Soul Talkin': Musiq Soulchild
MUSIQ SOULCHILD by Gina Marie Rayson Long-time neo soul and R&B artist Musiq Soulchild has recently skyrocketed himself to the top of the charts with his release of LuvanMusiq. This Philadelphia native, as of the record’s March 13th, 2007 release, has seen not only immensely successful record sales, but has experienced much success with his singles “B.U.D.D.Y.” and “Teach Me”. In an interview with this musical genius, he discusses his change move to Atlantic, his unexpectedly- confusing name changes, his many musical accomplishments, plans to tour, and some plans for a hopeful future endeavor into another division of the world of the arts Gina Marie Rayson: So you recently moved to Atlantic and released your new album, Luvanmusiq—what inspired the change and how did it enable you to create such a great new record? Musiq Soulchild: Well, Kevin Liles was the inspiration for the change. He was the one who had signed me and when he moved from Def Jam to Atlantic, he asked how I felt about being there. I knew I wanted to be with him so he pulled some strings and that’s how I ended up where I am. In terms of making this album, I didn’t do much different, really; I tried to be consistent with what I’ve been doing but I worked with some new producers. I think that I was also really trying to find a balance between being commercially valuable and creative. GMR: The entire album, Luvanmusiq, as well as singles “Buddy” and “Teach Me” have been quickly climbing up the charts. What has your response been to this incredible success? MS: I’m just blessed that there are still people out there who are willing to support me and think that the music that I make is good. All of my success is up to them. GMR: What do you feel you have accomplished in making this record? MS: Well, I would like to think that I’ve reached that balance between being commercially valuable and creatively responsible. I don’t really know though; I have to depend on other people for that—on their responses and feedback. I feel accomplished in the sense that people respond, so that I know that I can still make music that people think is good music. GMR: Your records—from the songs down to the titles--always provide the sense of personal meaning. For you, what sort of emotional process did you go through during the recording of Luvanmusiq? MS: Well, really the only thing I have to say to answer that question is regarding the process I had to make from being a creative person to a business person. I have had to learn to understand the purpose of a lot of things that go on--and that need to be done--in the business to enhance the situation. I also worked with a lot of different people on this album—they helped me learn and enabled this experience to be unique. GMR: You’ve been able to record and perform with musical greats such as Alicia Keys, the Roots, and Carlos Santana, and have been nominated for numerous awards, including the BET awards and the Grammys---what has been the ultimate achievement so far in your musical career? MS: I think putting this album out has been my greatest achievement so far. The music business is hard because it is so unpredictable; being consistent and still being able to put out a new album is great—especially because I’m really not like many other things that are coming out. To do this and to still be successful despite this is pretty big. GMR: You are had previously gone by music soulchild, then simply to musiq—reportedly claiming that you hadn’t yet become music’s soulchild—and then, recently, back to Musiq Soulchild again. Does this mean that you feel you’ve achieved becoming music’s soulchild? MS: Nothing really changed—it’s just attention focused on one part of the name. The emphasis on “Musiq” was to stress my purpose; the name has always been “Musiq Soulchild”, but I just started going by one. It kind of confused people--I didn’t realize it was going to have such an effect. That question gets asked a lot! GMR: What are your plans for the future as of right now? Any touring? MS: Well, I’m just finishing up all of my promotions here right now—today is actually my last day. I’m gonna go to the UK and to other parts Europe for about a week or so to promote LuvanMusiq there and will hopefully come back to the states and be doing a full tour. GMR: What are your goals for the future and what can we expect to see from you? MS: Well for now I’m just, you know, supporting the album. Hopefully, someday, in the future, I will be able to help other artists accomplish their goals by helping them learn a lot of the things that I have learned throughout the years. Also, I really hope to accomplish my goals in film—filmmaking and acting. Acting wouldn’t be so bad, you know? It’s another creative way to tell a story and in a song you’ve got, what, three minutes?; in a movie you’ve got an hour and a half. There is so much more time to tell better stories and elaborate more—and there are a lot of stories that need to be told. I’ve started to tell them in my music and continue to tell them in the future. |
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