NEW ARTIST: Who is Ari Lennox?

By: Tavia Calvin

 

New artists are pretty easy to come by. In this day and age, it seems as if everyone wants to be the new definition of ‘the best rapper alive’ or the new R&B and Soul ‘prototype’. Yet, Ari Lennox is far from fitting into the mold of being the prototype of music. She transcends as a new artist that is breaking the mold with her unique sound that she describes a

s, “soulful rock/afro-jazz.”

 

Ari recently headlined an underground concert held at Howard University where she blew the audience away with her renditions of Prototype by Andre 3000 and Pursuit of Happiness by Kid Cudi, followed by her biggest hit to date from her mixtape Five Finger Discount, Random Heartbreaks, where she talks about her battle with anxiety. She was described as a breath of fresh air by an audience member after the show.

 

Lennox says her parents helped her fall in love with music and recalled hearing and being in love with the song Apologize by Anita Baker. Then, she knew that she wanted to make people feel the same way she felt every time she heard this song. Along with Anita Baker, Ari Lennox is influenced by artists such as John Legend, Ella Fitzgerald, D’Angelo, Billie Holiday, and Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon.

 

She remembers developing her own sound in the midst of attempting to sound like John Legend. It slowly turned into turned into a unique island-sounding accent that has stuck with her. This was the becoming of Ari Lennox, as she embraced her new stage name while deciding to use her birth name, Courtney Salter, for personal use only.

Ari says she stays true to the music by simply singing about what she wants to sing about.

 

 

“Whether my songs are about making love or hating my job. It won’t be my fault if the cheesy making love song just happens to blow up.” In, Five Finger Discount, which she refers to as her “sugar baby”, she keeps it all the way real, speaking on being scammed as soon as she entered the industry, relationships and heart break, and even reform in Egypt on a track called Knocking.

 

Ari Lennox is a new force to be reckoned with and is that brand new flavor in our ear. She is also working on a new EP set to release soon. Check her out!