Soleille Is Back With An Attitude
Driving in downtown Silver Spring, you often pass by the iconic Fillmore and its giant marquee display. But on one particularly blistery, mundane day in January, there was a bigger display going on right beneath its big letters. As afternoon commuters whirred pass through the streets, an up-and-coming artist by the name of Soleille had been posing for the cameras as she shot her new music video for an upcoming single titled “INTRO”.
I had the chance to attend the shoot, and catch up with the multi-talented recording artist as we waited for the rest of her crew to show up.
DB: What does this release mean for you?
Soleille: Yeah, so this is definitely the renaissance of Soleille, the renaissance of me. I've been putting out music officially for about three years now and I've just been doing a lot of grinding and work underground and I feel like this is kind of my introduction to the world. So people who have never heard of me before or never seen me– this is the perfect, “Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Soleille, this is the Intro.” It’s loud, it’s confident, it's unlike anything I've ever done before so I'm really excited.
What is the thing you are most excited about with this music video?
People reacting to it. It's very different from “4 The Streetz”, which is the other official music video that I have out. 4 The Streetz was a lot of fun, it was more storyline-based. This is just really gritty, raw. It shows off the city that I'm very proud of to be from–Silver Spring–so I’m excited. I hope that it reaches as many people as possible. I think because it’s so short, especially because we're in this era of Tik Tok and short content, I think it has the potential to go really, really far.
For a while, the presence of femme artists was lacking in comparison to your male counterparts from the region. Recently, the rise of artists like Rico Nasty and Ari Lennox has shone a light on the area, but there's still a lot of space to be taken up. How do you see yourself filling that void?
Just being unapologetic, being present, showing up, and showing out everywhere I go. Especially being not only a singer, but also a lyricist in the area. We don't get a lot of love and we often get overlooked by the area for not making that super heavy trap sound. So being unapologetically me and standing up and stepping out– if you not gon’ see me, you gon’ feel me, and you gon’ feel me soon enough.
Having evolved from your debut sound of “Tour Eiffel”, what is the look and feel of Soleille going forward?
It honestly depends on my mood. But you will be getting looks, one thing I will always provide is looks. But it honestly just depends on how I feel. I don't feel like I will ever go back to that feel of Tour Eiffel because I was at a different place in my life then, so I'm constantly growing and evolving as a person and as an artist. So my music is always going to be a representation of that. If you love Tour Eiffel, just stream Tour Eiffel! But everything new and everything big.
Who is the artist that you see yourself in the most as an artist?
I know the answer I want to say but it's so bold, but I'm gonna say it. Beyonce. I said it. And I'm not even saying it to be like “I'm the Queen Bee.” It's just because I adore her so much. And I think what makes her her is: her professionalism, her work ethic, her determination to put herself out there, and her versatility as an artist. She can jump on any type of record and kill it. And I feel like I do that in my own way. I don't feel like there's anybody out there like Soleille but if we had to put somebody who is already in the game who I aspire to be like, it’s her. For sure. And Doja. She's killing it too.
“INTRO” is now available everywhere where music is streamed and the music video drops on February 4th, so don’t miss it!
