ARDN Interview

Nehemiah Terry: What inspired the the stylistic change from your earlier songs like ‘Till the Morning’ and ‘Paper’ to your most recent sound on songs like ‘Can’t be friends’ and ‘Cry about’

ARDN: That's a very interesting question because I feel like when I was making the music, I felt like people were gonna be like ‘he's hopping into a new bag.’If people really pay attention to my music, I think you would kind of realize that it's not that new. I've been doing that since my very first stuff. I've always seen my voice as an instrument.
And I've always pitched my vocals, whether I'm pitching it up or pitching it down. I've always tried to play around with it, but I think this was just the most obvious it's ever been. For example, a song like ‘Wavin’ the whole hook my voice is pitched up, but I just think it's never been this obvious. For ‘Cry about’, I had my voice pitched for the whole song. It's not something I've ever really done before. And to be honest, it was something that I was kind of scared to do because I'm usually in my rap bag, you know what I mean. I didn't know how people were going to perceive me dropping a song with no rapping and all vocals pitched and stylistically it being different. Even a song like ‘Can't be friends' being a little more melodic. So I don't think it's new, but I would say what inspired it is I just like to challenge myself and to just be in a different bag, being in a different zone. I really like to display my versatility as an artist. I'm not just a rapper, I'm not just a singer. I like to really explore different avenues and really show my range.
So I think that's kind of what inspired it, just a desire to show people that I'm very versatile and my artistry is a range, know what I mean. It's a spectrum. Sometimes I feel like rapping, sometimes I feel like singing. So I'll say that's what kind of inspired it. But I don't really think it's new. I think it's always been in me.

Nehemiah Terry: When did you first fall in love with music? From just listening to music, the art itself, and then how long did it take for you to go from that to making music?

ARDN:
That's a good question. When did I first fall in love with music? I don't know. I feel like I've probably honestly always been in love with music from a young age. When I was really young, I didn't really have access to music in the way that I did when I was 15. I want to say 15, because when I was 15, that's when I first got a phone for myself. And I was able to really dive into music and kind of curate my taste and really fall in love with certain artists. So I would say 15 is when I really fell in love with music, but I think I've always been in love with music from a young age, I've always played instruments. Whether I was listening to mainstream music or on youtube or on the radio, I always gravitated to music and to creating. I think I've always loved music, but if I were just to give you an answer, I would say like 15 is when it became a little bit more clear for me that I really love music, just because I was able to have the opportunity to myself, to shut the rest of the world out and be like, this is what I like. It's not just the radio. It's not what my parents are playing. It's not what my siblings are playing. This is what I like. So I'd say around 15 and literally the next year after that is when I started writing music. It didn't take that long, I'd say, a year or less. I've always been in love with music, but there was definitely a shift in my appreciation for it by the time I was 15.

Nehemiah Terry: What song would you say you had the most fun creating? 

ARDN:
Off the top of my head, I would say ‘Paper’. Paper was a really fun process, just because I pulled up to the studio and the hook was already done. It's not me on the hook, it's my boy, Mardi, who's on the hook and his vocals are just pitched. And I just remember hearing that for the first time and being instantly hooked to the hook, and being like I gotta do something to this and I literally wrote the song that night. It was just the energy of creating that song was just so fun. A lot of the time when you're making music, it's so easy to be caught up in what people are going to think of the song. How the song is going to perform or what am I going to do with the song, while you're creating it. Even though you shouldn't really be in that headspace. With ‘Paper' everything was tuned out, I was literally just locked in on the music and I was having so much fun doing it. So I'd say paper is one of them, for sure. ‘Too bad’ was a fun one. It was a lot of fun, I think just because of the way the song is a very dynamic song, the way I'm flowing on the song, and the type of energy on the song. I think the hook is fun in itself.  

Nehemiah Terry: You had early success with songs like ‘Till the morning” and ‘Paper’, why do you think people gravitated to those songs early on?

