5 Questions With’: Aziya

During the past year and a half of pandemic time female British rocker, Aziya, (pronounced AZ-EYE-YA), age 21, took to Instagram to play cover songs when R&B Oscar winner H.E.R. took notice of her. The East Londoner was plucked out of twenty thousand up and coming talents dubbed Instagram ‘Girls with Guitars’ livestream. “It’s important to collaborate with people who want to jam with you. That is very important to me.” The contest propelled her to new heights. The singer soon was snatched up by Warner Brothers Records.

Aziya wrote her first lyrics and started singing around age ten. Soon the singer’s parents bought her a guitar to match her craft. “My mom could tell I was writing these songs and needed some form of a complement. So they got me guitar lessons when I was kid.” Raised in East London under a healthy plethora of music, Aziya’s ears were fed System of A Down to Patti Smith to A Tribe Called Quest. “There were so many different genres going on. I was never prevented from listening to anything. It was all at my dispense and gave me a fucked-up music taste,” she admits. The singer then graduated from the Brit School in 2018. The school helped her grow into a stronger producer, singer, and writer.

Aziya’s (nee Aldridge -Moore) self-produced 80s tinged rock single, “Blood”, is a ferocious anthem about bitter family relations as she hollers in the chorus “You’re my blood/it’s a word that you don’t understand/You’re my blood/write it off/cause you know that you can.” “Writing “Blood” was very cathartic for me. It was about a certain situation between a family member and me. I think it can relate to anyone feeling distant from loved ones even though you are blood related. I think it is a universal message even though it was a personal one for me,” she says.

“Blood” was musically inspired by the sounds of the New York City garage rock band scene of the early 2000s especially by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. “I love Karen O. I wanted my sound to echo that gritty early guitar sound of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. You don’t have to love rock music to listen to my music,” the singer says bluntly. “A lot of my hunger comes from me wanting to change the norm and make it clear to the public that hear my music that it’s me writing and playing. I want to be the artist that I didn’t get to see growing up.”

With her long black locks of hair, her black leather ensembles, and her stylistic moves in the “Blood” video some might even compare Aziya to the late great R&B star Aaliyah, but her sound, even though it contrasts, is what Aaliyah’s was at the beginning of her career—refreshingly cool, exceptionally avant-garde, and stylistically like no other.

I sat down with the eclectic singer to talk music trends, her influences, and growing up in the social media age.

Read the full interview below…

Words by Robert Frezza

EQ: Is it intimidating debuting on the music scene as a female rocker in a current dominated male field?

A: It is challenging. I want the public to listen to the music that I am making. There are so many female guitarists that are not being recognized. My main aim is to completely disregard this whole stigma around it so you can listen to my music.

EQ: You were born right on the cusp of the social media age. What are the pros and cons of social media?

A: The pros of social media is that it brings back that punk sensibility. You can do it yourself and reach so many people. The cons are that it can suck you into this vacuum. People compare themselves to others by placing the best versions of themselves on there. If you are having anxiety from it, step away. My advice is to just stay in your lane.

EQ: We Speak of Tides is the new EP. Can you tell me more about it—lyrically and musically?

A: It’s about people, friends, family, lovers with the idea of connection and touch. Those are big themes throughout Tides and my music in general.

Musically the EP is rock music. If anything, I crave to hear the rock genre. There wasn’t any pressure to fill that void right now.

I want to be the artist that I didn’t get to see growing up.