“As long as you’re open to the world, there’s always ways to connect with people,” something born-and-raised New Cross, now South East London based Poppy Ajudha tells me succinctly over a 9am Friday morning call. With her uncompromising 2022 debut ‘THE POWER IN US’, the artist of mixed St Lucian and English heritage tackled the intimidating beast, otherwise known as music industry independently, today noting the importance of social media campaigns and the razor thin line between artist and content creator. “It becomes a lot about storytelling and how you can get the story of the songs across.”
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Topics touched upon across her debut included colonialism, toxic masculinity and abortion rights, making 2022 feel a not too distant past with the heavy news of Trump’s second term. On Ajudha’s follow up there’s still societal themes, but with the addition of intimacy, something Ajudha herself stripped as to not water down ‘THE POWER IN US’s socio-political topics. “I found a greater appreciation for how important personal growth is in terms of being able to change the world,” Ajudha says of ‘Poppy’ when comparing it to her debut and its pertinence. “If you’re not trying hard to be intentional with your choices and your decisions, you can also create chaos in your surroundings, for yourself and for the people around you.”
In a recent Instagram post the artist described her latest project as “an outward pouring of my raw vulnerability”; “I think your personal journey is almost as important as how you advocate for others. I don’t know if I could have had that self-awareness when I wrote my first album,” Ajudha reflects wholeheartedly.
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With creative talents also in the fashion and art world, ‘Poppy’ also sees Ajudha conveying a necessity to extend the vision of her songs past industry expectation. She bemuses over cold shoulders to traditional forms of promotional content, “I pretty much had to fight to make my music videos, because many industry people would say they’re not something that you’re seeing statistical growth from. Whereas for an artist, making a music video is a visual extension of your creative process and your storytelling.” The music videos for the project were created as a unified collaboration with London production duo NWSPK, a first for the artist in terms of choreography.
Ajudha emphasises the storytelling dance provides, allowing her to express her vision through movement, styling and colour palates. “I think dance is a visual representation of community and togetherness. ‘Lean On Me’ is about realising who the most important people are in our darkest moments, when we’re the most vulnerable. I think the song represents how important bad experiences can be for self-growth. You only work those things out in the difficult moments, what your identity is, and if you’ve got what it takes, and how to get to the next phase of whatever you’re going through.”
“I think bonds and relationships flourish in those moments too, because you can’t create bonds with people unless you’re able to be vulnerable. ‘Lean On Me’ is very much about that and having a collection of dancers that I moved with, showing friendship, trust and lifts, it became this beautiful contemporary art piece, which was unified by the boldness of all the red tones.”
Friendship is revisited as part of album track ‘Bestie Breakup’, but this time presents a reality check to the one proposed in ‘Lean On Me’, ultimately fuelled by the breakdown of a childhood-formed friendship Ajudha formed at 12 years old. “Growth and transition mean that not everybody can stay with you,” Ajudha tells me, carried by a hard transition.
Similarly relevant to many young people’s social experiences, during the making of the album Ajudha recalls questioning, how do you make new friends as an adult? “I felt like I was starting from scratch, and I became really intentional with surrounding myself with people I really cared about. We had shared values; we showed up for each other. We were friends because we wanted to be friends, not because time had meant that we just happened to be in each other’s lives.”
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Ajudha also recognises the unstructured life of an artist like herself and its effect on close bonds, ultimately describing the lifestyle of an artist as transient. ‘Poppy’ saw her recording on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, revisiting Los Angeles five times to collaborate with the likes of Mike Malchicoff (Kanye West/King Princess) and Maestro (Rihanna), Wesley Singerman (Kendrick Lamar/Anderson .Paak) and Travis Sayles (Ariana Grande). Firstly to begin the creative process, then to make alterations in a vulnerable environment she deeply connected to before returning to London to make further alterations. “I really love working in America. I think that’s where I’d like to live at some point”.
You can’t help but feel persuaded by Ajudha’s tenacity, something that goes hand in hand with her achievements as an independent artist. “I’ve always been so inspired and interested by so many different styles of music and styles of writing, and I’ve never had anyone tell me I had to do something a certain way. In fact, I’m a very difficult person to tell what to do in the first place. I think anyone in my team would agree to that, or anyone in my life for that matter,” she laughs.
The STEEZ scene, a South London jazz night championed by Luke Newman, is cited by Ajudha as a “big education” and one of the earliest opportunities she recieved in terms of space to experiment and learn from others, bypassing any form of traditional music or instrument lesson. “It allowed me to see making music in a really deep way” recalls Ajudha, also referencing female leads such as Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu or Britney Spears, who crossed over into either the pop or R&B world respectfully. “I’ve come around back to my roots of making more structured leaning music, because that’s actually where my first inspiration to be an artist came from.”
Restating her intentions for her album, “this project feels the most honest to who I am and how I want to present myself.”
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‘Poppy’ is out now.
Words: Emma Way
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