Billboard charting Singer/Songwriter Aiden Leslie took some time to slow down recently and chat with Entertain Me about his latest single I Just Go.
As you can well imagine other things came up during the conversation as well, but you are going to have to keep calm and read on to find out what those might be...so let's do it Aiden!
AL: When was the last time we spoke? We have done an interview before.
MS: Yes, it was for "Worlds Away" (laughs) that's why I thought it would be fun to do it again!
AL: That is so crazy! That was like, five years ago! It feels like it was just yesterday, but it's been five years, that's crazy!
MS: It's longer than I thought it was.
AL: It's half a decade! (both laugh)
MS: Pride season just passed, did you perform a lot during it?
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| Photo: Rick Day |
AL: Yeah, I got to get around (laughs) Getting out there is always good. I just put "I Just Go" out. I feel really proud of the whole release of that single. Everyone on my team did a really good job of getting it out there. Artistically I am very proud of the work we did. That's always an important thing to do and to feel, especially in today's music climate. If you are proud of it and happy with it that's what really matters.
MS: That's how I feel about it too.
AL: We live in this fifteen second world. Where you have to get your message out in a very quick time frame, via Instagram or anything like that. People don't have the attention spans that they once had, because of the world we live in everything is so quick. So you see people putting out an album and not everybody really catches it because it is too much for people to take in, you know what I mean?
MS: Yes, when I was a kid I was an avid reader, now it's a lot for me to read a book. My attention span has diminished with the times.
AL: Right. There are pluses and minuses to the world we live in. There are so many benefits to technology, but on the flip side, do we really stop and savor much anymore? Like Madonna she puts out twenty-five tracks on an album because she has to get so much material out there in a short amount of time. Normally people would only do, like, twelve to thirteen tracks.
MS: My favorite track off of "Rebel Heart" is "Ghosttown."
AL: Oh My God! This is the funny thing. Reports on the tour which just kicked off is that she's not even performing it right now. It's pretty insane it got the most attention and it's the best song on the album! It's so well written, it's more like her old stuff. It's something Miley or Beyonce' would sing. It's really contemporary, I love that song!
MS: Speaking of contemporary, "I Just Go" really is. The video has gotten some great comments on YouTube.
AL: Yes, yeah...when we really sat down to think about how we were going to do it, there were a lot of different concepts. I really wanted to do something very cinematic and emotional with the video. The waves and running through the waves was this whole thing for me. It was like fighting both worlds trying to break out of one and go to the other. "I Just Go" is such a personal song. It's about doing the one thing over and over again and expecting a different result. That is the definition of insanity! (laughs) It's a universal theme of repeating and repeating something that is going to change, but it does not often change. It was written at a really dark time in my life when I was really hanging out with the wrong crowd and doing a lot of not good things, very unhealthy things. It caught up to me and I couldn't get out of it, it was like a hamster wheel. I was always trying to find my way in circumstances that weren't going to happen for me. It was about picking the wrong guys and picking the wrong situation. I think that is something we can all identify with.
MS: Definitely.
AL: We all go through that. The goal is to try and make the right choices. One of the lyrics in the song is "running down this path searching with my eyes closed searching for the truth." Running down a path, but you've got your eyes closed and refuse to see what is in front of you. You don't want to see it, it's always the struggle of trying to do the right thing. Like the the lyric says "I could care, but I just go." You keep doing the same thing over and over again until you finally learn, like Maya Angelou said: "Lessons are repeated, until they are learned." - when you know better you'll do better.
MS: By the way, I meant to say this earlier, I think the reason it doesn't seem like five years since we have spoke is because we have communicated through Facebook and Twitter.
AL: Yes! That's why! (both laugh) You see each other on Facebook and say "Hi" you don't even realize it. That's what I was talking about earlier it's a crazy world we live in. We're all connected, but then again we're not connected.
MS: It can be a little odd.
AL: Let's not make it so long since we actually speak next time!
"Just Go" with Aiden at:
https://twitter.com/aidenleslie
https://www.facebook.com/aidenlesliemusic
https://instagram.com/aidenleslie/?hl=en
