Ari Lennox

My dad would always play Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Anita Baker, so I fell in love with them. I would try to make my voice sound like theirs. ”

Like, even going to Duke Ellington School of the Arts, like, they slept on me. I think they thought I was talented, but for whatever reason, they didn't want to give me a lot of solos or any type of just love like that. But I don't know. I think that's what encouraged me to grind so hard. ”

I can’t believe people love my music. It just feels like a dream because that is all I ever wanted. ”

I've been trying to be a singer ever since I was 2 years old and I'm a whole 27 years old now so it's like, things can happen or they can't. It's a humbling experience every year, every day. ”

I'm always going to take an experience and a fire beat and marry it all together with adult melodies. I try to paint, just like Frank Ocean paints with his lyrics. I try in similar ways to paint my life into these songs. ”

I'm so thankful for 'Backseat' because it's doing so much. It's almost at two million listens on Spotify. It's changed my life. It was the song that Dreamville really pushed and they just really made it explode, and I'm just so thankful. ”

My life would’ve been so different if my parents listened to Korn. That would’ve been fire! ”

But yeah, so many people are just not very genuine online. I caught myself looking for my ex, and a lot of these people that I would swipe right on, I'm meeting them in real life and they're just not that guy at all. ”

Could I be a good mom? That's a dream, I pray that I'll be the best mom ever. But I don't know. It's so important to me. ”

I’d be at these different clubs passing out my business cards and fliers. Then the club would end, the light would come on and all my business cards would be on the floor." ”