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Aiyana-Lee on Spike Lee, Finding Her Voice, and a Breakout Year · Kyle Meredith With...

• 0:00
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  [SPEAKER_01]: We've had some great guests drop by lately, including director Paul Figue, who this time was talking about the housemate, the movie he directed starring Sidney Swiny and Amanda Seafreed.
• 1:18
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• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's me Kyle Meredith today, I get to talk with Ayanna Lee.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's one of those artists who who seemed to show up fully formed, but with enough mystery,
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: to maybe keep us leaning in.
• 2:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's been dropping some singles over the past few years and then in 2025 came highest to lowest the latest Spike Lee joint.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, it was Spike Lee who found her on Instagram reached out and said, I want y'all decision from a movie that I'm doing
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: uh... sort of uh... about the music industry is also uh... a high-st movie as well kidnapping movie uh... but but she gets to play this musician on there and just totally stills the scene that she's in uh... we get to talk about having spikily reach out
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: and say, hey, let's collaborate.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, they collaborated on a couple songs for the soundtrack, wrote together, he gave lots of notes, so we're gonna be talking about that in styles and her upbringing.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's got a mom who's a 17-time platinum songwriter.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: She's got family in the temptations.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we're gonna hear about that and I'll hold up more as we get into highest to lowest and all of her career.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's do this.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's Kyle Meredith with Aiana Lee.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: I love the background.
• 3:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
• 3:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: They seem to do the heavy lift and for me, most interviews right here.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, regardless of what's going on here, at least this is happening.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: So it's a huge flex.
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's amazing.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's just disturbing it, YouTube.
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's like very direct.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Keeping the angels over my shoulder, you know?
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, it's such a pleasure to meet you and congratulate you.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: What a hell of a year you're having right now.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's wild.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't quite believe it myself.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's, let's, let's get a bit of the story here.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you'd been releasing music, uh, at least that we've been hearing for the past five years or so.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then this year arrives and you end up in Spike Lee's newest called Highest Loist.
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: How did you get involved in the movie?
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well,
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like all things in my life feels very atypical to how it comes about for anybody else, but he DM me on Instagram and found me on Instagram from a song that I had written in my bedroom called My Eddles Lights to me.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: After coming out of like a...
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: a record deal where the company literally got sold.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so I was on the brink of homelessness pretty much around the time when I met Spike.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so, he DMed me on Instagram, and I believe it was like 6 a.m. and I was like, no way.
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like this is definitely not the real spike.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: We saw the verification.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was like, but definitely a fan got this.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it was like, so it was trickingly this and trickery going on.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I woke my mom up.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: And she was like, girl, go back to sleep.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like, this is not real darling.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Don't know how to tell, yeah.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: And turned out to be real.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: I met him that very same day.
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: He happened, it's crazy.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: He happened to be in LA that day.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I met with him and the rest of history.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Wait, and it's because this is also this ends up some of the plot of the movie, not of your character specifically, yeah, the way, you know, the character David King David just shows up sometimes like that like yes very very it felt very parallel to my experience in the music industry as well because I had been through.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, that same situation, Sula goes through performing in front of King David, right?
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's, I've had that exact, like, two-a-t experience with a record label executive.
• 5:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I got signed that way in one of my first record deals.
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: So, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: to see Denzel in that role as well, and his amplification of that in the sense of his energy is so it's huge, he's a superstar and him and that role, especially, was so close to what I had been faced with.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: A few years ago, probably when I was 18 or so,
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the movie is kind of a pretty real representation, you know, in a Hollywood sort of way still, but of how the music industry can be, or it has it been for me.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and also just the themes of, you know, AI being so dominant and you know, I guess the manufactured, sometimes it's not just AI, sometimes it's people being manufactured too, right?
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: So it's,
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: that contrived corporate, this is what's going to sell versus why don't we look at the heart of humanity and the heart of songwriting and see that there's also a gap and a market for that as well.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and, you know, you kind of brought up your mom and you know, that part of your story, of course, like she's a, what was it, 17 time plan and I only bring that up because as you're, as you're talking about the authenticity, like growing up around and in the temptations of part of your family too, growing up when you have these people that, you know, your whole life has been songwriting adjacent in some way, like,
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, when you're talking about authenticity, I guess is what I'm getting to.
