Tea for Creatives: Angela Johnson
Meet Angela Johnson. She is a vocalist, pianist, songwriter, composer and mom extraordinaire. Johnson is one of the leading ladies in the underground Soul Music world who began her journey as part of the soul/jazz duo Cooly’s Hot Box. Since then, Johnson has released four solo albums, They Don’t Know (2002), Got to Let it Go (2005), A Woman’s Touch (2008), It’s Personal (2010) and is currently working on her fifth release on Purpose Records (www.purposerecords.com). Her music has appeared on The Wire, The Shield and Roswell and her huge following in Japan garnered her a spot as a featured spokesperson for Nissan in that country. Johnson has written for such artists as Conya Doss and Laurnae and her songwriting and production skills have earned her kudos from such artists as Frank McComb, Eric Roberson, Rahsaan Patterson and Claude McKnight. Johnson is excited to be currently producing and writing music for a 9-year old singer a-la Willow Smith and believes that the voice of children is what’s missing in the underground Soul scene. She also just finished working with Maysa Leak on a song for her upcoming album.
If you are learning about Angela Johnson for the first time, hear what you have been missing at www.angelajohnson.com.
What does creativity mean to you and how has it defined your career?
Really it’s about being able to express myself in more than one way. Through music, through art, just being my whole person and exploring every aspect of me. Really just being an extension of myself is what creativity means to me and it has definitely defined my career.
I feel that being on this earth is about creating something to share with everyone. That’s what I’ve been doing since four years of age. I’ve been writing music, playing it in front of other people, entertaining people, and also sharing my feelings and my view of life. That’s really why I’m on this earth today.
My mother was able to do that for me and then show me how to do it. I just carried on and have become an extension of her.
Your mom was a pianist as well?
Yes, but she only played by ear. She only played in church and only gospel tunes. So when I saw her sitting at the piano and figuring out songs that she’s played or sung in church, she didn’t necessary know all the theory behind it or the right chord progressions, but you would hear her picking the tunes out. Then she would just sing with her eyes closed with her heart out and just sing. She’s been doing that for so many years and I just took on that persona of wanting to be at the piano just singing. Back then I didn’t know exactly what I was singing about, but just wanting to perform and to hear my voice. My mother defiantly was a big influence in my life.
How do you navigate the creative process?
It usually starts out with me sitting at the piano, hearing a melody in my head or wanting to play some chord progressions along with that melody. Sometimes I just have lyrics; I don’t even have a melody. I just have a rhyme or something that works, or I’ve been influenced by something I’ve heard on TV or heard someone say something and then process starts.
I start putting a melody to those lyrics and maybe adding some chords. At other times I like to go to my drum machine and put down a four bar beat and then add in some chords or a bass line right on top of that. So I start putting everything together. I often have a vision or hear the whole symphony in my head and it’s a process trying to get it all down onto tape. I don’t necessarily have a full orchestra in my studio. (LOL) Just me and the computer trying to dictate, as much as I can, the elements I have in my head and to put them down at least so I can play it for someone else to get some feedback. That person is usually my husband who is also my manager. I go to him when I need another perspective. So I like bouncing things off of him.
Once I have the full song, I put a basic formation of the song onto CD. I create lyrics, I create a melody, a chorus, and then if it feels like it needs a bridge, I may add a bridge to make it more decorative.
Then after all of that is down, I’m going to bring in some live instrumentation, which I love to incorporate being a pianist myself. So sometimes I have a violinist or a cellist come in play string parts and make them sound like a full orchestra. And then I might take my equipment and bring it to a Pro Tools studio in a different setting and have them record the other lives instrumentation such as drums, percussion and I also have a bass player that comes to my studio and lays down a track or two for me. So I kind of just orchestrate all of this, which leads into the arranging, which means piecing everything together, but everything has to have its own space. You don’t want the song to sound too cluttered, but you want it to be complete. So when all of this is laid down and I’m at the end of song and I feel like I should stop and not over produce the song, I bounce it off my husband and my other manager George Littlejohn and they listen for the final version of it. Then it comes back to me and if say that I can live with it then it’s done. Then I collect all the songs that I’ve worked on and put them together for a CD that I want to have mastered and that’s how I put it all together.
This is something that I really take my time with because once you put out the music it’s going to take on a life of its own whether you feel like it’s finished or not and you have to be able to support that. So I want to take my time and put out the best possible product that I can put out.
What is one of the greatest creative obstacles that you have faced and how did you hurdle it?
I think most artists would agree with me that you don’t to be cliché. So many things have done over and over again and so many things have been said over and over again. So you want to find your space in all of the repetition that is happening. We didn’t create this; we are just creating our own version of it.
When I’m sitting at the piano and I have heard something over and over again that might sound a little cliché, I can’t help but write it down so that maybe I can find something else to replace it with later on. I’ll come back to the song maybe a day or two later and say, “Can I work with this or is this something I can say in a different way?” I like to go back and re-write or even start from scratch again with the same idea or maybe just change it up all together. It really just depends on the type of song it is, and what I’m feeling that day, but that is definitely one of the obstacles that I have to get over.
Who is one of your creative figures and how they inspired you and your creativity?
First and foremost my mother was my creative avenue. She really showed me how to do it, but after that I would say Michael Jackson. He has really inspired me in all the aspects of being an artist. Michael set the pace for being creative in a dance form, in a live performance form, musically, lyrically, and I think he has really said and done so many things for us artists to learn from. He spent so much time trying to prefect each aspect of his creativity and he was a nut for that. I don’t think the people really understood how hard he worked. Every single detail of the product you got from him, he was involved in. I truly can respect and understand that and I wish people would listen to some of the demos that he did before certain albums came out, where he was really creating and finding a way to really make something sound good, and would just nail it as much as possible to make it as perfect as he thought it could me. He followed certain steps and was very true to the meaning of what it means to be an artist. I try to do that in all that I do. I try to be involved in every aspect until I know there is ground that I should step back from. As far as the creative side I’m trying to get involved in every aspect that I can be involved in. Whether I play the instrument or not I’m going to have something to say about it and that’s what I think Michael Jackson did.
If you could choose one quote or life mantra what would it be?
“Each moment is a new beginning.” ~ Unknown
I’m not sure who’s the originator of this saying, but it has been used in so many ways. This quote struck a chord with me when I first heard it. It helped me to realize that every moment in life is another chance to make things better. I can forgive myself of past mistakes instead of dwelling in those moments. I can start over again and use what I’ve learned. Hopefully, I’ll get it right the next time around!
~Interviewed by Shelley Nicole
The Tea for Creatives series celebrates the creative minds that Possibiliteas seeks to serve with its brews. We aim to bring the creative community insightful and eye-opening profiles of the best and brightest creative professionals across various industries. Join us on Facebook and Twitter for more conversations on creativity.
Tags: Angela Johnson, Cooly's Hot Box, Creativitea, creativity, music, pianist, Possibiliteas, Purpose Records, songwriter, soul, vocalist
