Interview: Adi Oasis

When Adi Oasis first moved to America, it was expected that she would find a producer. There was an assumption that she, a woman in music, did not know what sound she wanted for herself, or, possibly worse, that she was not capable of producing a sound. Underlining all of this is the expectation that the power of her sound be yielded to whatever [male] producer may have wanted for her, and that she could not be in control.

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Recording studios are shrouded with subtle, yet bright, lines of power being exerted. In these spaces, engineers, producers, and songwriters serve as the key actors. Though the lines can (sometimes) be blurred between titles, engineers are often charged with the task of managing the audio console from the control room, keeping track of time stamps, and quickly balancing audio for the artist to record, while producers, typically, play some role in composing music, writing lyrics, or sometimes acting as management, the de facto extension from the record label. Ironically, because so much falls under the title of “producer” it can be a less defined position in practice.

According to Forbes.com, women make up less than 3% of producers. Comparatively, women account for 27.1% of artists and 12.5% of songwriters. The numbers are staggering, to say the least. When looking across the landscape of contemporary music, producers have an outsized role — they don’t just simply “make the music,” they have an immense amount of power in dictating how songs, and albums, should feel; artists are expected to willingly acquiesce to the will of the producer. But could an artist — regardless of their gender — be less likely to entrust their sound to a woman in these spaces?

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On September 10th, the French-Carribbean, producer, bassist, and singer-songwriter, released her third studio album, Adi Oasis, a dazzling and funky follow-up to her 2020 album, Intérimes. Following the release of her new album, I got the chance to speak with Adi Oasis before her headlining show at Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live. We talked about her experiences growing up in France, challenging narratives around women as producers, and the meaning of collaboration. Here’s our conversation!

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

Stanley What is your first memory with music?

Adi Oasis I started singing pretty much when I started speaking, so I don't even have a first memory because music’s always been there. I have a musical family, too. I have three older siblings and they all sing, so by the time I was born they were already in choirs and harmonizing. I really feel like I came out the womb singing, it was just the thing to do.

I never actually studied music formally at school or anything, but I joined the choir when I was five years old. That’s where I learned harmony and how to use my voice. We were singing a lot of musicals, like the stuff you’ll hear on Broadway, and we toured a lot too, so I spent a lot of my childhood on stage.

Stanley Your father is from Martinique and your mother is from the south of France.

How did their cultural backgrounds shape your musical influences?

Adi Oasis Music is a key part of our culture, along with singing and dancing. Me, my cousins, and other family members were always dancing or doing something music related, so it's a huge part of my culture. In comparison, my mom's culture, for instance, it's more about like…different things, but not necessarily dancing or singing [laughs]. But both have been really influential for me.

Stanley Could talk about some of your inspirations musically?

Adi Oasis Because I grew up in France, I always try to make sure I thank African-American culture, because the music that was created here and exported, resonates in ways that people here don't always realize. Being Black and from Europe, the music made by Black Americans means so much to me. And we have our own musicians and heroes that I’ve definitely been influenced by, but if it wasn't for African-American culture and what they created in the music, I wouldn't be here today.

Many of my musical influences are all connected to each other, because every time period and each genre can be connected; they’re all influenced by what came before. But more than the music, Black American culture also gave me an opportunity to see Black people on TV and Black people being successful. Especially when we were hardly represented in France back in the early 2000s.

Stanley I'm interested in that experience – the experience of being Black in Paris. I've never I've never been to Paris, or France for that matter. I watched a show called The Eddy on Netflix, which is a dramatic portrayal of the music scene in Paris, but that’s pretty much as close as I’ll get to going for now [laughs].

Adi Oasis Andre Holland is my one of my best friends! Even though the show is a little romanticized, there is a music scene there. And again, it's all these kids that are the children of immigrants, and we often find ourselves through American music. I remember being 18 in Paris and just like losing my shit listening to Jill Scott and Erykah Badu and D’Angelo and, you know, all of that stuff.

We were just trying to recreate as much as we could. But that's also why I moved to New York, because I didn't want to copy. I wanted to understand, I wanted to meet those people and get to the root of where the music came from and the influences, and also find myself.

Stanley That's an interesting perspective. And just knowing the role Philadelphia played in shaping the sound that you’re referencing is cool to me, just seeing that connection.

Adi Oasis The fact that I'm playing in Philly, for me, is a huge deal. I'm an immigrant, I'm not from here, you know? Life is beautiful in that way.

Stanley When did you pick up the bass? Who were some of the people that you’ve looked up to as a bassist?

Adi Oasis I started playing guitar first, but at that time I was way more of a singer-songwriter. My older brother plays guitar and he bought me one. I had already started writing songs by that point. The guitar was an important tool for me in learning how to become a songwriter. But I never really connected with the guitar – I was just kind of standing and strumming. I knew that wasn’t me.

Prince is someone I’ve always admired. The fact that he was jumping around and dancing and playing an instrument at the same time, I knew that, energy wise, that's what I wanted to do.

My first band when I moved to New York was a trio – actually one of my bandmates was from Philly – we had a show scheduled and the bass player canceled at the last minute.