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, how do you keep something so authentic when you've got all of history and the industry right there over your shoulder?
• 7:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh my goodness.
• 7:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a songwriter.
• 7:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's a good one.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think for me, it was easy because I was raised to be that way.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was really raised to be able to be fearless.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: in the exploration of just being myself.
• 7:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I think growing up, I was always encouraged to just do what I want to do and express how I feel.
• 8:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that really came into play with songwriting and I think I naturally kind of gravitated towards it and it became a diary entry for me.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was like,
• 8:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: severely bullied in school, like severe, like beaten up, had to change schools, many, many times.
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was a bit chubby, but I was confident with it, though.
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I don't think anyone liked that I was a confident chubby girl.
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I was super bullied.
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, I think that was the first some of my first kind of, like, songs, being written about the experiences I had come through.
• 8:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: And, um,
• 8:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think I did a remix of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star when I was three, too, but that's another story.
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's the other story.
• 8:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, that's a strong song, though.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a good hook in that song.
• 8:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Look, it's timeless.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's timeless for a reason, right?
• 8:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's walk you by it today.
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: Um, but it's true.
• 8:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's the exploration of being a songwriter just felt like the exploration of, you know, me, you know, and I think after my previous label,
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: I kind of like took that year to really write and get to the heart of everything because I didn't feel like I could or was taken seriously doing it in that situation or at least putting it to the forefront.
• 9:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, I would co-write my songs, but no one really like care.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll be right back right after this.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back, it's Kyle Meredith, Ayanna Lee.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I talked to a lot of artists about like the tools, that you know, you have your tool belts as a songwriter.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I guess that, you know, that was part of the question too is because when you are raised around these people who have a large tool belts,
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like how often were you kind of able to use that as a, you know, to, to, to, to throw those questions out and, and, you know, it's because Whether it's learning to write a hook, you know, how to structure a song.
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, just all of these different things, like you sort of, did you have that at your disposal when you need it?
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think the structuring of it was just like absorbing what I had seen, right, growing up and I had listened to so much music and so many types of music and my mom always kept something playing and obviously like both sides of my family were very into music and having that kind of background
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: of what that is and what that structure looks like.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I think even throughout time, I've kind of played with that, what that means, because I feel like there are no rules in music as much as we like to say that there are.
• 10:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it's evolving and it should evolve.
• 10:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I feel like that's why I kind of did with idols and everyone's like structure is kind of like, and then it feels like the purpose is the course of this is here and I was like, you know what, I didn't think about it consciously when I was writing it, but it was cool to see that people kind of dissected it.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think for me it's hard to dissect art.
• 11:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: Personally, I feel like I'm such a person that goes off of feeling, but there's no wrong way to go about it.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sure, and you get those in the two songs that you do on this soundtrack to Highest Lowest Two.
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like I think I remember reading like the part of the story about the title track was a note from Spike about something about the chorus.
• 11:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll let you tell it.
• 11:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I'm trying to think, what story is this?
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because did I read it right about not repeating the same line?
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because that's sort of what most people think you do in a chorus.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: So yes, I see that's exactly, that's a such a great example because for me, I was going into it like, oh, we're just gonna repeat the first course.
• 12:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was like, oh, no, we're gonna repeat the same structure.
• 12:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's gonna be cool.
• 12:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're gonna have it be catchy memorable that it's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're going to change the lyrics every single time.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, okay, we're gonna have to dive in on this.
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're gonna, we're gonna have to sharpen the pen.
• 12:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're gonna have to tell this story in its entirety.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it gave me space to tell it in a really full way.
• 12:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, I love time.
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and that's the important moments when whatever the rule is, do the opposite basically.
• 12:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, right.
• 12:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like we kind of threw out the window and it took 10 songs to get there.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like me and Spike, we were on the phone every day and I think I had an idea of what he wanted, but the idea sometimes is not hitting it on the nose.
• 13:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: And so he's so
• 13:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: meticulous and I love that.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's just incredibly meticulous and loves music and, you know, we ended up with something so so full that my mom actually wrote the initial chords to, so she came up with the first chords that I wrote to and so it was just an incredibly collaborative experience.
• 13:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ten songs, what do you do with the rest of them?
