The artist known as The Voodoo Soul, Adam Watson, has been experimenting with putting hip hop vibes into his rock and R&B.
His Efforts Show In His New Single “Breakthrough,” An Inspirational Ballad About Hope And Hard Work. The Rock Rhythms And The Guitar Riffs Weave In An Out Of The Rap-Beat Drums.
“In a lot of ways, I think I’ve been a very cross-genre artist, but I’ve been doing psychedelic rock or rock, classic rock and the blues stuff for so long, and then a couple of years ago someone said I should just toy with the hip hop stuff, so I started doing stuff on the Synchole.”
The Results Surprised Him. The New Mix Gained Him Praise And Recognition, “And I Switched It Into My Music.”
“And it went from a few people liking the stuff that I was doing and, like a lot of people, not understanding it, to where, all of a sudden, everybody was like, ‘Hey, I like what you’re doing. Where are you going with it?’ It allowed me to open up and get into writing more.”
“So,” he concluded, “I had to embrace the hip hop aspect of it even though I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily a rapper by any means.”
The Message Of “Breakthrough” Is Also Important For Adam.
“The part that resonated for me when I was writing it — or it was kind of like being written through me I guess — is I’ve realized that all of the hard work I’ve had to do, so much of the success, and some of the things that needed to align for me to get to my goal, have all come with the help from others.”
There Is Also A Kind Of Spiritual Element Behind His Statement Of Songs Being “Written Through Him.”
“I don’t ever really sit down to write a song like I’m going to write about this or that. I really just kind of let whatever comes through come through. I’ll listen to a couple tracks after recording the outs to the whole song and then start putting it together. The song sort of writes itself. I spend so much time writing now, I feel like I have a little antenna for whatever message is going to come through. I feel like it’s kind of a spiritual thing for me.”
Adam, Who Lives, Plays And Writes In Portland, Oregon, Began Playing Guitar At Age 12 And, Not Long After That, Began Writing. He Counts As His Influences Jimi Hendrix, Dave Mathews, Anderson Paak And Jay-Z.
Beginning At Age 19, He Was For Years “On And Off In Bands That Never Took Hold,” Because, He Said, “It Was Always Hard To Get Everybody Past The We’re-Gonna-Play-Music-And-Do-All-This-Great-Stuff Part To The Hard Work Part.”
When That Realization Hit Him, He Began Learning How To Produce Music And Play Other Instruments.
“I was so driven, I just didn’t want to have to worry about the bass player not making it to practice because the goldfish had a headache.”
In The Early Years, He Says, He Lived Like He Was Famous, And Life Was About Actually Becoming Famous, But Now, “None Of That Stuff’s Important.”
“It’s about how I can affect others and leave a mark on life beyond those superficial things. It keeps me going and keeps me working hard. If you’re going to tell someone that you’re going to be an astronaut or something, you have to do a lot of work. Ever since the pandemic, I have just wanted to make sure that if I say I’m going to be a professional musician in one way or the other, then the hard work adds up to the words.”
Next Is More Tracks And An EP With “Breakthrough” And Four Other Songs. It Will Have, He Said, Hip Hop, A Kind Of Trap Soul, “My Rocky Thing And A Couple Of Cool Additions That I Think People Will Really Like.”
“I’m going to be releasing as much as I possibly can. It depends on where things go — if I get picked up by somebody to help me put it out there, like a label or something — but I could probably put out a song every week for the next year and a half.”
Stay connected to The Voodoo Soul on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts, and see where things go.
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