Jan 2022: Elujay
Elujay wants to make music that'll capture your eyes, ears, and mind, and to just collectively share a vibe. The 25-year-old Oakland, CA artist doesn't want you placing him in any boxes. Instead, the singer, songwriter, and producer is more focused on connecting with his fans by capturing emotions they can feel together. Since his previous EP and projects, Elujay has stepped his foot into rapping, collaborating with artists like Chicago’s Saba for their 2016 track, "Soul Food." Elujay's interest in hip-hop led to the release of his 2017 project, Gentrify, a perfect mix of alternative hip-hop kissing R&B passionately. The project also included Rex Life Raj, Ymtk, Caleborate, Daoud, Samaria, Trapo, Genoa, Justice, and HBK Gang's own, Jay Anthony. While Elujay dabbled in hip-hop, he knew he didn't want to stick to just one genre of music or sound. For his 2018 EP Adojio, Elujay completely jumped into R&B, feeling more comfortable with alternative R&B and experimenting with different sounds surrounding the genre.
In 2020, he collaborated with Baltimore's J. Robb for their joint tape, Gems In The Cornerstone, containing features from Kyle Dion, DMV artists Foggieraw and Ciscero, UK's Romderful, and London's own, Zilo. For his current sound, the rising star draws inspiration listening to different music and several different artists, his sound replicating a walk to clear your mind. For his single, "Tenfold," Elujay takes you on a journey to his favorite pastime of hiking and road trips. With his debut album Circmvnt, Elujay's sound is beyond categorizing as just "R&B." The Oakland artist's sound is versatile, with layers of different colors to match the emotions of the songs he wants for his fans to listen to and enjoy.
We got the chance to kick it with Elujay to discuss his debut album Circmvnt and what it means to him, Black Joy, his love for 2000s music, and the various genres that inspired his debut project.
Executive Producer: Moses Wekunda
Creative Direction: Devin Arnold
Styled by: Hassan Ayub
Photographer: Devin Arnold & Dayton Doucette
Clothing/Wardrobe: YONY
First off, how are you and how excited are you for fans to be listening to and enjoying your debut album?
I'm good, man, chilling out here. I'm hyped for fans to hear my debut album. I've been working on it for two years, so I feel great about it. From making this album I’ve learned to let go. It's kind of like knowing when you have overcooked something you gotta let it go.
Being that Circmvnt is your debut album, what specific artists or certain genres of music helped you gather inspiration for it?
I was really inspired by Stevie Wonder, Solange, Joni Mitchell, early 2000s music, specifically The UK Garage scene. I was inspired by Radiohead as well. I wanted to switch it up a lot more. I felt that my sound needed to have more of an eclectic style to it.
Can you tell me the meaning behind “Circmvnt” and how you came up with specifically tilting your debut album?
“Circmvnt” means to find your way around something, finding the alternative of something. This album was made during a time period when we were trying to find alternatives for everything. Whether it's making music through Zoom or finding a different way to travel across the country during the lockdown. There are so many ways of so many references to this idea of adaptation. That kind of points to how I feel like the music is very whimsical, that it tells the story of some of the crazy things that I endured during this time period. I took a lot of L’s but there were a lot of good times and good memories while making this album.
What colors come to mind or a certain visual in describing the sound of the album?
I’d say it’s a mixture between dark green and gray and blue. Army green, gray skies, and a light blue ocean.
I’ve noticed from your music videos you seem to study a lot of late 1990s and early 2000s music. Would you say music and music videos of the 1990s and early 2000s have inspired your visuals from “Tenfold” to “Luvaroq” from artists like Maxwell and D’Angelo?
For sure! I definitely pull a lot of inspiration from music from the 2000s. But also it's 2022 and I want people to remember that. Honestly, I’m kind of tired of the 70s aesthetic. It's kind of corny to me. I’ll let it be known I'm proud to be in this time period of music. I want to look back and see my music as part of this era. Where people pull references from and where people are like okay, this was influential over this time period. I don't wanna keep living in the past, it's redundant. To me, the music that’s present is the most powerful.
Can you tell me where the inspiration behind your visual for “Tenfold” came from and where did you go to film the visuals? Because you were looking smooth out there within that entire video.
Man, we filmed that video in Vasquez Rocks in California. I really like to hike a lot and I felt that I wanted to show the outdoor experience within this video. Plus, I’m big on being outdoors.
For tracks like “Frequently” where the track is a Black Boy Joy anthem, how often do you want to make more tracks centered around Black Boy Joy or Black Joy?
I’d say often, I think as humans we're so multifaceted no one is one thing no one is just happy all the time, no one is sad all the time. I think that song was about that, but I just wanted to portray what the black experience is, whether angry, sad, happy, or joyful. I feel like for this album as well I wanted to keep my emotions on display. Because I think musical genres, in my eyes at least, it isn’t just about the category, it's more so about the feeling or emotions that the music gives.
Speaking of Black Boy Joy or Black Joy overall, may I ask if you could make a Black Boy Joy or Black Joy playlist who would be on your Playlist?
Dang, you kind of put me on the spot haha. At the top of my head Angie Stone’s “No More Rain (In This Cloud,)” D’Angelo’s “One Mo’Gin,” Raphael Saadiq’s “Faithful,” Solange’s “Junie,” “Super Stars” by Yves Tumor, Blood Orange “Hope,” and “Who Am I” by Toro y Moi, that’s my list haha.
With Circmvnt out now, what do you want fans to take away from your debut album to overall future releases of yours?
Don’t get caught up in the rat race of life, you know. You gotta realize that there’s a world much bigger than the one that's inside of yours. So, realize that we’re collectively going through this life thing together. Bringing in more of this attention to the idea of a community. While celebrating the idea of having a black experience. There's many things to take away from it, simply just rock out to it though.