So, we're in rehearsal for a show, one of the guys is like, “Hey, Adeline, you play guitar, why don’t you just play bass?” I grab the bass and I was – of course, it was terrible – but I fell in love with it. I found something that fit me. I practiced and studied, and eventually it just all came together.

Stanley A happy accident of sorts!

I wanted to talk a bit about the broader body of work you’ve made. From your self-titled project, to Intérimes which you put out last year and now Adi Oasis – how would you describe your evolution across these different projects? Things you may have learned about yourself as a songwriter and composer?

Adi Oasis It's just me evolving as an artist, and the more music I make, the more I understand what I want to do and what I'm good at, what works for me, what translates better on stage, and so on. I also have to shout out to my band for helping shape that sound as well for when we’re on stage.

Morgan Wiley, who's my writing and production partner, has also been instrumental in the development of my sound. He and I have been working together for some years now, making tracks and writing, so we decided to form our production duo, Nightshade. We have great chemistry together, and we also want to make music for other people.

I've grown as a producer, bass player, and songwriter, and I'm putting all of that growth into my music. Going through the pandemic, being an artist, and all of the things that came with quarantine, then finding this name “Adi Oasis”, I've realized the more in touch with myself I am, and the more personal I am about my music, the more relatable it can be. I'm just working on just embracing who I am and using music to find myself and hopefully help people find themselves as well.

Stanley The conversation around music production is so interesting, particularly because men dominate that area of the music making process so heavily. Could you talk a little bit about — just the idea of being a producer and a woman, which I think are two things that we don't necessarily see that often.

Adi Oasis We need more. There are so few women that are producers. But why? What can’t we do? All it takes is a set of ears. And today, with the way technology has evolved, there's no reason why there should be so few. But music is also one of these industries that’s been run by patriarchy.

For me, the way I viewed production changed when I started playing bass, how I heard music and approached making it. But I faced a similar thing when playing bass, because it can be so rare seeing a woman play. There's nothing that a man has that makes them more suitable to play an instrument, right?

It's just about changing the minds and showing girls that it's an option. Growing up, I never knew it was an option for me to be a producer. When I moved to New York, there was this expectation from others that I had to find a producer, someone that was going to make music for me.

But I thought to myself, with my experience, being a bass player, a woman, being an immigrant by myself in New York City and learning to not take shit from people, one day I just said, I can make my own beats, because why do I need a dude to tell me what to do? And if I don't succeed as a producer, I want to at least to succeed in spreading the message that other girls can do it.

…the way I viewed production changed when I started playing bass, how I heard music and approached making it. But I faced a similar thing when playing bass, like I did with production, because it can be so rare seeing a woman play.

Stanley You spend a lot of time in the studio, but you’re also an electric performer. We haven’t had live shows in some time, so I was wondering how you view both of these spaces – the studio and the stage?

Adi Oasis It’s interesting, because up until recently, I used to say that I'm more comfortable on stage than anywhere else. And It's still the case in some ways. I think I'm more comfortable on stage, and not comparing it to the studio, but more comfortable on stage than anywhere in the world. Like, I'm more comfortable on stage in my bedroom [laughs].

The stage just allows you to transcend – to really go beyond yourself. And that happens in the studio, too, when I am in a good flow recording something or writing, and you can feel that; that moment where you can just the plug in and channel that some energy. And with the stage, for me, it's easier to find that space than in the studio. But with the pandemic, I spent so much time in the studio, and it became my refuge, even more than it was before. But they both we work together for me.

Stanley You mentioned Nightshade, your production group with Morgan Wiley. And you’ve also collaborated with Kamauu on a number of occasions. What does collaboration mean to you? And what do those two in particular bring out in your music?

Adi Oasis Collaboration is interesting. Before I went solo, I used to be in a band called Escort, and it was kind of a patriarchal structure where there was a guy that was deciding everything and I was just kind of…there, but not really. I moved on and went solo, and I said to myself: I'm going to do it all by myself! I'm in my room making tracks! And it's interesting that you mentioned me working with Morgan and Kamauu, because they are the proof that not all collaborations work, but when they do, they can be magical.

Morgan and Kamauu are the rare types of collaborations where you realize this is a long-term thing, but you have to be open to trying different things and also be willing to learn.

Before Kamauu and I did Mango, we met maybe three times prior, we hardly knew each other. And even though we’d never made music together, we wrote Mango in 3 hours! And we did it again with Stages. We just have this connection that happens with select people every once in a while.

In my first session with Morgan, we made two tracks and very quickly after that we were ready to make an entire album together. When we committed to being a production duo, I thought we were going to be like the Neptunes or like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

But I started questioning if was afraid to pursue production, or music in general, by myself. And then I looked at all my heroes, and nobody does it alone. Prince had the Revolution and the Time, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis grew out of that as well – they all did it together. Pharrell and Chad have each other. I even think about bands like The Beatles and how they worked with each other. Or contemporary artists like Anderson .Paak, he doesn’t roll without [The Free Nationals], and now he’s in partnership Bruno Mars. Music is meant to be shared. I'm not Beethoven where I'm composing classical music by myself.

Being solo in that way may work for some people, but for me, I believe in finding your tribe and growing with them.

Song Premiere: B.R.K.

Interview: Sidibe