Aja Comes to Terms with Vulnerability in Upcoming Album

Revered artist, performer, and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Aja is getting ready to release their forthcoming sophomore album, Crown, on May 21.

Incorporating themes of Black spirituality, fame, race, class, gender, and sexuality, Aja says the new record is about them standing tall and proud while overcoming various hardships and coming to terms with their vulnerability. Instrumentation, singing, and chanting throughout the album is tied directly to the Lukumi faith, which stems from Nigeria.

Born and raised in the heart of Brooklyn, Aja became an international role model for people of all backgrounds and is largely impactful within the LGBTQ community. They first brought nonbinary visibility into the music industry with their critically acclaimed 2019 debut album, Box Office, and they are an outspoken activist who hopes to empower fans to oversee their own destiny.

OFM had the opportunity to talk more with Aja about Crown and how they have advanced as an artist since dropping their drag persona.

Hi, Aja! Thank you for taking some time to chat with me. How are you doing during these days of COVID?
Oh, wow. It has been crazy because I feel like a lot of people have been having a really hard time, and I almost feel selfish saying that I have had a very cathartic time because I was touring and constantly going, and now I finally have time to settle down, write my album, and do everything I have been wanting to do. I am not grateful that the pandemic happened because I feel terrible that people have lost loved ones and things have been shitty, but at the same time, I feel grateful, and I am trying to see light in the experience. I was able to unravel and get my emotions in line.

You have released a couple singles from your upcoming album, Crown. How have they been received?
Honestly, I have received very positive feedback. Anytime I release a project, I am always like, ‘I do not want to put an expectation on how it is going to go.’ I know there has been a little bit of a resistance to digesting my music for a lot of people who may have known me from television because they do not know what I am going to do. I have come off as very polarizing and unpredictable to them. So, I did not know what to expect, but I am very happy that everything came out great. I have received so much positive feedback.

I especially love your song, “21 Roads.” Can you talk more about its concept and inspiration?
Yes. “21 roads” is essentially about me feeling like I was at this huge gate in my life where I am at this huge door, and it leads to a hallway. There are all these other doors, I was just like, ‘Whoa, I am not just at a split in the road.’ I have to make big decisions, I have to find out what I am going to do with myself, and I have to choose between myself and my artistic integrity, maybe my possible career. I have to choose between a lot of things.

So, “21 Roads” is really about how hard it truly was for me to choose myself and my artistic integrity over what people want and expect from me. I suffered a lot because it is not easy to be in that hallway, and you feel like every door is locked. “21 Roads” is the introduction to my album and my journey, but at the same time, it is saying that this decision is just the beginning.

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Crown will be released in May. Overall, what can you tell us about it?
The album is so vulnerable and has so much open heart. I wanted to bare my soul, and I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it. I have literally cried writing this, cried listening to it, went through saying, I love this, I hate this—every bit of it is so thought out and from the heart. I actually took a lot of inspiration from the writing styles of Billie Eilish. I feel like she has this vulnerability that bares everything, and she spills her heart into her music.

To be honest with you, when I started writing music and publishing it, I did not really know how to do that because I was scared of my own vulnerability. Writing this project has been very cathartic because it has allowed me to let go of a lot of negative emotions, and instead of taking them out on people, putting them into music. Who knew I could do that? [Laughs].

What do you hope audiences take away from your music?
I just want people, when they are feeling a certain emotion, to be able to click on a track from my album and say, I relate to this. The same way that I listen to artists like Billie Eilish, Tyler the Creator, and Nicki Minaj. Essentially, I just want people to know that if they are struggling with that vulnerability, I was too, and I still am. Nobody’s perfect, we are all work in progress. There is this big pressure from society that says, you have to be on 24/7 and you cannot say how you feel. I want people to know they can say how they feel, and that is OK.

One of CROWN’s major themes is Black spirituality. Why is this so important to you?
This is very important to me because I am a practitioner of the Lukumi faith, which is an African diaspora that came from West Africa and over the transatlantic slave trade. It made its way to the Caribbean, Brazil, and all these places, but it is ultimately a spirituality that is based on survival because there is a lot of syncretism that went into it. Hiding your gods, Christian and Catholic idols, so that way you can still worship your own faith.

I am a priest in my practice, but at the same time, it is also very relatable and concept to being an artist and being in front of millions of people. Sometimes, you feel like you have to hide behind imagery, a fashion look, music, character, or personality. I feel like it is such a big euphemism for me. It applies to every area of my life. Also, I feel like people right now in the mainstream are sort of bouncing off and taking a lot of inspiration from Black spirituality but are not really involved in these practices. I just wanted to be a representation for someone who is involved with these practices to share my voice.

