Sharks In The Water: Gabrielle B.
Oklahoma City-born R&B Singer/Songwriter Gabrielle B. has been honing her ear for music and skills for as long as she can remember. From learning to play the piano from her mother at five years old, growing up with a father who played bass and had a band, going to her older sister’s live performances, and being in her grade school choir, music has always been a part of Gabrielle’s life. A lot of times, it was one of her only outlets.
This past April, the artist released her 3rd EP entitled Feel Something. AnimalXHouse spoke with Gabrielle B. about the making of the project, originally not wanting to finish recording fan favorite record “Easy”, encouraging more expression and feeling during the highly desensitized times we’re in, and more.
Vanice: When did you begin singing and writing songs?
Gabrielle B: I would say maybe in 2013 or 2014, I actually wrote and recorded my very first song. People started gravitating towards that song, which I literally just did out of fun, I was like okay maybe I am onto something. So that's when I started taking it more seriously because I used to just do covers on YouTube and I would just post those for fun. Then people were like, you know, you should really consider doing this.
What was it like going into the process of creating your 3rd EP, Feel Something?
So the first song that I remember working on for it was actually "Take Out" and I wanted to release that one as my first single for sure. After "Take Out" I was like, okay, I'm going to keep going with this sensual vibe that I've got going on so that's when I started working on "Easy" and I kind of gravitated towards it the most out of the two songs.
After that, I think that's when the project began to take on a life of it's own, as far as the vibe of the project. I definitely wanted the title of it to represent each song as far as you being able to feel something with each song that you listen to. I never really go into EPs with an idea but the more that I create and the more songs that I write, everything comes together on its own. Especially with that Nina Simone intro that I found in the middle of writing, I was like, this is definitely going to tie it all together.
Did you think that “Easy” would be a fan favorite at the time?
I had no idea that people would enjoy it as much as they are. I was personally a little apprehensive about it at first but now that I see how receptive people have been, it has encouraged me to play more with that vibe and everything.
When I began recording the song, because I record everything myself, I actually stopped working on it midway through because it was like a little out of my comfort zone vocally. I had never really recorded something so sensual before. I just pulled back and considered not even record it but because I started it back in Oklahoma, when I moved to New York I picked up on it again and I was more into it. I probably finished the song itself within a week or so after I moved out here and settled.
What made you open Feel Something with that excerpt from Nina Simone as the Intro track?
She basically said exactly how I was feeling at the time. We all are pretty desensitized at the moment because we see so much on our phones. We take in so much on the daily that it's like sometimes we don't even react anymore because we're so numb to that. So for her to be like, you know, everybody's half dead and her only purpose is to make someone else feel something, is kind of what my goal is and not even just with music but in life in general. When I heard it, I knew it embodied the entire project to a T. I like to do things like that to summarize projects and introduce them -- with my previous project Shift, I used a Lauryn Hill snippet because she was touching on some of the things that I was feeling at that time.
Outside of encouraging people to feel something, is there anything else that you hope listeners will take away from this EP?
Really to just express themselves. I feel like in this day and age, we're also so prone to being closed off, feeling like we can do it all ourselves and that we don't need anybody else. It's okay to feel those things but expressing our deepest desires for someone or some thing is also very important as well.
Is there anything you’ve learned on this journey thus far that you feel has been fundamental in your growth?
I would say probably as far as the impact that it's had on me as an artist and even as a person in general, it's just to really stay true to who I am and to not let whatever may come from me doing this music thing, get to my head, always remember who I am, where I come from, and why I do it. Before my grandmother passed, she would always remind me to stay humble and stay true to who I am. It's quick in an industry like this to get sort of big headed and think that you're more important than you are. So I would say overall just being true to who I am, it's what I embody as an artist and as a person.
Are you working on anything new right now?
I'm always, always writing. I would definitely like for my next project, whenever that may be, to be my debut album. So I'm really just trying to take my time, live life a little bit and see where things go with that.
Is there anything that you would like for people to know about your and your music?
I don't like to talk about myself. I just honestly like to leave it in the music so I feel like if you listen to my music, you kind of understand the type of person that I am or what it is that I represent. With whatever I create and whatever I do, I want people to feel something and to resonate with it the best way that they can. I really don't even like to make it so much about myself but more so about the music. Like what do you feel when you listen to it? Where does it take you when you listen to it? I like to leave it open for interpretation depending on who's listening and how it relates to them in their life is completely up to them. It's all in the music.