ELJÉ * 2002
( One For The Future? You Choose… ) - Wednesday 10th April 2024
Words by Theo Darvill. Photography by Dan Medhurst. Thanks to Alice French.
Introduce yourself and describe your sound…
“I go by the name of Eljé, I’d say I'm a bit of a multi genre artist and I like to discover loads of different sounds but I very often like to go back to R&B roots when I can. I feel like my vocals are very R&B, whether that's over drum and bass, Jersey Club or house but there will always be that kind of soul sound over the top of it too. I feel like in terms of my brand, I like to think I'm still quite mysterious at this point. People know what I look like but I don't post a lot of my face. I kind of hide behind the camera and I like keeping that mysterious element.”
What do you think makes you different to the other young up and coming artists of today?
“It’s an interesting question because lots of people tell me I'm different and sometimes I wonder what it actually is that makes me and my sound so different. I think that I sing quite softly - a lot of people go all out over dance music, doing all of these crazy runs and riffs but I don't really do that. I like to think that I'm quite calm with my vocals compared to a lot of other dance music artists.”
What’s your story? How did it all start and what challenges have you faced along the way so far?
“I was born in Cheltenham and then I moved to North London when I was quite young. I’ve always liked singing but I never really took it too seriously until I started having singing lessons from like Year 7. Then, fast forward to 6th form and I had to move back to Gloucester - I was just in a really bad mindset and I didn't really wanna do music. Then the college I went to, they didn't care if you did music or anything too, it was one of those if you don't want to be a lawyer, a doctor or a vet, then we don't really care about you kind of things.
Then my A levels got cancelled because of COVID which was fun. I messaged my singing teacher and I asked if they know of anyone that could help get me a job in music. She introduced me to my now manager who I've now known for like 5 years. He's literally developed from a teenager not knowing what I was doing to what I am now. He runs an artist development programme and got me involved in that - now I'm making music full time with the guys that literally found me when I was young, it’s proper full circle.”
Moving forwards, what are some of your short-term and long-term career goals for the future?
“Short term, getting this EP out is a proper big goal for me; being able to have an actual body of work. I definitely wanna get that done by this time next year, hopefully by the summer or by the end of summer at least. I've already done a couple of festivals but I’d love to do Wireless one day - l used to go when I was a kid and I’ve always absolutely loved it.
Another long term goal of mine is getting at least three major collaborations - either if it's with artists just to write or doing something with artists that I used to listen to. I also really want to land music for a series or a film or even a TV advert, that's a massive thing for me. Doing a tour in America, a brand partnership or being a support act for a big artist would also be insane. My last long term goal… I'd love Skepta to remix a song of mine one day, that would be sick.”
Talk to me about some of the unsung heroes of your music career to date. Is there anyone that you perhaps wouldn’t be here today without?
“Yeah, I definitely feel that people like Lianne La Harris and Cleo Sol have massively influenced me on the R&B side. I feel like they have their moments where people suddenly discover them - I feel like only now people are really starting to know who Cleo Sol is but I think staying hidden helped make it purely about their music and that's what I love about them both. I feel like there’s a lot of expectation on artists today to use their image but I don’t actually think you have to, it can sometimes take away from your music, hence why I like the idea of staying quite hidden. In terms of dance music it's still quite a lot of like old school dance like Sweet Female Attitude and co.
Also, my sister, my mum and my manager. My sister can sing as well, hearing her singing around the house when I was younger and her having singing lessons just made me want to do the same. My mum really pushed me to continue with singing lessons and my manager… I would not be in this position if if it wasn't for him. I can’t trust anyone like him and being able to fully trust someone with your career, knowing that we're in it for the long run is and always has been really important to me.”
“See Through” by Eljé
“Yeah, so Kenni Blu, the person that produced it, literally made it on the train in 20 minutes. I just had a feeling about it and I asked him to send it to me. I kept listening to it and I just kept singing. I put this sample over it, just see if it worked and he managed to chop it. I don't know how he did it but it just worked.
This one's definitely about the feeling of being able to see someone look straight through you - you want them to see you properly but they kind of just look through you like they're more interested in other people. With a lot of my songs, I just write them and it just comes out. I don't take inspiration from a lot of things, I think the deeper ones about like mental health, they’re definitely a lot more personal but when it comes to these kind of songs, it’s almost more of an art. I love it the fact that you can write music for therapy but you can also write music purely as a form of art too.”
Favourite lyric from the track…
“I think “I’m longing for your love it’s true but you don’t see the worth in me, it’s like I’m see through” really encapsulates what I spoke about earlier, the whole meaning behind the song - that you’re wanting someone to see the worth in you but they seem more interested in other people.”
