A-natural
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A-natural

Plainfield, New Jersey, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | INDIE | AFTRA

Plainfield, New Jersey, United States | INDIE | AFTRA
Established on Jan, 2014
Solo R&B Soul

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"FEATURED ARTIST: SINGER A-NATURAL IS “NATURALLY AUTHENTIC”"

A-Natural, a singer, songwriter, and producer hailing from New Jersey, is determined to spread his message of love, strength, and creativity throughout the world.

The word natural has various meanings. In the noun sense, it means a person with an innate gift or talent. In the musical realm, it means denoting a natural note when a previous sign or the key signature would otherwise demand a sharp or a flat; essentially it is bringing a note back to its original key. If you dig deeper, natural is equivalent to authentic. And in the world of art, nothing brings the audience greater pleasure than experiencing the power of authenticity from the curator. Our featured artist, A-Natural, embodies that and more.

One of the first questions I ask artists is when did they fall in love with music? For A-Natural, music captivated his soul at an early age growing up in a household with a gospel/jazz artist mother and artist/producer father who often took him to studio sessions. “I literally grew up in the studio or on the road with them for different shows. I think my earliest musical memory was sitting in a stroller on the side of a festival stage while my mom and her band played a show in New York City”, said A-Natural.

In the studio is where A-natural would become a recording pundit, learning the best ways to piece together a song from vocals and instruments to mixing and engineering. Later on, he strengthened his own voice by training in classical, jazz, and gospel fields throughout high school and college.

A-Natural first dabbed into his gospel roots, writing his first song at five years old called “Jesus Loves the Clown in Me”. He recorded the song with his dad on an old tape recorder while his father played guitar and he sang the lyrics.

Realizing there was a future for him in music, A-natural would go on to release several gospel projects of his own, and even produced many more for other upcoming artists locally and abroad. This work garnered the attention of various entities such as Shawn Stockman from Boyz II Men, Teddy Riley of BlackStreet, record labels such as Epic, Atlantic, and Def Jam, and even major artists such as Mack Wilds, B. Slade (formerly known as Tonex), and many more including placements on TV and in film.

Searching for this foothold in his music, A-natural has covered many different areas of sound and life.

A-Natural transitioned into the R&B world releasing his first R&B project two years ago entitled The Chronicles of an Over-Ambitious Fat-Boy, and then last year released a follow-up EP entitled #COAOAFB2 which garnered two wins at this year’s Independent Music Awards for Best Urban EP and Best R&B Song for my single “Thirst”.

Hoping to bring even more into his creative fold, A-natural is currently at work on the third installment of the Chronicles series due later this year featuring some of the industry’s biggest producers; a life-long dream of A-natural’s finally come true.

Recently, A-natural’s heart has been consumed with reaching listeners and other creatives who may have felt that they were overlooked by an industry based in commercialism and copycats. Considerably, A-Natural understands the importance of having work that truly defines the meaning of artistry. Like Us On Facebook “My mother always taught me that I am accountable for every word I write. Because I understand this concept and ultimately the call God has on my life, I know that my music is supposed to uplift, encourage, and provoke thought. I also know that I’m not your typical R&B artist, but that’s a good thing. I’m here to let those who are not typical become the norm. I’m here to let them know that they can still achieve their dreams even if they’re not what others are used to seeing.”, A-Natural said.

With inspirations from W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, and Nikki Giovanni, and even more modern names like Tyler Perry, Jay-Z, and Nick Cannon, it’s no wonder A-Natural’s music comments on the social climate of today. “I make it a point to always address what’s going on in the world in a way that is not only impactful, but attractive. We all know there’s so much going on in the world these days, and just like the Marvin Gaye songs we all love from back in the day, I believe there’s always a time to speak up about issues that affect us whether it’s about police brutality (“Speak for Me”), individuality (“Blonde Hair”), marriage equality (“Strange Love”), or even celebrating activism (“Go-Getter”).”

A-Natural says the biggest challenge he’s encountered during his musical journey is simply beating the odds despite the circumstances. “I spent about 7 years living in a studio with no bed, no shower, and no kitchen. I slept on a couch, and pretty much had my entire life controlled while I worked tirelessly recording, producing, writing, and developing other artists. Some people think living in a recording studio would be a dream, but for me it wound up feeling like a prison. Once I left, it took me a while to love that part of my musical life again. But I did, and now I look back and I’m grateful for that experience. It made me a much better musician and also a stronger individual.”

