The Birth of Blush
The process of forging the path as an artist is one that requires perseverance, passion but for the most part persistence and a great deal of second guessing. Aleijah (she/her) aka Blush has much to share on this subject, she has been a musician for almost a decade, has worked on multiple musical projects, and is currently preparing an EP for her band Blush that is scheduled to release this October. When speaking to Aleijah about her journey creating this incredibly huge project, what was interesting to me is the path one takes to become an artist, whether that be in music, writing or art in general. So often, there is a focus only on the final product and an already-existing platform - rather than the work, search for inspiration and constant self-motivation it takes to prepare something that you are proud enough to release to the public.
Aleijah and I began by speaking about her background, and her experience forging her path as a musician.
“I think it’s important to mention I come from a pretty mixed family and a very mixed background, and I think compared to my peers, that made my experience of situations quite different. I also come from a family unit that moved around internally, but also externally and I gained a lot of different experiences from that. I don’t think there was a singular point that made me realise I’m going to do music, my mum was an artist, my dad was a musician and it just seemed inevitable. I used to go to Mum's uni classes with her and paint in her fine arts courses, up until I was maybe five, and then a lot of my life after that was very much centred around creative pursuits.”
Aleijah spoke about losing her love for music in high school, but still choosing to pursue it afterwards, which came as a surprise to both her and her mum:
“I think one thing that really resonated with me when I was doing my course, was when we had a guest lecturer come in and we were all being ratbags and talking over her. She got really mad at us and she said ‘you know you guys are here because you’re too scared to actually do anything about music’ and I thought, you’re probably right, we’re doing this as a safety barrier to make us feel like we’re doing more than we are.”
It wasn’t until Aleijah started working and met people whose creative pursuits aligned with hers, was she able to meet one of her current band members. Aleijah’s current project ‘Blush’ is by no means her first project. She’s been recording for more than a decade under various different genres but talks about Blush being an amalgamation of these various creative pursuits. We talked about his process of creating an album, especially one you have enough confidence in to release.
“It’s such a long process, this EP, this singular body of work, which is only 5 songs, it’s two years in the making. So, it does feel like when you get to the end of the process, you are so ready to put it out, but simultaneously it doesn’t feel like a representation of yourself anymore.” She says.
I asked Aleijah, as an emerging artist, what she believes some of the biggest challenges are trying to forge an identity for yourself as an artist.
“As a femme person, finding an identity and not having the luxury to separate yourself from the image. I don’t have the luxury of doing that. I think when we’re talking about how to brand ourselves, a lot of the conversation is you’re going to be the brand, you’re selling a product that’s your focus, and you don’t have the luxury of just focusing on the product. From a personal level, it’s difficult to feel as though your craft is worth something, I think for me that’s the most difficult part.”
Speaking to Aleijah about what her future hopes are for her music she said she hopes that one day the music will become “bigger than her”.
“I think with people like Lana Del Rey or Charli XCX it’s almost like the music gets bigger than them? I like the idea of your music becoming an adjective for something, and obviously that’s a pretty big ask, but even if the project becomes more than just music and rather a community. That’d be pretty cool. But I think as a whole, it’s not about where I play, or how big, it’s more about how the music’s received by people.”
The last thing I talked to Aleijah about, and one of the most important aspects in any artist's life, was what her influences are:
“Well, I’m going to be really cliché and say my Mum first. I think it was a luxury being around the arts as much as I was when I was a kid, and I’m super grateful for that. I think also being around a person who has got multiple masters just for the sake of it and who continually pursued the arts, despite the fact that it wasn’t going to be lucrative and that wasn’t something that she was focussed on. In terms of more specific idols, I remember when I found out that Elizabeth Fraser doesn’t actually sing lyrics that blew my mind, and I thought that was so cool. I think realising that lyrics are a vessel for feelings but they don’t have to be that specific. It’s funny how much people can gauge what you’re trying to say without you saying anything at all. I think that helped me to write music as a whole because I was very lyric focussed, that’s how I started writing and then listening to the Cocteau Twins, that was my transition into realising that creating music is about the whole aural experience of it.”
Blush’s single ‘Burning’ will be available to listeners on the 31st of October, with its official release date on the 7th of November. The second single will be available in February 2025, with the EP following in March 2025.