When Lauren Eylise talks about her music, the magnetic singer-songwriter becomes animated and energized the way proud mothers get when showing off charming baby photos. She gushes a little over her affinity for The Isley Brothers’ music, and how she named and gendered her guitars —her acoustic is a “he” she named Dino, and the electric “lady” is Maple Ashley. “I name all of my instruments,” Eylise shares, “because they got soul. They got a voice.”
Passionate songwriters like Eylise often refer to their songs as their “babies,” and one of her most beloved to date happens to be one inspired by the birth of her son. In the acoustic ballad, “Peaks and Valleys,” Eylise finds triumph in the life change of returning to Cincinnati pregnant after leaving to pursue a music career in NY.
“I thought that I was about to be famous; and then I got pregnant and it was a very sad time for a while because I felt like I failed, like I was giving up on my dreams,” shares Eylise. “I cried my ass off on the bus all the way home and I cried for many months — I’ll be honest, the beginning of my pregnancy was very sad. His father and I were at odds, and I’ve always loved music; that (was) my baby all my life.”
Despite apprehension from friends who feared that her career plans would derail if she kept her baby, Eylise listened to her inner voice.
“I wanted to have my son,” she remembers. “I was not financially equipped. I was not equipped—but I knew he would be loved. And that’s the way my soul is set up. I operate on love. I grew up in a family — we were poor — but I didn’t know it. My parents bent over backwards. I was loved, and I knew he was going to be loved.”
Conceptually, “Peaks and Valleys” was birthed in a conversation between Eylise and a management team member who supported her when she thought she had to sacrifice her music career. She remembers sobbing inconsolably as he reassured coolly: “We just got to rework the plan. It’s just peaks and valleys.”
Since giving birth three years ago, Eylise’s career continues to blossom. In 2017, she released her genre fluid debut EP compilation, Life/Death/Life, which gained international traction on digital music sites. Word-of-mouth landed her a gig writing music for a Secret Outlast deodorant ad and she appears in the commercial. A frequent headliner at popular local music venues, she also played the acoustic soul music stage at Bunbury Music Festival and has opened for Patti LaBelle, Erykah Badu, Train, Raheem DeVaughn and Tank. After a two-year hiatus from recording, Eylise plans to officially release “Peaks and Valleys” as a single this year.
“It was me coming to terms with myself and knowing, you gave it your best,” Eylise says about the song. “It’s almost like I gave birth to myself in that song. Rebirthed myself with that song because I saw myself in a different light. I forgave myself.”
Words Lauren Eylise thinks of when she thinks of Black women:
Power. Healing. Nourishment. Comfort. Soul. Passion. Holiness. Divinity. Resurrection. Forgiveness. I see God in the mirror every morning. And I feel, I believe that every Black woman on this Earth should see the same. If you can just see God in the mirror, you’re gonna take care of that God.
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Come out and see Lauren Eylise at the In Her Voice Concert on May 16, hosted by Queens Village and Underworld Jazz Fest at the Woodward Theatre. Featured performers include: Tank and The Bangas, Lauren Eylise, Jennifer Simone, MC Jori An Cotton & DJ Apryl Reign along with the premiere of the Because We Love Her: Love Letters to Black Women video and poetry by the In Her Voice North College Hill Poetry Crew.
Get your tickets at: inhervoiceconcert.eventbrite.com
Use the code becauseweloveher to get 30% off ticket price!
Article by Mildred Fallen