EAST LONDON'S RNB ARTIST ANTS XI: 'IT’S NOW POSSIBLE TO DO BIG THINGS IN MY GENRE'
Singer and rapper Ants XI is making waves in the industry. At just three years in the game, he has already built up a global fanbase and gained a huge online following, currently sharing his journey with 93k instagram followers.
Ant XI, take us back to the beginning, where did your journey begin?
“Everyone in my family's musical. They've been involved in music in some way, shape, or form. I used to play football but got injured, so I needed to decide on a new path to go down. I’ve always been singing for fun, and one of my musical friends put me in a studio, gave me a beat and I started freestyling. From there we made a song, and since that day, I just fell in love with it.”
Being a musician is so much more than just recording a song - what is your release process like?
“I always say videos and visuals are so important. They’re so important because people get to see you, and they get to see who's behind the voice, which I think is one of the best ways of getting out there.
“I also know the power that social media has, and I really wanted to tap into that from the start. I used to do a lot of freestyles which people would repost, and use Instagram Live during lockdown, which helped to grow my platform because people started to see what I’m like as a person.”
Talk us through your most recent single, ‘Good Feeling’. Was this a lockdown creation?
“It actually was a lockdown creation. I’ve got a Setup at home, and I feel like that’s where I can really tap into my sound. ‘Good Feeling’ was made at 2am – I heard the beat and the melodies just kept coming to me, and from there I sorted the lyrics.
“It’s always nice to hear ‘Good Feeling’ play on the radio, and it’s an amazing feeling to hear people take their time to learn the lyrics and tag me in their stories singing the song.”
The 2021 music industry is obviously a very saturated and busy place, do you ever feel like you’re looking sideways worrying about what others are doing?
“Only in a positive way. I might look at an artist and respect how they’re doing something, and think about how I could do something similar. I feel like the UK scene is fairly new compared with the American scene, and it's only in the last six or seven years that I’ve actually heard our genre of music on the radio, so you’re going to get a lot of people a lot of people coming up with a lot of new, different sounds.
“Because I can see it’s now possible to do big things in my genre, it gives me more motivation to keep my mind focused and determined. Hold on, 2022.”
Is there one piece of advice you’d give, that you feel has elevated you the most in your career?
“I would 100% say the one thing that's really helped me is staying focused. I know it sounds so simple, but just stay focused and consistent with what you do, whatever that is, keep doing it. Even if things don't work out the way you want them to the first time, that doesn't mean it's not going work out the next time. Keep going.”
Listen to the full chat below:
