A personal and introspective research that takes shape and sound in “Peace of Mind”, the first solo debut album in which the identity of Arya is perfectly visible.
Surely you have already heard her energetic voice, unmistakable in accompanying the choirs during the last tours of Venerus and Ghemon. Today Arya makes her way into the music scene in a project in which she reveals herself, her vision of music and what it meant to achieve this goal.
Just last January was released the debut album “Peace of Mind” for the label Atelier 71, a long-awaited work where you find the perfect harmony between soul melodies and hip-hop sounds on which are placed the words of Arya in all its spontaneity and naturalness. An album that, as she tells us, is an album ‘photographic‘ in which as photos are collected and imprinted emotions, memories and uncertainties of the last two years.
Born and raised in an Italian-Venezuelan family where music was part of every moment, Arya relives in her music its origins but without stopping the inner journey that has always accompanied her, free from any border.
I had the chance to interview her and find out what’s behind her world, her artistic path and if she finally reached her hoped for “peace of mind“.
Let’s start from the beginning, who is Arya? Reveal us something about your background..
Arya was born in 1994 in Milan from Italian mom and Venezuelan dad. My dad is a salsa singer, my mom played the piano for 15 years. Since I was little, music has always permeated my days, at home, in car trips, at concerts. There’s this anecdote my parents love to tell. We were at a concert of my dad’s and it was one of those occasions when my mom and I followed him on tour. On stage there was a full orchestra hitting very hard. And then I, practically under the stage, asleep like an angel, as quiet as when we were at home.
My days have always been full of sounds. Silence was the exception and maybe that is why I look for it so strongly when I grow up.
If you had to describe yourself in three words, which one would you choose?
I would say determined, positive (although now it makes me a little strange to say it) and nostalgic. For a moment I thought about choosing “melancholy” but the saudade is what represents me best.
At a time when everything seems still it’s nice to know that something moves to be born, as well as your musical project. Maybe we didn’t know we needed it but it is a breath of fresh air that stands out from the rest of the independent scene. What was the spark that led you to start your personal journey in the musical context?
I always thought that making music would be my destiny but I started to imagine it realistically in 2018, when I started collaborating with Idriss and Dimitri, the founders of my label (and family) Atelier 71. We immediately observed a natural synergy and unpublished, nothing I had experienced until then. So far it has been a wonderful journey, full of surprises and many discoveries.
Your musical production has this indissoluble link with sounds such as nu soul, hip hop and r&b. How did this love relationship begin?
The one who really made me understand how these worlds are inextricably linked was Lauryn Hill, my first love. From there I began to explore and venture into these seas, without the fear of identifying with this or that genre. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Jazmine Sullivan, Snoh Aalegra, Blxst, HER.
Your debut album “Peace Of Mind”, released in January, sounds like something mature and conscious, an enveloping story that tells perfectly about you. Is there anything you started to realize about yourself while you were working on it?
I was simply growing up. Writing for me means putting fears, insecurities, moments of awareness, joys on paper. it is like having a self-analysis and necessarily painful passages are faced, and it is through pain that one grows.
Listening to your EP you perceive a very thoughtful Arya, in constant search of the perfect balance, your ‘peace of mind’. Which track represents the best this continuous research?
I would say “The Art of Letting Go“. The title is already quite explanatory! I’ve always been a control freak, about myself and the world around me. Today I know that there are things over which I have no power and that’s okay, people come and go and there is nothing I can do to make them stay but be myself and be transparent.
Many people find therapeutic and cathartic involvement in the process of producing and writing music. For you, is making music a tool to process certain experiences?
Absolutely. As I said before, for me writing is a form of self-analysis: it moves very powerful energies in whoever is involved. Often in the studio a sort of energy bubble is created that excludes all the exteriors, it is as if time were suspended, it is really a very strong sensation.
At this point we can’t wait for your live solo!
I hope it will happen as soon as possible!!
Credits
Art director, Styling & Set Design: Federica Intraligi
Photographer: Gaia Olga Bianchi
Ass. Photographer: Carlotta Zamboni
Editorial design: Federica Borghesio
Make up artist: Giulia Panaro
Clothes courtesy of PWC: Vintage Max Mara silk Coral Set, YEZAEL ss18 purple dress