Ashley Sage uses music to get honest with herself
Hailing from Brooklyn, New York City- Ashley Sage is a beaming up and coming R&B artist with a voice akin to a canary. The songstress uses music to get honest with herself. Ashley's quirky and light- hearted personality does well to deliver lyrics that are both introspective and catchy. Audiences feel lighter after being serenaded. She released a self-produced and written project appropriately titled Sage The EP in 2019. Since then she's amassed over 100,00 views on YouTube , Played in legendary Venues like SOB's in New York City, And is currently working on an album set to release in 2023.
Maria: How did you get into music? When was the day when you woke up and decided that this is what you wanna do now?
Ashley: Well, I've been singing since I was like three to five years old. And I've always had an interest in singing as my creative outlet. I was always in choir, no matter where I went to school, but I didn't feel like it was something I could pursue until my second to last year of college. There were a lot of, hey, this is just playing around. We're just having fun. But I really want to get good at it. So I didn't actually think it would be a career until my second year of college.
So it was my second year of college. I went to Rutgers. And although I was in college, I was like, Dang, this music bug is still in me like it won't go away no matter how hard I try. I still want to pick up my guitar and sing for the masses. And so I would do open mics around my college. And one day, my friend who's a really good friend of mine now, his name is Nick. He stopped me on the street and was like, Hey, we host an open mic at Gloria Jean's coffee house. If you want you could come by we do it every Friday or so. And yeah, you should come by. And I was like, Okay, sure. And I didn't actually go when he asked. But like the following week I actually showed up. And ever since then, he and a few other people that I met in that cafe joined the collective called savage CEOs. Our plan was to start arranging a record label where we would be the artists and so we would just always be inseparable. We clicked up. You would always see us out at the open mics as a group, and Nick actually was a producer at the time. And I was like, Hey, I wanted to produce this since I was about 13 years old, can you teach me? So he showed me some basic stuff. He showed me how to use Logic Pro and I already know how to play the guitar. So I took it from there. I got it on my desktop in my dorm. And I made my first EP with Logic. So yeah, it's crazy. I definitely, we definitely learned from each other and I kind of ran with that.
Maria: How would you describe the genre of your music?
Ashley: As I keep making music, I'm like where am I really in this whole spectrum? So I know for a fact I'm definitely an r&b artist, but I don't think I'm contemporary like John Legend, Neil. I don't think I'm that contemporary with the key changes and all of that. I'm pretty sure I'm a little more alt and I love pop. I love anything that's not typical r&b But my voice and my training is so embedded in r&b. But I definitely am not contemporary r&b.
I think the artist that inspired my sound is definitely Bob Marley. He's so conscious and so acoustic as well. And I think I carry that, especially in my EP. I'm having a lot of fun with my singles. But in my EP and my larger works of art, I definitely try to give a really wholesome message because I want people who are listening to feel like they're not alone. Pop wise, I really love Rihanna. I love SZA. I love Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. I love Beyonce as well. Kanye West heavily inspired my production. When I first started producing music I was like ‘I want to be the female Kanye West’.
Maria: What was your creative process like for writing your latest single «Peace Of Mind» ?
Ashley: I wrote that song after I made a mistake. Like something in one of my friendships, my relationships. And I was like, dang, why did I do that? And I got my guitar and I'm and I was playing around with it. And I came up with these chords. And I was like living in it just to know what it is. And I wrote maybe like four lines and it's taking me a month or two to get back to it. And I finished it on my roof. And so what inspired that was just turmoil and anguish that I caused myself. And I was just trying to work it out. Lyrically.
Maria: Do you think your process of writing songs has changed in any way since you started releasing music?
Ashley: I'm still trying to like to navigate through it and grow through it and shift into like new levels of songwriting. But yes, it's definitely changed in the beginning. I would create more of my works like whether it be on a guitar or I would make a beat and turn it into a beat in Logic. I used to have everything produced. It was super bare bones, bare bones with everything, but now I actually have a lot of support in terms of like, I have my own producer. I have my own engineer. And I have a few more people helping me in my process, who actually help me write sometimes, not so much anymore. But I've collaborated with writers and I've taken way more input in my works. So now it feels way more collaborative than it was in the beginning. And some days I want it to be right back at the beginning. Some days I just need to work out these emotions and just get it right, but most times when I'm making music it is collaborative effort.
Maria: What is the message that you would like to share through your songs?
Ashley: When I write something, I'm always looking for a message. I'm always looking for a storyline. I'm always looking for things like. So I am always looking for a message. I always want every song to mean something. But sometimes that takes away from me just having fun. So I try to balance that out. I'm just having fun instead of being a vessel. I am the vessel I'm having fun, or I'm giving a best or giving a message. So I tried to have a fair balance between that.
Maria: What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Ashley: I would say get out of your own way. Put your ego aside and accept help cuz it was hard for me to accept help. Because I feel like I couldn't do it all. But you know, people want to help you on your journey. So step aside and put your ego aside and allow people to help and have fun. Never ever, ever, never at any point stop having fun.
Maria: If you can have your fans remember one thing about you, what would it be?
Ashley: I think my legacy would be – I would say never stop talking, never stop sharing. I just want people who listen to me to feel like they can speak. I just feel like people bottle in so many emotions. And I really want people to know that they can speak and I feel like I have a long way to go before that message is very clear. But that's at the core of what I want people to know.
Maria: Do you have upcoming and future projects?
Ashley: Absolutely. I have a song called Aura. It’s on all streaming platforms. So that's my latest. More to come. Absolutely. I'm working on an album and maybe a little EP. I'm just working on music right now. I don't want to say it's gonna be out there but I definitely want to drop a couple more singles between now and you know the summertime. I definitely want to drop two or three more songs. And you could look forward to seeing me more in music videos.