Toronto R&B/neo-soul artist Aphrose is carrying on the legacy of three generations of uplifting women, while on the path of creating her own.
Since the young age of three years old, the singer-songwriter has always been exposed to music. Within her household, music was constantly in the background and as a result, upon turning 12 years old, she decided to pursue a career in the industry. Today, she has become one of Canada’s rising vocal artists and is effortlessly evolving her sound.
For new fans just discovering her music, Aphrose classifies her sound as an amalgamation of 70’s soul meets early 90s and 2000s R&B.
“I borrow from a lot of different styles of music…I think the way I sing is very R&B stylized, so I always come from it from that angle. But I like to add in unexpected little things, so it’s not very straight ahead, which makes it hard, you know, from a marketing standpoint because you can’t be boxed in,” she told Now Toronto.
Choosing to be in the music industry is not an easy goal, however Aphrose attributes her mother and grandmother for consistently encouraging her to follow her dreams.
“Both my grandmother and my mom have been just such inspirational and supportive forces in my life, so I was never discouraged from making music or choosing that as a career path, which I actually find such a blessing and a rarity, actually, because a lot of children from immigrant families, music is not generally the path that they would necessarily want you to choose but I got really lucky with the family that I’ve been blessed to be a part of…,” Aphrose shared.
When one listens to her music, it doesn’t take a person long to realize that the women in her life have had a profound effect on her. For those who don’t know, her stage name, Aphrose, is also her mother’s first name and she describes this name as a representation of motherhood, strength and wisdom.
Aphrose has been extremely fortunate to be able to witness and learn from two generations of women starting from her grandma Rose, to her mother. During our interview, she shared what it’s like navigating and unpacking this generational impact and how it has influenced her lyricism.
“I’ve seen this sort of strength modeled for me throughout my entire life from my grandmother to my mom, and now myself as a mom. And I think, becoming a mom myself, has truly gotten me closer to what it means to be strong and be strong for your children and raise them in a way that doesn’t tear them down, but encourages them and inspires them,” she said.
In addition to motherhood, Aphrose’s deep and earnest discography spans topics such as her experiences with love, relationships and the spiritual. When asked to pick and choose one of her favourite songs that she’s ever written, she revealed that “Weapons” from her sophomore album Roses is among the top contenders.
“One of my favorite lines which is a very simple line in the song is the chorus where I write, ‘Put down your weapons, how can I ever make you see? Put down your weapons, I am not your enemy,’ those are my favorite lines,” she said.
The music video for “Weapons” was recently released this month. Recounting her experience filming the video, Aphrose says it was an act of vulnerability because she allowed the public to peek inside her own relationship with her partner. For the video, she decided to do a couples therapy session with her partner for the very first time and have it recorded on camera.
“It got so deep and so vulnerable and so real that we just forgot that there were even cameras there, like it was a very illuminating experience and very healing and you know, I think I learned a lot about my partner,” she admitted.
She hopes fans will be able to relate to the lyrics and the messaging of the overall song, which is that marriage and love are complex and oftentimes, communication can be lost amongst the noise and needs to be restored.
Currently, the artist is working on a remix album, where she will be remixing some of the songs from her album, Roses. Aside from this, she aspires to go on tour and play shows across Europe for her fans there as well.
Recently, the artist has done backup singing work for Toronto artists Daniel Caesar, Jessie Reyez, and Charlotte Day Wilson. And she’s open, and hoping, to collaborate with more artists in the future.
“…I would give an arm and a leg to collaborate with Frank Ocean. I just think he’s so phenomenal or Miguel or, you know, if we were going to bring it into Canadian artists, I really love Mustafa, like I think he’s such a fantastic songwriter. And yeah, I think there’s a long list,” she said.
