Musicians Featured: Aieysha Haws
July 13th, 2022
Aieysha Haws on how Empowering Yourself Empowers Others
Our latest Musicians Featured article will connect you with singer-songwriter Aieysha Haws. Born in the US and raised in Toronto, ON, Aieysha is an RNB/Hip-Hop Soul fusion artist & singer-songwriter. Her love for creative writing shines through the unique style of her lyrics – a favourite line of mine is “You’re my Achilles heel objectified, gratified to my demise” from her song Butterflies.
Keep reading below to learn more about how Aieysha got started in music, the inspiration she drew from Patti LaBelle and Tina Turner, and her thoughts on how empowering yourself helps to empower others.
- Emily Weatherhead, Founder
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EW: How did you get started in music and how did that lead you to where you are today?
AH: I’ve always enjoyed music & performing throughout my childhood. I woke up one day and said “I want to sing.” I never looked at it from the standpoint of saying, “I’m going to do this professionally,” it was something that I wanted to do long-term because it’s in my heart and it’s what I’m passionate about. I started doing gigs in my community, school, and countless auditions – when I auditioned, I improved, I even persevered after I failed. If you want your dreams to come true, you have to speak them into existence, take action, and never give up.
A few years ago, I took a hiatus from music for self-discovery. I closed that chapter and opened up another, where I discovered more about what music means to me. 2021, I uncovered who I am, as an artist, by nurturing my authentic sound. Often, I sang covers. Finally, I released my own songs with success. Pursuing your passion will empower you and inspire those around you.
I enjoy creative writing, which is a way I’ve used to express myself, and I’ve incorporated this in my songs. Being unique, myself, I’ve opened a lot of new doors and I won’t stop.
“Sometimes you experience pain and you don’t realize it’s a learning process…you’ll love, you’ll lose, you’ll learn.”
EW: What moments in life is your music made for?
AH: My music is made for all moments in life. My name is Aieysha, which means “Life” itself, so I incorporate my life lessons into my music. If there’s something that you need to learn and grow from, you’re going to find that in a song, as a message specific to you. Everyone has a different perception of what they hear and what they feel, and then it’s up to them to interpret and apply new developments to their life.
Sometimes you experience pain and you don’t realize that it’s a learning process, and you beat yourself up about it. Really, it isn’t a waste, lessons take time to learn, if you take anything away from your experiences good or bad, is that the same lesson, would be very impactful to reapply in another situation in your life, or someone else’s. You’ll love, you’ll lose, you’ll learn. That’s the short extent of what I want listeners to takeaway from my music.
“Everything can have a double meaning. There’s always an opportunity to hear one thing and then find another meaning.”
EW: Getting into the song writing side of things, you have a really creative style with your lyrics, with lines like “I’d shiver in the cold of your kaleidoscope ego, your true colo(U)rs have shown.” What’s the song writing process like for you?
AH: I go within and interpret what I feel. Observations made about people, places, and things around me – I can see a vase and be like, “Oh my gosh, shattered crack, broken glass!” I try to sometimes personify things (objects), and I like to incorporate idioms. I am unique. I’ve always played on the way words sound – the syllables, the syntax, all of that.
Overall, everything can have a double meaning. There’s always an opportunity to hear one thing and then find another meaning. I try to play on people’s perceptions and make it add a poetry. When I said “Kaleidoscope ego” I was speaking to the shift of thinking and a mood that’s always changing, especially, revolving around sense of entitlement.
“There’s a lot of empathy in music…even though we don’t share the same experiences, we can relate to thoughts and emotions. We’re all looking for something.”
EW: How do you think that music can build community and connect us?
AH: We’re all unified in sound – we’re all one sound. Listening to one song, we’d all have a different interpretation, however, we can all agree we felt a way. There’s a lot of empathy in music. We will resonate with what we feel and what we hear, and in that sense, we are drawn to music. United.
Even though we don’t share the same experiences, we can relate to thoughts and emotions. We’re all looking for something – something that will speak to our entire beings, why are we living, why are we here, and what’s next? Questions and constant lessons connect us through music. Everyone has a story to be told. Perhaps, you’ve heard it before in a song?