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Man, is an album in my computer right now?
• 13:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, um, the little Spike Lee joins and who knows, baby one day, I'll release them.
• 13:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: They're really good songs.
• 13:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: Just not wasn't fitting for that.
• 13:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that moment.
• 13:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, are these like completely finished?
• 13:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do you still have to finish them?
• 13:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, do you want to really, is that part of the plan?
• 13:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, baby.
• 13:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 13:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: I feel like some of them gather just very, they're more in the ballad space.
• 13:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: their variability, which is what I thought it was going to be.
• 14:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: But it ended up being a soulful, like slightly faster groove than the other ones and more storytelling.
• 14:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 14:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: used to, I mean, sometimes we still do, but especially the golden age of soundtracks, you'd have the soundtrack, and then you'd have a second one that was music inspired by totally.
• 14:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Wasn't in the movie, but it's music inspired.
• 14:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the album right there.
• 14:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is the music inspired by hi, hi, it's a little bit.
• 14:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: I love that.
• 14:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know what?
• 14:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: You might have to be my manager after this.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: Great great ideas great.
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm just the consultants so just let's let's let's let's it.
• 14:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's much easier job.
• 14:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's wait.
• 14:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, exactly.
• 14:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: You see.
• 14:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, that's an interesting segment too because the other song that you release is your city of lies.
• 14:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, speaking in French but because that there's a line in there.
• 14:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's like, well, this is a story.
• 14:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it was a lot.
• 15:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was a lot.
• 15:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: I I was
• 15:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: definitely wondering if she really said it or not because it was very it was very kind of bold and graphic and I was like, oh, that's why I probably should release it isn't it it was kind of for me like a true that song particularly was me closing my previous chapter.
• 15:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: It felt like, okay, I'm letting go of what I've been through that's there.
• 15:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: and this is explaining to my fans or whoever's watching.
• 15:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Look, this is what I've gone through and this is why I have disappeared for a year.
• 15:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like literally, I was not able to release music for a while.
• 15:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, a lot of people are like, where's the music?
• 15:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's like there's so much that goes on behind the scenes that kind of can prevent you from doing what you just want to do and it's not for lack of having the music.
• 15:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's for, you know,
• 15:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: the powers that be the upper peaks in the building not wanting to.
• 16:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I just felt like after getting out of that, I wanted to just quickly release something just for my peeps to see where I've been through and hopefully give some hope for them as well.
• 16:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, it's such a well-done song on top of this.
• 16:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because it's catchy and the music's great, but the story you're telling, like,
• 16:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm not, I'm the time listener that maybe it takes a few times for me to really hear the lyrics.
• 16:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm a rhythm-ability first.
• 16:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, totally.
• 16:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that's one of those songs where you're just hanging on to every word the first time.
• 16:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then, of course, yes, you do get to some of those lines, like the one about the manager.
• 16:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, is it you say right I mean you basically you said fuck off, you know, fuck it.
• 16:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: That was a trip my god.
• 16:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: I mean now looking back, you know, you don't realize how young you are until later on isn't it?
• 16:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, even even now to have gone through kind of those situations and still be, you know, in my early 20s, like still like feeling almost kind of old to be honest, because of how many situations and kind of
• 17:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: things I've gone through but yeah it felt like such a reflection this song of just reflecting back on on what this isn't how to move forth honestly and yeah unfiltered to say the least.
• 17:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So unfortunate that anyone can have that kind of control over art, someone else's arts, and that's a story as old as time right there but.
• 17:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back, it's Kyle Meredith with Ayanna Lee.
• 17:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love seeing that you've come out the other side.
• 17:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's such a big way on this too, you know.
• 17:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: Crazy.
• 17:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: I, you know, yeah, it's just crazy to me because even with spike it's like to have somebody, it was the first time I had someone really believe in me and want to like to to the extent of
• 18:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Know like who you are in your voice matters.
• 18:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know what I mean beyond just like what I had been told before, which was like you're too pretty to produce like you can sing in your pretty but like that's about it, but you can sit there and do that.
• 18:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know what I mean you can't produce.
• 18:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can't song right.
• 18:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can't like let's not do that.
• 18:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's not get into that.
• 18:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know what I mean?
