw her gain a global fanbase.
Since then, Blue Will’s star appeal has continued to grow. Her music influences stems from her upbringing in Trinidad. After having to battle with the stereotypes that comes with being a back woman in the music industry, Blue Will is proud of her upbringing and where she comes from. Her upbringing in Trinidad has taught her to always be someone that is acceptant of who she is despite of whatever others may think of her.
“It’s hard to not know of Amapiano when it’s such a huge genre of music around the globe. When I released ‘Not Love?!’, I was greatly influenced by amapiano and this then sparked the idea of a remix. I’ve seen what Ed Sheeran did with the release of ‘Bad Habits’ - I thought that was really cool”
Experiencing culture shock at a young age was very difficult to get over. However, she is grateful to have gone through that experience as she hopes that through her story other people can accept themselves regardless of race, religion or ethnicity.
Her latest single “NOT LOVE?!” first debuted on BBC Radio 1’s Future Soul in late July of this year. This is the first single off her upcoming EP.
For more on Blue Will and her journey through music read our interview below:
This interview has been lightly edited for the purpose of clarity and context.
Daniel Young: How have you been?
Blue Will: I’m good, I’m at work right now.
What do you do besides music?
I work at a television station, and I do hair and makeup for television.
Did you study cosmetology?
I studied four times. I did nursing, social working and administration. My final course that I studied was hair because I’m such an artistic person.
What inspired your stage name?
My stage name before use to be Will. But I changed it to Blue Will because blue is my favourite colour. I wanted to keep Will because it is a shortened version of my last name. So Blue Will came to be and its so much easier to find me on social media. Blue symbolizes peace and tranquility. When you say Blue Will it means I can.
When did you start getting into music?
I started out when I was in high school. I played at different coffee houses and doing different Trinidadian cultural events. In High school was when I really started getting into music.
Why did you decide to make music?
Music was always my calling. When I was younger, I would write a lot of poems and as time passed my writing skills improved. I always liked to perform and be on the stage and essentially be the face of the art. Once I realized that I could sing I always just thought why not do music. What I couldn’t say in person I would write down and perform it. It was a spiritual type of thing for me.
You mentioned that you did poetry, would you say that it helped with your song writing ability?
It really helped me a lot. I was able to articulate myself so much that I could before. Another aspect that it helped with was the rhyming of words and making things make sense. When I came from Trinidad and moved over here to Canada, I had an accident right and I didn’t speak like the other kids spoke. They either spoke French or what they would call “proper” English. So, how I wrote back then was how I spoke, and the words didn’t make any sense. Constantly writing really helped me a lot.
What was one of the biggest challenges that you had to face in life?
I think that it was moving to a new country with barely in family here. I didn’t have any siblings here and I already felt like the odd one out. It was a very big cultural shock for me. In Trinidad people were either black, Indian or Chinese. There was some sort of multi-cultural background. However, when I moved to Canada everyone was either one colour or they spoke one language. I thought that I was speaking English but I wasn’t I had an accident so where I sounded different to them they sounded different to me. The school that I went to had a whole bunch of Italian kids and we were probably like four black kids and even they didn’t look like me because they had a much lighter skin colour. So, it was a culture shock.
Musically, what is your biggest achievement so far?
I have been on a few shows. Even being on BBC radio twice was really an achievement for me because I have always wanted to tap into my audience out in London. I would say that putting a face to my music and getting more fans around the world is something that I am very proud of now.
Did you struggle with marketing yourself as an independent artist at first?
When I first started it was something that I struggled with. At those times I just wanted to put out music and be heard. But now that I have been doing for about 12 years, I have learned what to do. As an independent there is nobody backing you so there is no funding. I am literally putting my money and effort into everything so I would want to see the results of my labour. Right now, I have a bit of a team that is helping me, so it’s gotten a bit easier. They know more about marketing and promoting than I do. Which helps me to just focus on the music and the other aspects like hair and makeup and directing the videos.
Where do you see yourself in the next few years?
I see myself performing on way bigger stages, in the next five years I want to release about two albums. I have an ep out currently and another one that I am working on so releasing a few albums is high on my list of things to do because I haven’t released an album yet. I want to get nominated for a Juno award and possibly win it. The Juno’s is Canada’s version of the grammys. I want to have my music on television shows, so I want to get more into sync licensing.
Regarding your project what type of genre is it going to be? Are you going to do a bit of everything or are you focusing on something specific?
In the past I focused on a lot of RnB, soul and neo-soul music because that was what U was being told to make. Most of the music that I listen to is Amapiano, Afrobeats and Dancehall. The new ep will lean a bit towards Rnb but most of the songs will be influenced by what I am listening to because that is what I came from anyways.
How would you describe yourself?
I would say that I am very colourful, bubbly, loving and talkative. Oh, how could I forget I am very loud. When I say loud, I mean in the way that I dress and loud in vocalizing myself.
Earlier you mentioned that you had a cultural shock when you arrived in Canada, has that translated into the music by any chance?
I think so yes. There was a time when I was just doing Rnb music because I thought that as a black girl in a city that is predominantly white, I had to make that type of music that they were telling me to. At the time Dancehall was a thing but it wasn’t popular as it is now.
Once you stop making music what would you like your legacy to be?
Firstly, that is never! In terms of legacy, I want people to know that they can do it from wherever they are coming from. It doesn’t matter what they look like or even sound like. The point is that you must find your purpose whatever that looks like for you in your own personal capacity. Once you’re given a gift exercise that gift and make it your passion. Not just for yourself but so that your family can be proud of you too. People need to look at you and say to themselves that they can also achieve what you have achieved in life.
What is your recording process like? Do you freestyle most of your songs or do you write them?
The thing is, I am not always in the studio but when I do record music, I have a few engineers that I go to. But I must say that I have a favourite engineer who knows exactly what I want. In terms of studio setup, I have a small recording space in my house where I do demos. Typically, when I am home or in the studio the first, I would do is start with a beat. I would then write what the song means to me while listening to the beat. Usually if I have a vision of what the video looks like just based off the sound of the beat then I will start writing to it and to me then the song already has a story behind it.
Where do you draw your experiences from?
I draw my experiences from myself. All my music is about something that I have experienced or something that people around me have experienced. Its most people from my inner circle not from other people that I don’t know or something that I watched on television. I feel that I would get different experiences of life as I travel the world and see how other people live and the way how their cultures do things.
What is something that you have struggled with when it comes to music creation? You know some artists struggle with writing my while others struggle with music collaboration, or even putting together albums.
When it comes to song writing I wouldn’t say that I struggled with that. I was always writing something whether it was good or bad. The main was that I was always practicing, eventually I knew that it would get better all I needed was time. I would say that right now my song writing skills is way better than it was before. I think something that I do struggle with is finding the right people to work with. I would go to producers and as a black girl they think that you should be making pop music or RnB so that is what they are giving you… I would try to explain something to them, and they would try and find a reason for them not to do it. My biggest struggle has been working with the right producers and engineers. Even coming to them as a woman was difficult (no offense) but men in the music industry think that they know better just because they are men. What frustrates me the most is that I have been doing music longer than most of the people that I have worked with so far. I am even older than most of themselves! I’m so glad that I have found my little circle that I can rely on.
Would producing your own songs be something that you look to invest your time in, later in your music career?
Yes, for sure I played a lot of instruments when I was younger. The violin, clarinet and keyboard to name a few. The thing is I don’t know how to play any of them anymore which is kind of disappointing. It would be nice to play one of them at a live show, so if I think about it, I might have to start learning how to play those instruments again.
Follow Blue Will:
