Today we’d like to introduce you to AiiR .
Hi AiiR, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Sometimes, I honestly don’t even know where to begin when it comes to my genuine start. I remember listening to different genres of music and remembering how they made me feel. And the feeling was always refreshing. I wanted to provide the same kind of feeling to others. To my recollection, I started making up dances and writing songs on my grandma’s deck with my first best friend, and we would perform them for my dad and my grandma. We didn’t even have any music! Just our voices and our dance steps. But they would watch, and they were always such a great crowd!
Of course, singing in my household automatically meant you needed to be in the church choir. So, I was put in children’s choir when I was in Farmington, MN. When I moved back to Michigan, where I was born, I was placed in another choir, and the passion just grew more for singing. Then I got invested in school choir which allowed me to be introduced to the competitive side of things.
By this time, I have been introduced to musicals and band so now I am tapped in with the performing aspect and the creation of music part, but now I see something new in high school: the dance team. This was my first real introduction into the dance realm. We entered and placed in competitions and went to camp to hone our skills. The act of entertainment to the degree I was going in ultimately landed me a spot on a hip hop dance crew in my college years, where I really entered the entertainment world for real in my eyes. I was doing concerts and traveling, doing what I loved!
Now in my eyes, I’m thinking, ” Why not give this music thing a try?”. I literally dug deep for 3 years, doing my best to educate myself on the many different “hats” I would need to wear to get my music career going.
I nurtured my talents and skills to the point where now I can put together my own show with dancers, wardrobe, song mix, makeup, hair, and more. With a child.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has been a bumpy ride during this music journey. It’s a risky and expensive business, but I enjoy what I do and what I invest my time and efforts in.
The main struggles I normally have to deal with are consistency, loyalty, and common sense. Ha! Yes, I said it!
Unfortunately, there are not many people like me. I am a part of a dying breed of people. The amount of love, support, and business I get involved apart of is at times tarnished due to bad communication from others and the lack of know-how when it comes to problem-solving and consistency. I have had to deal with terrible engineers, artist, nail techs you name it! The work ethic and attitudes I can’t deal with. I am too precious. Literally. The reciprocity and the consistency on that end is never where it needs to be. So that’s a struggle; good business relations.
A lot of people lack loyalty, and that’s why I stay a loner. You can barely truly build a bond with someone because you always have to worry about them getting to comfortable and then not fulfilling their end of the bargin, whether it be work related or not. I have ended many types of -ships (friendships, relationships, situationships) due to conflict of interest or people not treating me how they would want to be treated, or the classic making assumptions. You don’t come late to work and expect to get paid for the whole shift, right? A lot of these people expect to mishandle you can expect to still reap the benefits of being in your life, and that’s not ok with me.
My obstacles are people. There aren’t many good people anymore. Of course, the money and having a daughter make this harder, but honestly, the vast majority of people nowadays are something else.
That’s the obstacle, honestly – finding good people.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Some know me for makeup, some know me for dance, and some know me for music. I love that I can be called on for whatever the occasion may be, but ultimately, I am making a name for myself as a performing music artist.
I officially started releasing music to platforms last year and will be releasing my 5th track soon. I have performed at New Music Mondays a part of the ATL DJ Coalition in GA twice, 2HotRadio in ATL during the BET Hip Hop Awards weekend, and I took first place in the Coast2Coast Competition in Atlanta, GA landing me a position in finals this November in Miami, FL. I have made so much progress in just one year, and I am proud to have done all of this with the love and support of some friends and family members. I put the mentality of “this is too hard” or “I can’t do that” away, and I am so proud of myself for picking the choice to FIGHT vs. FLIGHT in all of my choices I make.
See, the thing that sets me apart from others is that I choose to keep it classy and modest, and I choose to use the harder path because I know if I take some of the shorter routes, I could sell myself short. I won’t compromise my morals or values for any gain in this kind of business. As we see too often, that’s how some people lose their true selves, and I don’t want to give my true essence up. It’s not for sale.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Covid made me realize folks don’t wash their hands, and they still don’t. HA! I said it. The CDC said to wash your hands, and folks are still out here not doing so, but I already knew that. This is why I don’t come outside a lot. (Tee hee hee)
During the beginning of covid, I had always worked from home, so the transition when we had lockdowns and curfews never really impacted me because I am already a secluded person, but I do realize for some, it drove them mad. I do realize that covid impacts others with more intensity than others. I almost lost my grandma to it. So, it made me learn to honestly value the family I have while they are still here.
Pricing:
- Makeup (SFX not included) – $60 – $70
- Dancer Booking fee – Open for Discussion
- Artist Feature Booking Fee – Open for Discussion
- SFX Makeup – $100+
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/AiiRMusiQ
- Instagram: @aiirmusiq
- Facebook: @aiirmusiq
- Twitter: @aiirmusiq
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/aiirmusiq
- SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/4w99g
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4gdCT2VE8bSEenSvp8agSH?si=V6d-H9jiQiGDL5Fg38NF1w&utm_source=copy-link
