Our ATL Rated R series comes to a close with our ‘ATL: Recommends’ special; 14 artists we believe will do incredible things in 2022.
Dublin artist Soulé returned with her brand new 90’s inspired single ‘Body’ and gave us the inside scoop on how the track was made “Funny enough no one knows this yet, but that was the first take of ‘Body’ that we did and we never changed it”. We can’t believe that the track we get to hear was the very first take! We are too stunned to speak.
We also caught up with rising pop artist Fya Fox about getting into music and finding her voice; “I trained as a classical singer…I then crossed over into the gig scene, doing cover gigs. When I started writing my own stuff I found it really difficult to find my own sound because I’d sort of trained as a classical singer, and was kind of mimicking sounds or voices for the cover gigs. At the start I was like who am I? what is my voice?" It was fascinating to learn this, as a lot of artists can go through this at the beginning of their careers. This is something for all aspiring artists can learn from Fya Fox; the more you write and release the more you begin to find your voice, then just like Fya, we know you’ll nail it!
We found some absolute gems on ATL Recommends from artists like;
- Nixer
- Alice LA
- Brooke
- Dark Tropics
- Newdad
- Soulé
- Fya Fox
- USNA
- Hyfin & Jordan Adetunji
- Winnie Ama
- Jordan Rawling
- Travi the Native
- GHSTGHSTGHST
What a lineup! We even got our Eurovision on when we spoke to Bellaghy singer Brooke, as she hedges her bets to represent Ireland in this years Eurovision Song Contest. “I’ve watched Eurovision since I was a baby. I think everyone in Ireland holds a sense of pride as we’ve done well in the past. In the past few years we haven’t qualified, and that’s just because times are changing and music is constantly changing. I feel like getting the opportunity to represent my country, it’s unbelievable, and this song feels really special as it really might bring Ireland into a new age of competing”. Brooke’s song ‘That’s Rich’ is currently shortlisted in the top 6 to represent Ireland at Eurovision this year. We wish Brooke the best of luck with her journey to Eurovision!
And in between all of that, we managed to catch up with pop noir duo Dark Tropics to chat about their debut album ‘Ink’, and where it all began with their latest single ‘Escape’: “the song is quite special to us, as this is the first one we ever demod and recorded”. Rio from the band says, “It’s like a little baby to me. Those vocals were the first time I’d ever laid down vocals and recorded anything”. What a full circle moment for the band! There’s no stopping them as they gear up for performances, and continue to polish their sound even further.
And that’s it for our ‘Rated R’ series. Over the month of January we’ve had ATL Rocks, Raps, Raves and Recommends, showcasing some amazing artists. So remember if you’re in a band, or you’re an artist making music no matter what genre, we would love to hear from you. Get in touch and send us your music via the introducing uploader here: bbc.co.uk/introducing.