• 18:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like just.
• 18:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: that's your place and that's your role.
• 18:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: So to have somebody care about you like for you and want to amplify that felt like, oh wow, um, I feel that freedom to continue that now.
• 18:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, it's even crazy about that on top of everything that you said, is we have like 70 or 80 years of music history of that person always being the villain of the story and being wrong like every time.
• 19:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and look like, you know, there's.
• 19:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's good sides and there's really, really, really bad sides too, so it's just kind of like, I think finding a balance and and hopefully what I hope to happen is like with 2026 and going forth like allowing artists to have more of their voice injected into their work, whether
• 19:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: They're on a label, whether they're not on a label, whether they have a big team or don't have a big team, like just allowing the artist to be and then just amplify that instead of, this is what you're going to be.
• 19:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: And you know, um, who this to a tea and don't even inject your own vibe into it.
• 19:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: Don't even try to, you know, I hope that there's more of that.
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I think with social media, people really want that.
• 19:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, and look, what happens when you do?
• 19:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: You get a song like Highest Aloest.
• 19:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that sounds like it's still a collaboration, but it's also very much you in song.
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I mean, it's my story, you know, and he really wanted me to tell my story in this song.
• 20:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it just so happened to also be sulla story and the scene and it also happened to, you know, I really watched the movie and it was like this, I think feels like it'll encapsulate the story and what
• 20:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Mr. King goes through and the whole family goes through in that tumultuous journey of morals and coming out the other end of that.
• 20:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: I felt it encapsulated everything.
• 20:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: By the way, and also that second song, which I'd always called the gibberish song.
• 20:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, my goodness.
• 20:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's how wild is that.
• 20:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love that what you all did with that.
• 20:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like the first time I heard it was like, wait a second.
• 20:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, this is, I know this, right?
• 20:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: But this is new.
• 20:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I had to go look it up because I'd watch the video of the guy on the Italian TV show day and something around that a few times.
• 21:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where did that, how did you, how did you all end up doing that one?
• 21:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: Spike calls me one day.
• 21:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like months and months after we shot the movie and he calls me.
• 21:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I have something for you like like because I had posted me writing this other song I wrote this song on Instagram and he was like, oh, I didn't know you can do faux pee type of song writing He's like, oh, okay.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: I got something for you.
• 21:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Check your email.
• 21:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Check your email.
• 21:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: Check your email.
• 21:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: Check your email.
• 21:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Check your email.
• 21:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Check your email.
• 21:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm like, okay, okay, and then call me back.
• 21:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Call me back.
• 21:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I open my email and it's that song.
• 21:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's the gibberish song from I've been down.
• 21:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, I forgot his last name.
• 21:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: I can't quite pronounce it.
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: And Prince of Common, I think that's the name.
• 21:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't want to mispronounce.
• 21:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we're going to call the Americano joint because that's because even the song live now, I just call the gibberish song is what I do.
• 21:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because it'd be very kind of joined.
• 21:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's like, that's like, but um, but shout out to two of the originators of the song, what a, what a incredible way to just like break every role in the book, but he sent it to me.
• 22:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: I watched and I was like, oh my god, this is like, I feel like 10 minutes long of the video.
• 22:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was like, oh my gosh, like this is a long.
• 22:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Sean and I was like, what do you want me to do?
• 22:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Cause, what does he want me to do?
• 22:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: I call him back and he's like, what do you think?
• 22:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: What do you think?
• 22:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm like, yes, cool, like what are you thinking though?
• 22:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's like, I want you to write American lyrics to it.
• 22:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's no lyrics to it and like, kind of figure it out.
• 22:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was like, oh, okay, right.
• 22:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let me feel like celebratory.
• 22:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's like the end credit scene like just giving me something like that and and and write it on this and I was like, okay, nice.
• 22:44
  [UNKNOWN]: I'm
• 22:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm gonna figure this out.
• 22:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: It took me a second because it really, it was a lot, but I was so excited to get the opportunity to do the end credit somehow.
• 22:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was like, oh, that's crazy.
• 22:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Love that feel.
• 22:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And hearing you kind of do, you know, it's kind of a rock song on top of that.
• 23:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like the theatrics of it, I still hear in a song like Love's Graveyard, you know, like you've had those seeds there.