In a world where there are plethora of people chasing the dream of music, the advice he gives for upcoming artists is to know who you are and embrace it. “Whether in music, or in your regular life, it’s important to know who you are and embrace it. Only when you know who you are can you even entertain what anyone else thinks of you, and that point, it doesn’t really even matter. Love God, love yourself, and love your neighbor.”

When asked where does he see himself in the next five years, A-Natural said while doing music full-time is an aspiration, he wants to create platforms for upcoming artists to be able to achieve their goals, and share his knowledge and wealth with them. Most importantly, continue to send the message of love, strength, and creativity throughout the world. - Unheard Voices Magazine


Discography

2020 - The Ascension of A-natural (album)
2019 - COAOAFB2 (EP)
2017 - An A-natural Christmas (EP)
2017 - The Chronicles of an Over-Ambitious Fat-Boy (album)
2014 - I WRITE SONGS NOW, VOL. 1 (EP)

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Bio

In 2017, A-natural embarked on a journey of musical self-discovery. Several years removed from his position within former music company, A-natural took some time to gather his life and figure out his next steps toward adult independence. He put his music on the backburner and focused on “adulting" getting a day job working for an audiobook company and moving into his very first apartment. During this time, he continued to collaborate with other artists finding some success with his participation on R&B singer and actor Mack Wilds’ album After Hours among other indie projects across the country.

Realizing that the music was still ever-present even while working his 9-5, he made his first official step into the R&B world with a suitable project entitled The Chronicles of an Over-Ambitious Fat-Boy. This album would be the catalyst that not only caused others to truly take notice of him as the artist he’s always looked to be, but also created some controversy with those who were used to him playing the background. He would then have a decision to make: would he continue on this path of solo artistry, or go back to the boards and continue working on other artist’s projects?

A-natural has always worn many hats: singer, songwriter, producer, engineer, vocal producer, manager, graphic designer, etc. But any time he’s ever tried to just wear one successfully, there was always another longing to be added to the ensemble. Approaching his mid-30s in the summer of 2018, he began to question his future. Would it be full of wistful musical hopes and dreams, or should he continue to focus on his livelihood and just work his day job? These existential questions birthed a small collection of songs that would continue his ambitious streak in the form of #COAOAFB2. Five songs with extremely candid conversational interludes in between, this “companion” EP would set A-natural up to gain the answers to the questions he’d been asking. #COAOAFB2 would go on to win two Independent Music Awards for Best Urban EP as well as Best R&B Single for “Thirst”. The project would also land him a rare opportunity to open for Grammy Award winning artist T-Pain for a major festival date in Connecticut. Ambition was no longer the tactic but now, a sign of confirmation.

A-natural since has compiled a new collection of music inspired not just by ambition, but now the acceptance of his place in the independent music industry. Over a year in the making, and involving some of the biggest and brightest names in music production, his new full-length project, The Ascension of A-natural explores a more confident A-natural, one who is ready to compete, win, and stay in the music game. Leading with the first official single, “Down Like Forever”, we see a newer, slicker A-natural, who is clearly more confident, clever, inclusive (this is the first time A-natural has released a project not fully produced by himself), and calculated. “Down Like Forever” is just the first of several songs that incorporate high-quality visuals pre-album release, a move he’s wanted to make ever since being creatively inspired by Beyoncé’s 2013 surprise self-titled album.

The Ascension of A-natural delves into categories that, while familiar to his listeners, take new turns in execution. This album is sexier, more experimental, and definitely pushes boundaries more than his previous offerings. A-natural covers the subjects of love, confusion, musical legacy, and even aliens while continuing to give listeners the vocals they’ve come to know and love from his repertoire. He took his time with this project, making sure that not only were his vocals pristine, but that overall, the musical direction of the album would stand the test of time, especially in an over-saturated and oft times confusing world of current R&B. Before completing the album, he consulted with long-time collaborators Thomas & Kurvan Rankin of TrakFire Productions to make sure that the mark was hit; a standard that he has attributed to TrakFire’s late third partner Jonathan “Jerz” Boyd, who A-natural has always credited with being his muse when creating. For this project, A-natural refused to wrap up without obtaining the production house’s stamp of approval.

This kind of care taken with The Ascension of A-natural and its rollout will be a testament of this new era for the artist. Unconcerned with sales or numbers, he is focused on bringing true longevity not just to the music on this project, but to his artistry as a whole. Endeavoring to use himself as an example to other artists, the goal is to continue to create a platform where they can be their most creative selves while having both the ambition, dedication, and work ethic to get it done. As his production company motto states, A-natural is looking to “build Natural City one song at a time”. This Ascension is his way up.

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