Aáyanna Unveils Sultry, R&B-Infused Single “Can You Take It”
Newly signed Avant Garden artist Aáyanna follows up her well received debut single “Risky” with another exciting offering in “Can You Take It.” Laying beautifully poised vocals over gorgeous guitar work, the track showcases Aayanna’s ability to drift seamlessly through genre. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Sade and The Marias, the Chicago-born, Atlanta-based artist looks set to continue building her sonic footprint in 2023.
The songstress has a naturally sultry, charming voice that sings in a smooth alternative R&B and pop atmosphere that channels her soundscaping from Sade. “Can You Take It” is bewitching, heartfelt and blunt. The femme fatale image is ever present throughout the song as Aáyanna dances between two extremes, presenting the soft yet indestructible, biting back but not allowing herself to be ruthless.
The accompanying music video was inspired after “American Psycho” as Aáyanna has a stalker that’s watching her get undressed and change into white, lace lingerie while fantasizing about her.
“Can You Take It” was Aáyanna’s escape to being straightforward in her music.
“I love being that way in my music because I feel like in real life I'm probably too afraid to hurt people's feelings and would beat around the bush when I'm telling the truth,” Aáyanna says. “In my music, I feel like I can be as straightforward as possible and while the song is very sensual and sexual, I think the hook I relate to it in a different way now because I've been craving a different type of vulnerability for people who see me for who I really am.”
Fueled by instrumental prowess, Aáyanna’s truest form and radiant personality comes out best through “Can You Take It’s” charming hooks and dreamy melodies as she sings, “Don’t you get tired of me tonight / I wanna watch the sun rise on us / I wanna know you inside and out.”
“I love astrology. My rising sign is Libra and so I'm ruled by Venus, which is the planet of love, and I think it influences everything that I do,” Aáyanna says. “I think it influences my relationships with people and how I look at life. Love is very important to me and I have to love what I'm doing and love who I'm doing it with.”
[UNPUBLISHED]: Thank you for talking to Unpublished Magazine. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. First of all, can you introduce yourself and who Aáyanna is and what type of music you make.
[AÁYANNA]: My name is Aáyanna and I am a R&B singer, but I feel like I kind of dibble and dabble in all different genres. I grew up listening to a lot of different music, and so I think that shows the kind of music that I make because it’s very expressive how I feel in a moment.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You just mentioned you experiment with a lot of genres. Do you have a specific genre you like tapping more into?
[AÁYANNA]: Alternative R&B has been fun to tap into.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What artists inspire you, either lyrically or instrumentally?
[AÁYANNA]: Recently it’s been The Marias and Rosalía. I like how their music demands your attention. I think that they have a lot of what they do that makes you pay attention to it and you find different things in it and listen to it and so that's what's been inspiring me lately when I make music is I don't want to have background music or music that you listen to when you're smoking or cleaning up music. It's music that makes listening to music an activity again where you’re sitting down and actively listening to it.
[UNPUBLISHED]: When you're not in the studio making music, what do you do to help feed or channel your creativity?
[AÁYANNA]: There's a lot of artists that I know that force themselves to be in the studio every day and I noticed that I would feel bad when I didn't do it, but when I tried I would burn out in like five days, because then you run out of things to talk about and things become repetitive and so it's very uninspiring. I think the best thing for me to do is just try and be as present as I can, live as much as I can, experience as much as I can so I can translate that through my music.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You just recently got signed to a new label Avant Garden, a huge congratulations is in order. How's the response been from family, friends and listeners? Did you ever expect such a huge response?
[AÁYANNA]: Really good, but I think that my family for one wasn't really surprised. It just seemed like the next step and this music has been on my mind for a long time. My dad was the first rapper signed to Motown and his father was a musician and his brother's a musician. My brother is an artist and producer, he actually produced the next single that I'm drafting, and so it just runs in the family and I really think anybody was surprised, just felt like what was supposed to happen next.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Your latest single release “Can You Take It” just released, huge congratulations. When I was listening to it, it just had a very seductive feel to it. Can you talk to me about the inspiration behind the single and how the creative process looked like for you?