“I hope to be an inspiration to my audience, especially youth.”
EW: I really like that – a lot of us can find a lot of meaning in music, and find those underlying universal connections.
AH: Yes, exactly.
EW: What’s your favourite part about playing live music to an audience, and what is that moment of connection like for you?
AH: What first inspired me is I heard Patti LaBelle and Tina Turner – and even though I didn’t know what these people looked like, it was like a live experience for me, and their music translated to me - I felt connected to their music. Seen. Heard. Felt.
I do enjoy being live on stage, connecting with people, together in the rhythm of the beat and captured in words. I look in the audience, I can see people reacting, or they tell me how I made them feel, and I know that I imparted a feeling of joy. They can have the same moment like I had listening to Patti LaBelle and Tina Turner – where they say, “This touched me in a way, so profound, and this is a memorable moment that I’ll keep with me forever.” I hope to be an inspiration to my audience, especially youth.
“If more music-making opportunities were accessible in communities, there would be more platforms for Indie artists…to express themselves and experience the joy of having their own songs to offer.”
EW: Yeah, just really fuelling those full-circle moments of getting inspired and then inspiring other people! Do you have any final thoughts on why it’s important to make music accessible to our communities?
AH: Absolutely. We don’t always have the resources available for people to even learn how to play instruments – some people can’t afford the classes as well. That also troubles people in terms of them having visibility when they want to create. There are a lot of great creators out there, but they just don’t know how to start.
If more music-making opportunities were accessible in communities, there would be more platforms for Indie artists, not even just for the matter of profit, but for people to express themselves and experience the joy of having their own songs to offer/indulge in. There’s also music therapy that helps people heal, which is creative. Sound is healing.
“Believe in yourself…no one else if going to believe in you until you just step out and you try.”
EW: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience?
AH: If there’s anyone out there, and they want to start pursuing music but they don’t know where to start – they think that they need to go to a professional school, or they think that they’re not good enough. It all just starts with belief, believe in yourself, stay motivated and the internet is a resource. Study all your inspirations and think about where you’ll see yourself, as an individual. No one else is going to believe in you until you just step out and you try.
Your strengths are not just your talents alone, but your weaknesses become strengths once you start looking at them a different way. It’s all a matter of perspective – you can have a weakness and say, “It has me at a disadvantage,” but your weaknesses become your strengths once you start honing-in on them. Never think that you’re not good enough – the greatest people, they train, they study. They’ve all made that one decision where they said, “I’m going to just take a leap of faith and see what happens.”
“It starts with vulnerability…nothing can come unless you allow yourself to be vulnerable and just open up to what’s out there.”
EW: I think that’s so important, embracing those parts of yourself that you want to hide – when you put them forward into your art that’s something that can be really powerful.
AH: Exactly. It starts with vulnerability, that is the key thing. Nothing can come unless you allow yourself to be vulnerable and just open up to what’s out there. You also want to make sure you’re not entertaining the wrong mindsets or experiences – always have your own discernment of what’s wrong and what’s right. Don’t force anything, especially, when what you want is showing you clear signs of opposition.
Stick to having integrity. Integrity’s important, it’s a matter of who you are and what your principles are. Don’t let anyone change you mentally or emotionally, allow yourself to grow with perspective, naturally.
“If you can allow yourself to be a student throughout life, then you can also be a teacher and help other people be empowered and thrive.”
EW: Yeah, finding that balance between vulnerability but having those boundaries as well.
AH: Exactly.
EW: To wrap up, what’s coming up next for you?
AH: July 26th, I’m going to be performing at Youth Day TO – an annual celebration of youth globally held at Dundas Square. I think that’s an important initiative for everyone to just come out, engage, and explore the display of artistic passions. Plus, it’s free! “The children are our future,” like Whitney Houston said. It’s so true, because all of our ideas and our perspectives all start in the early-stages of development for us as children.
As we grow throughout life and continue to learn, we’re always carrying that inner child and how we understand the world. Our learning never stops at being a kid – that’s when we started learning, but the learning keeps going. It’s a continuous process. And if you can allow yourself to be a student throughout life, then you can also be a teacher and help other people be empowered and thrive. #WiseEyes