Millions of people know you as a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race, but you no longer identify as a drag performer and even disbanded the Haus of Aja. Personally, how has life been since you made those decisions?
Life for me has been like a roller coaster. Like I said, it is not an easy decision to just sort of leave that idea behind, but I think a lot of people underestimate the struggle that went behind not just the decision but navigating that decision. I feel like there were a lot of emotions that I dealt with in navigating gender, identity, and realizing that I do not have a drag persona. This is just me wearing different clothes and fashion. I do identify with a very feminine side of the spectrum as well, and I realized I did not want to perform that because I am that.

There was a big pressure at some point where it was like, you have to show up in heels, a wig, and lashes or you are not a woman, or you are not presenting in drag. Suffering from gender dysphoria is difficult because you start to question yourself and you start to question what your own identity is and how you are presenting that. That is the honest reason why I did take a step back from being a drag performer, but at the same time, I just feel like there was a lot of gatekeeping with me and a lot of people kind of gathered a very small box image of me from television. I feel what people perceived of me was not totally accurate to who I was. So, I felt very inauthentic and trying to live up to an expectation that, from the beginning, was not even me.

Are you involved with the Drag Race franchise anymore or even watching the news seasons?
I went through a struggle period of being like, ‘I am not going to watch the show and I’m not going to support it.’ I have sort of gotten over that, and I was like, I need to deal with it and watch it because I want to support the people who are on the show. There are still amazing queer artists who come from different walks of life, and I want to be there as a person in my community to support them. So, I am watching the new seasons sporadically.

I just finished binge watching season two of Drag Race UK, and I am blown away by the talent that people have. As someone who was in that arena for a while as well, I know how much work goes into it. I am very happy for all the contestants that are doing this, even now. I do hope the show opens up and becomes more inclusive, but overall, right now, I am trying to be as supportive as possible and put my own emotions aside.

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May I ask, how are you and Kandy Muse? There was some beef between you two right as this current season began.
I think that Kandy and I are just friends who have ups and downs in our friendship. Now that we both have a big platform, our relationship is on display for the world to see. We have had our ups and downs, but I think we have come to a very comfortable and happy place in our friendship where we are very understanding of each other. It really just took the conversation any friends should have. Any relationship needs communication. Once Kandy and I sat down and spoke of our differences, we decided we really do have a big love for each other, and we are much happier being great friends than not being in each other’s lives.

How do you plan to take your artistry to the next level?
I think I am doing it already by doing what is unexpected from me. Still to this day, I get messages every day of people saying, ‘Oh my God, you’re doing something completely different! Oh my God, what are you doing?’ I think there are some people who may have stopped paying attention because I am not calling my art drag, but essentially, I feel like what I am doing is very adjacent to drag. I’m a producer, I’m a writer, I’m still going to wear amazing fashions, I’m still going to give high energy performances. These are all things that are just a part of me as a person. I am just stepping away from enforcing a performance of gender, and that is pretty much it.

What more do you hope to accomplish with your platform?
With my platform, I would love so many things, honestly. Obviously, to be able to support myself and family. I have always tried to support my mom; she is really the only family I have. I am adopted and raised by a single mother. Everything I do is pretty much to make sure that she is good and has a secure future. I do not care if I have $200 left in my account. If she needs $300, I will give her that $200, then run outside and hustle $100. I will do anything for that woman, so that is first and foremost.

Also, I want to give and share my platform to other Black, Latinx, people of color who do not have a voice. I feel like everyone has a voice, but some people do not believe their own voices amply. The truth is you are going to hear us no matter what. I want them to know that they can speak up. Then besides that, all the regular stuff. I would love to support myself, buy a house and have these nice things, but that is just the embellishments after the important stuff. The important stuff is family and helping your community.

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention our plug?
I would just like to say, thank you to everyone who is still with me on this journey. I look forward to sharing this project because it is very important to me and my community. I really want people to give it a chance because I feel with that resistance, people sometimes think, you are a drag artist, you are not a musician, you will never be a musician. I have been told you don’t have what it takes to be mainstream. That is not my goal. My goal is just to make art. That is really it. Make art and take it somewhere.

Follow Aja on Twitter and Instagram or visit their official website to stay up-to-date with the latest news and projects. Their music is available on Spotify, iTunes, and all other digital streaming platforms.

Photos Courtesy of Hearts Spade PR