• 23:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: So seeing it hearing them finally, you know, a bit more blossomed, I guess.
• 23:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: Totally.
• 23:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: No, that's crazy that you brought love's graveyard up as well because that's definitely I feel like one of my favorites for sure, but yeah, it definitely has that feel and that kind of bluesy rock kind of Foki sounds and I really do love that and yeah, it was really fun to do and spike actually flew in When I was recording that.
• 23:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh awesome.
• 23:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I love hearing them.
• 23:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love him so so
• 23:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: what's the plan like there's been no album yet rights like are we leading maybe to an album are you are you going to lean more into the acting at this point um man i got to say i love that acting man i love being on set that when they say you get the bug that's you they mean it
• 24:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: I got it, man.
• 24:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: I got it.
• 24:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I've always wanted to act and it's weird.
• 24:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think I manifested this because what, you know, growing up, I always said it's going to happen.
• 24:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's going to happen in a very strange way and a director's going to literally have to discover me.
• 24:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like everyone knows, I've said this forever.
• 24:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: a director is literally going to have to pluck me, find me, and just like somehow see the vision, and you know what it happened and then I got to audition and it was amazing.
• 24:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I think I definitely not, I think, I know I want to act for sure and do more stuff like that and do some great roles.
• 24:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I, I'm kind of vowing to myself, like I'm writing all these things down, like, okay, where do I need to get done because it's just me and my mom on the team, like, it's a very small unit, so it's like, okay, how, how do you get to the, the next thing and I'm someone who's so passionate about this that I'm, yeah, I just want to keep going and keep doing more things and thankfully there's been a lot of support.
• 25:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: it's worked so far and you keep proving that you're doing you're on the right path.
• 25:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
• 25:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
• 25:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hopefully.
• 25:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hopefully.
• 25:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm doing that.
• 25:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm doing that.
• 25:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: Looks like anyway.
• 25:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, seriously.
• 25:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the music's so good.
• 25:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: The music is so good.
• 25:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I can't wait to hear what's next on this one.
• 25:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Congrats.
• 25:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Congrats on everything that's happened this year.
• 25:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you so much and congrats on that background.
• 25:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's just take it in.
• 25:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right there, you know, the parents get the bowie, get the REM.
• 25:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yes.
• 25:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just added the garbage over here.
• 25:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 25:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: I love it.
• 25:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm near for it.
• 25:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: No, thank you so much.
• 25:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you so much.
• 25:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: So nice to meet you.
• 25:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was so nice to meet you.
• 25:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for taking the time today.
• 25:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: Likewise, I appreciate it.
• 25:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And my thanks to Ayanna Lee and to you for checking out the episode, hit that subscribe button before you get out of here so you can keep up with all the interviews that I put out every single week at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, NPR, WFPK.org, consequence.
• 26:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: YouTube for the video versions anywhere, you get your podcast from, you can subscribe to Kyle Meredith with, and please do give the series a rating and leave a review wherever you're listing from.
• 26:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: After that, you can head over to wfpk.org, where I do a show Monday through Friday, starting 6 p.m. Eastern, it's 4 hours of classic alternative in indie, you get the best in new music, bonus interviews, lots of music news, one of my recent shows featured some classics and favorites from Moby, the cocktail twins, medium build, Tom Tom Club, Diana Ross, cake, smile, smile,
• 26:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Susanne Vega, St. Paul in the Broken Bones, Dalea, Soul, Cheap Trick, Jeff Tweety, Carol King, and my interviews with Audrey Nuna from K-Pop Demon Hunters, actress Claire Ford Lani and Tatiana Ali.
• 26:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what you get when you're two and a week now.
• 26:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's started 6 p.m. Eastern at WFPK.org.
• 27:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Consequence has your music and film news.
• 27:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: You got to also find me on any of the social media sites.
• 27:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's always at Kyle Meredith.
• 27:08
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• 27:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: That doesn't, for another edition, I'm Kyle Meredith.
• 27:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'll see you next time.
• 27:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Consequence Podcast Network
• 27:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm like Jesus.
• 27:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Damn.
• 27:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are.
• 27:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Listen on your smart speaker, live stream from our website at WFPK.org from Louisville Public Media.