0:00) Q: Okay, so these are the WPGU 107.1 FM questions. What artists did you listen to as a child and how do you think they have influenced your music? If not, who are your musical influences?
(0:15) A: Well, the music that I listened to starting as a child definitely influenced me in so many ways. I still carry all of that within me all the time and some of those artists were, it ranged from Prince, to SWV, to Brandi, to Whitney Houston was probably one of the biggest. She was- she is, I think, always will be my favorite voice.
(0:46) Q: Where do you where did your name Harlow come from? What is the backstory?
(0:49) A: So the backstory is, I’ve always felt like- like HARLOE, you know, there’s a side of her that really embodies just strength and embodies individuality and talking about in third person but I really do feel like it’s kind of a-an extension of me. And the name means army. The root of the name means army, and I really resonated with that. So, I- the moment I kind of put all those pieces together, I was HARLOE.
(1:28) Q: How do you think your experiences working with artists like Kelly Clarkson have shaped you into who you are today both as an individual and as an artist?
(1:35) A: It always- working with artists, especially someone as grounded as Kelly Clarkson, it really like puts everything in a new perspective. It really inspired me to always dig deep and also that sometimes it’s not that serious. Sometimes it could just be fun and light. I think that like we as creatives, all of us, we put a little bit of pressure we put pressure on ourselves to be a certain way, and come up with the something that’s going to just be so, you know, rich and so deep and sometimes, especially with Kelly, it was so fun. And that’s when we got our best stuff. So it definitely influenced me in-in a lot of emotional ways. And as a person and as an artist.
(2:22) Q: Talk a little bit about getting signed on to Universal Music Group, how did it come about?
(2:26) A: So I was working on a project in London with Fred Ball and a couple of other artists and writers and the opportunity came about to work with universal and work with rock nation just by meeting different people that were there that we just had so much fun collaborating on music and on projects and then pretty soon after, we wrote Rivers Run Dry EP.
(2:58) Q: Where did you get the ideas behind your new single?
(3:02) A: Well, all of the songs on the EP Rivers Run Dry were really inspired by a transformative time for me last year and finding myself and having to reconnect with the truth instead of denying some things that I was going through in my head. So I got a lot of the ideas from my own experience, finding love and losing it but also I got a lot of inspiration just from the city and making the whole EP in London walking around the different parts and seeing different paths, different walks of life happening around me.
(3:43) Q: How does the genre you’re focusing on fit into mainstream music? Also, how do you think it stands out?
(3:50) A: I think when I’m making music, I don’t really focus on what genre it is until after when you kind of have to go okay? Who’s gonna? Who do we send this out? Who’s gonna listen to it? But this particular genre, I think it- it has a little bit of, of everything. It has elements of R&B and it has elements of like, you know, more like pop. So I think it’s a fusion of stuff. But I think it also is different because the textures are a little bit more retro, I think. And they-they tell its own story through the sonance, through the sound. So I do think it stands out.
(4:39) Q: How do you think the music industry is changing?
(4:41) A: I think it’s changing so fast all the time that we don’t even- We all can’t even kind of keep our exact thing on the pulse. Because, for example, now in this really challenging time in this pandemic, that we’re in, people are looking to Tik Tok and to other sources for entertainment. So music is really tied into other visuals so and it’s changing so rapidly. So there’s always yeah.
(5:16) Q: What advice would you give new artists about the music industry?
(5:22) A: I think that you just never know what, what-what will happen and what can happen. But just keep yourself inspired by the people around you really affect what’s going on in your life. So, because of that, try to always keep inspiring people around you, people that make you feel good. You can kind of feel in your gut if you’re on your path. And also, it’s important to just check out sometimes and like, do your own thing and rediscover yourself and your truth because it’s always going to be evolving. So you always want to kind of stay-stay glued to your core.
(5:59) Q: What is it the biggest obstacle you faced leading up to where you are today?
(6:03) A: I’ve had so many obstacles as I’m sure we’ve all had. I was signed prior, and I was dropped. And that was really challenging both for me emotionally and just like in my day to day life, knowing where to start again, knowing how to re-pick up the pieces, and if I even wanted to continue and that was really testing for me and showed me that I really do love making music because if I didn’t, then I probably would have given up.
(6:37) Q: Where do you hope to see yourself in a year?
(6:40) A: I would hope to see myself having done a tour and sharing Rivers Run Dry and having a new project out as well. That would be so much fun just to keep the story evolving and keep sharing with everybody. I’ve been really really loving it. So thank you so much for this interview, and I hope that this was really informative and insightful and cool. All right. Bye!