[AÁYANNA]: I really think that it's fun to match the melody that I'm hearing and so I kind of just followed my guitar player’s lead and I liked that there were no drums and it was a very intimate feeling and raw and vulnerable. I think I wanted to convey that just as much as he did, and I think we did it.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Do you have a favorite lyric from the song or message that stands out to you the most? What excites you about this song?
[AÁYANNA]: I think the song is very blunt and straightforward. I love being that way in my music because I feel like in real life I'm probably too afraid to hurt people's feelings and would beat around the bush when I'm telling the truth. In my music, I feel like I can be as straightforward as possible and while the song is very sensual and sexual, I think the hook I relate to it in a different way now because I've been craving a different type of vulnerability for people who see me for who I really am. I think that “Can You Take It” also means to take who I am and my truest form and my huge personality that I may not show everybody else and that won’t be too much for you once I give it to you. It means a lot to me because I think that it doesn't have just one meaning.
[UNPUBLISHED]: “Can You Take It” also has an accompanying music video and again, it has a very sensual feel to it. What inspired the music video and how was your experience filming it?
[AÁYANNA]: It was like an “American Psycho” moment. I don't know if it was very clear, but it starts off with the view from outside of the window, and I wanted it to look like there was somebody watching me, like watching you come into the house to get undressed or whatever, and the rest of the video is like fantasies about me. At the end when I'm looking out the window, I feel like I see somebody because I feel like somebody's watching me and I close it. The experience was very chaotic, we made it work, but we were definitely in a time crunch and there were definitely some compromises with the visuals and what certain scenes look like but it still came together really well.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Your other single “Risky” touches on like staying in your power. What message or emotions or story do you hope to portray with this work?
[AÁYANNA]: I wrote “Risky” right after a breakup. I was in a studio for like three days straight and I was writing a bunch of heartbreak songs and love songs. I went to my friend's house and we just made it there and I started playing around and wanted to do something really fun. I think for me, “Risky” was just me being fed up with feeling how I was feeling and it was an ode to no longer giving that my energy anymore.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What was the inspiration behind the music video for “Risky?”
[AÁYANNA]: My inspiration for the video was that I wanted to shoot it in a vlog sort of style because it was going to be the first song that I was dropping. I knew it would be the first impression for people, so I wanted to show my personality in the best way possible, and I think shooting it in vlogs was the best way to do it, and see me in different settings and with my friends and everything. I wanted people to feel like they were with me.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I was going to say that the video gives off a really raw energy, and just the single artwork itself is beautiful and really drew my attention.
[AÁYANNA]: The cover was actually inspired by a Lil’ Kim photo. She has this hot pink fur coat and she's in the hood, and there’s a bunch of buff men wearing white tank tops that are holding her up.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What inspires your overall artistic persona and style?
[AÁYANNA]: I love astrology. My rising sign is Libra and so I'm ruled by Venus, which is the planet of love, and I think it influences everything that I do. I think it influences my relationships with people and how I look at life. Love is very important to me and I have to love what I'm doing and love who I'm doing it with. I think a lot of the music that I make and the visuals that I make have this sensual feel because of it certainly will always be a part of everything that I do.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How are you feeling in this current era of your career? What does the rest of the year look like for you that you would love to share with Unpublished?
[AÁYANNA]: I'm feeling very optimistic. The year is starting off very strong. I'm going on tour with Emotional Oranges next month, so I'm really excited about that, but preparation for it has been a lot, but I'm very happy with who my team is and who I'm going through these stressful events with because I know that they have my back. I'm just really excited to finally be performing again and keep dropping music. I have two more singles coming soon, and I'm just excited to share with everybody.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What’s your favorite part about touring?
[AÁYANNA]: It's my first time, I’ve never done it before. This is my first tour, and they're spoiling me because I'm going to be on the bus with them. I'm excited about it. It's just a new feeling and a new sort of anxiety, but I’m excited. I feel like everything that I've been asking for, I’m finally getting it. I think that's what's making me so anxious, is that you ask for something for so long and then you get it and you’re like damn.
