Multi-talented San Francisco based artist Afterthought teams up with natural born lyricist Aura to give listeners a taste of their collaboration, “Growth.”
Afterthought wears many hats as a rapper, producer & songwriter fusing together the genres of R&B and Hip-Hop. Afterthought fills his creations with nostalgia but fueled by futuristic elements. Music has always found a way to surround him at a young age. This led him to begin producing and songwriting predominantly R&B, Soul, and Pop music for other artists. Afterthought brings a multidimensional skillset to the music industry.
He has teamed up with Brooklyn based artist Aura for their smooth record, “Growth.” Unafraid to push the boundaries of her sound Aura continues to surprise us all while serenading us sweetly by adding her own unique flavor to the melodies she creates. Together, they are unstoppable with their latest collaborative efforts.
“Growth,” carries a deep and wistful vibration as this R&B instrumentation gets fused with Jazz and Soul components to bring you this unique composition. The opulent production and catchy guitar riff instantly set out to soothe your soul on a deeper level of emotion. While being transported to a blissful utopia in the essence of “Growth,” this record hits home while painting a picture of growing and moving forward with yourself, taking in your own personal beauty.
We are immersed in the delicate reverberations of Aura’s vocals that sing sweet and sultry tunes of passion and desire. The way that her vocals blend into the instrumentation in such an effortless manner is truly a sonic delicacy. We are then struck with Afterthought’s descriptive lyricism in the second verse as he gushes a deep cadence while delivering his carefully crafted lyrics.
Together this dynamic duo is a force to be reckoned with as their artistic styles complement one another as they come together in the striking development of “Growth.” Both artists showcase the depth of their versatility and allow us in on a sentimental level as we get to know these up and comers in the industry.
Welcome to BuzzMusic, Afterthought, and Aura, and congratulations on the release of “Growth.” With such an intimate record, we would love to know, how did this collaboration come to be?
Afterthought: I had been working on collaborations with various artists when Covid-19 hit the US and most cities went into Lockdown, I had been a fan of Aura’s music and when quarantine hit I tapped in with her about making music in general, we went back and forth on a bunch of things, and eventually started working on the instrumental that would become “Growth.” For me, this was the first song I made entirely digitally during querying, a collaboration through texts and FaceTime only.
Aura: I shared the admiration for Afts music, I loved that he could effortlessly switch from killer production to insane lyricism. He is truly a jack of all trades, so when he reached out with a fire beat I immediately started writing. We were both within the same virtual circle of artists called GFM (shoutout Tori), which served as a constant reminder of his artistry and made virtual collaboration feel easy during the quarantine.
What did the creative process look like for each of you going into the creation of “Growth?”
Afterthought: After I and Conner made the beat and I sent the beat to Aura the process was almost instant. We talked about growing as a concept before any lyrics. She sent me a rough of her verse and bits of the chorus and then I began writing my verse of those lyrics and melodies and from there the song just kinda grew naturally.
Aura: Once I started writing, the vision for the topic and tone of the song came instantly and was born out of previous conversations that we had about growth. From there, we collaborated back and forth on Facetime on arrangement, melodies, and harmonies. We were always open to each other's ideas which made collaborating easy. We were always open to trying out different things, but we were also honest with each other when we felt like something didn't work.
What would you like listeners to take away from the profundity of this record?
Afterthought: I just want people to be able to vibe, to be able to relax, and tap in with their own personal growth, especially in these times. In the chorus Aura notes “take that weight off your shoulder,” I think that was I want folks to do, take the weight off and focus on themselves in the purest form.
Aura: Man, Aft took the words out my mouth. But seriously, during quarantine, it is especially easy to put pressure on yourself to achieve all the things that have been sitting on the back burner. As I've grown I realized that being busy doesn't equate to success. Taking care of yourself spiritually, mentally, and physically does. Sometimes that looks like lying in bed eating ice cream, and sometimes that looks like writing a new song, working out, and cooking dinner. Whichever it is, I just hope that people take the time to take the weight off their shoulders and treat themselves with the love and care they deserve.
Could you please take us into what the studio session looked like when recording “Growth?"
Afterthought: Well we were separated the whole time, so for me, it was most important that we're able to be on the same page and the same vibe! And so I thought about that constantly while working on the production and lyrics from my standpoint.
Aura: Studio sessions are lonely these days haha, just me in my home studio. It's different because it forces you to communicate even better outside of the studio since you don't have that live feedback and collaboration process that the studio environment creates. That's exactly what Aft and I did.
What can we expect to see from you as we enter a new year?
Afterthought: I have a collaborative project with one of the childhood friends, Arun Desai dropping November 24th and then my sequel to Family First comes out next spring.
Aura: I just released my new single "The fall" and have another joint called "lay low" coming out with my friend J P Rose later in November. After that, you can expect new tracks from me at the top of the year.
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