ARDN: I honestly couldn't give you a clear answer, because sometimes you make music and you think something is going to pop off. Other times a song that you never expected to pop off does really well. And funny enough, ‘Till the Morning’ was a throw away, it was sitting in the vault until someone told me, “yo, just put this one section up on Tik Tok”. And I put it up and it blew up. So I can't really give you a clear answer or like a definitive answer, but I can give you what I think. I think it's just the energy of that song. The production of it is super groovy, you know what I mean. And I've noticed people gravitate to my groovy sounds, like ‘Paper’ or  ‘Till the Morning’. Songs like that. I feel like people just like it for its energy. It makes you wanna dance, it makes you wanna move a little bit. So I think people gravitate to that sound, but also I was being hella real on ‘Till the morning’ and being hella vulnerable, you know what I mean. And I think people kind of just dig those lyrics, and a lot of people may be going through the same emotions or the same feelings that I was going through.

I would say ‘Till the morning’ specifically, I think it's a combination of just sonically, the production. And just like what I was talking about, it was just very unfiltered, very real, very raw. And I think people appreciate that type of authenticity. So I think that's kind of what gravitated people to it. But if I'm being real, I’ve tried to make music before and cook up a formula that would make people want to gravitate towards the music. But I realized I can't really figure that out. People will always decide what they like, and you'll never really have control of that.

Nehemiah Terry: How did your tour with Isaiah Rashad come about and how was that experience overall?

ARDN:
Yeah, that experience was life changing. So we actually did two tours. We did a Canadian tour and we did a European tour. Both those tours just gave me the experience that I need especially early on in my career. I learned a lot of things from my Isaiah Rashad just from watching him and experiencing so many of his shows live. And also some of my own things, like interacting with the crowd, knowing what songs to perform, knowing how to perform the songs, learning how to project my voice. That experience was super life changing for me, not only because it helped me learn, but also I was able to actually meet people in real life and see how my music's actually impacted people. Which is my favorite part of touring, because people aren't numbers anymore, people aren't just streams, they're real people with real feelings. That I would say that's my favorite part of the tour and it just came through my label at the time. That's how that whole tour happened because my label was affiliated with TDE. Basically they put me on as support for Isaiah Rashad, so I couldn't believe it was going on. I am just so happy that happened so early on in my career because I feel like as I go, I have these skills that I learned that I can apply to bigger stages, hopefully one day. I'm not learning things so late. I'm just very grateful to have been in the development period, because sometimes a lot of artists don't get that before the moment really comes.

Nehemiah Terry: What was it like getting Sir on your song ‘Shine’? How did that come about and how was the experience working with him on the track?

ARDN: That was really dope, man. That did come through the label as well. But that was really dope because he's deadass one of my favorite artists. He has one of my favorite songs of all time, ‘John Redcorn’. I say it all the time that I wish I wrote that song and when an artist is able to make another artist feel like that, they're special. So I've always looked up to Sir, I've always enjoyed his music, so being able to get a song with him was a deadass dream come true, as corny as it sounds, but it was amazing. And I'm super grateful for that. How that came together, that was actually originally his song. He was working on his album, but I think that song hadn't made it on his album. Someone played me that song. They actually play me two songs, but I think I gravitated more towards that one. And I was like, “this is crazy, let me try something on it.” Eventually I added my verses. It didn't make his album, so I took it from him and I released it. I'm just grateful that he was down to be a part of it and be a part of the process and was willing to collaborate with me, because like I said, I really appreciate his artistry and everything he's contributed to the music game.

Nehemiah Terry: I know you have a tour coming up. What has been your favorite city you've visited, and which city are you most excited to visit in the future?

ARDN: I'm gonna just start with the second half of your question. I'm most excited to do a show in New York. I've done a show in New York, but it wasn't my show and I was on for like 30 seconds. I was a guest for another artist in Brooklyn, but I'm most excited to do a show in New York. New York is my favorite city in the world. New York is lit, their culture is strong, their scene is strong, their history is strong, and I just love everything about New York. I'm most excited to do that also because I've never actually toured in the United States. I've done Canada and I’ve done Europe, but my biggest audience is in the U.S, so I really want to tap into the U.S. But my favorite city I've ever performed in, I don't know if I could just pick one, but one that comes to mind is Montreal. That show to this day is one of my craziest shows. So I would say Montreal or Paris. Maybe I got a thing for French people, or maybe they got a thing for me. I don't know, but they're always lit. So I'll say Montreal or Paris. And then I probably say Rotterdam, or any place in Germany. We did five cities in Germany, literally anywhere in Germany, I'd want to go because the Germans know how to turn up, the Germans know how to show love.