On The Rise: ELHAE

‘Every Life Has An Ending’ is an adage that ELHAE swears by and essentially turned into his moniker. Living your every day like your last is what differentiates ELHAE from other R&B artists. Since his first project, ‘All Have Fallen,’ he applies a forward-thinking approach to the reimagining of R&B and rap.

Born in North Dakota and raised in Georgia, the rising singer/songwriter enters the next phase of ELHAE with his highly anticipated Motown debut ‘Aura III.’ This eleven-track long album delivers a collection of sensual songs in a downtempo soul sonically traversing through a relationship.

‘Aura III’ hosts names like Rick Ross, Masego, and ELHAE’s good friend Xavier Omar. Noctis spoke to ELHAE about how he transitioned from choir to writing songs, the essence of ‘Aura III,’ and his growth.

How are you doing today?

I’m great actually, was working all yesterday on something special, so a little tired, but happy to be busy.

How did you discover your passion for music?

It was through a good friend of mine in high school. He had a little home studio set up and allowed me to come over and record. The moment I heard my voice come through those speakers I knew this was what I wanted to do forever.

What did you learn from singing in your mother’s choir?

I think choir allowed me to break out of stage fright. I think that’s probably about it honestly. I never really liked singing in choirs but it had its benefits I guess.

How did you transition from singing in a choir to writing songs?

I learned how to write songs from an artist named Xavier Omär, who’s also my best friend since we were kids. I’ve always wrote songs and poems and things but he showed me how to arrange them. He taught me bars and hooks and order. Little fun fact there haha

Why did you choose this phrase for your moniker ‘Every Life Has An Ending’?

It was always meant to be something for me. Words to live by and to motivate me to work harder, be better than the day before. Live every day like it’s the last.

What do you get the most inspired by?

Just life. Whatever experiences that may come, or lessons learned, it ultimately can be turned into a song in some shape or form.

Comparing ‘All Have Fallen’ to ‘Aura III’ how would you say you’ve grown from the 2016 project?

Just challenging myself vocally more this time around. I personally feel like that’s something I’ve been working on every project. Aura 3 i tried to stretch that further. Also I tried to bring more energy into this project. It’s extremely easy as an R&B artist to fall into this slow moody pocket and I wanted to make sure I brought more energy into this. I feel Aura 3 does that better than any other project I’ve done up to this point.

How were you able to link up with names like Ty Dolla $ign, Rick Ross and Masego?

Features always vary in ways they come about. For example the Ross feature came to be through my manager and the relationship they have, whereas a track with Masego is just a phone call because of the relationship i personally have with him. It’s never one specific way. Ty on the other hand came about through my A&R.

How do those studio sessions look like?

That’s always fun. Figuring out how ways around a song is one of the best things about what I do.

What was your favourite moment from recording ‘Aura III’?

I did a lot of it at my house, i have a home set up so a lot of it was just me in front of my computer working. Making “My city” was a lot of fun as well.

How would you describe the essence of ‘Aura III’?

At its core it’s apart of a series about relationships and the various feelings we all feel throughout. Aura 3 is no different. Ups and downs, the good and the bad. You get all of that in this project, and they come in the form of what i think is some of my best work to date.

What are you planning next?

Well “My City” is scheduled to go to radio soon, Working on merch, tour, and more content. Excited for the response from Aura 3 and can’t wait to see more doors open from it.