“Expect A Real Artist!” CLASH Meets Tempest

It’s a hazy Tuesday afternoon and I’m sat in Tempest’s living room, virtually. Clocking in at 9am across the pond, Tempest is sat comfortably, touching up her pressed powder with a cup of tea to her side. Eased immediately with her warming aura and infectious smile, she jokingly asked what I had for lunch [an energy drink, healthy I know…] before we jumped into the music. What felt like a Facetime call with one of the girls, Tempest’s studious tendencies and extraordinary passion for her craft immediately took me back. A real student of the game. Growing up in a musical household with her Jamaican mother and Nigerian father, who played a significant role in steering Tempest’s ear from a young age through his career as a reputable DJ, it made sense. 

Perfecting her craft since 2013, Tempest has become reputable for a sound that sits comfortably in R&B. However, the luminary took it upon herself to challenge the constructs of the genre and form a body of work that’s cohesive yet highly unpredictable. ‘The Ranch’ itself represents “a place of a 6ft man or taller” – and girl, haven’t we all retreated there before. Let me tell you, it’s not always the 5* rating you imagine. Metaphors aside, these five tracks mark a safe space or point of escapism for whose who have a tendency to run away. Regaining her artistic freedom, Tempest invites listeners to put on their cowboy boots and join her on an unforgettable journey of empowerment. 

CLASH got the chance to catch up with Tempest ahead of her debut EP ‘The Ranch’, speaking all things music, regaining her confidence as an artist, overcoming adversity, and more, tap in below to see what she had to say.

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Talk me through your earlier years and how you were introduced to music… 

My dad, a Nigerian man raised in the Bronx, and my mom, a Jamaican mother both came together in Long Beach, California and there I am. Being raised in Long Beach, there is a lot of cultural and musical background. On top of that, my dad was a DJ. I grew up watching him collect records, burn CDs, and crate dig. He used to DJ a lot of Dancehall due to my mom’s background alongside a lot of Hip-Hop and R&B.

My dad was raised in New York but adding my mom into it, it became a cultural and musical household. A lot of it goes to him. I would be with him all night helping create mixtapes! He passed when I was 13 and crate digging became that thing for me. In school, for the people that knew me, I was known as the girl who always knew the new music because I was on all the blogs like Hot New Hip-Hop, XXL, Digital Dripped, and DatPiff looking for the hottest music of the time. 

I read that you started creating music from as early as 2014 through music production.

I attended a programme in Junior High School called Long Beach CAP and they helped all of the kids within the city have access to different arts. There were screen printing, photography, and music departments. I was learning how to do music production and from there they took me onto the GRAMMY Museum where I learned more about the history of music and ended up becoming an alumni, they’d call me back to do certain events.

I was performing to Michelle Obama, or a Motown tribute to Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson all whilst I was in school. At this point, I wasn’t thinking about making music I just wanted to produce. It wasn’t anything serious, I was just making noise in Logic [laughs]

You’re a DJ as well – when did this come into play? 

That was before the pandemic in around 2018! Everybody was saying my music taste was too good to not be DJ’ing. I was really good at it. I wanted to stay away from that because my dad was a real DJ, he knew how to spin records. I began DJ’ing a lot of parties and then the pandemic hit. Everyone started doing those whack live sets online, I am not that bitch! I need to be with the people on the dancefloor and feel the energy.

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At which point did you start putting pen to paper and making music of your own?  

I stopped DJ’ing and dug further into production. I had an entire set-up! I started doing vocal chops, not thinking I can sing either! [laughs] If I can learn how to write my own songs, then I’ll have better song structure in my production. That ended up being most of my quarantine. I sent “demos” to my friends asking how the beat sounded. Next thing it’s “Who’s singing this?! Who wrote this?!” – it was me! Why it is such a shock!! [laughs] A lot of my friends encouraged me to carry on, I was doing myself a disservice not seeing it through. I made song called ‘Don’t Say My Name’, it’s an interpretation of James Fauntleroy he’s one of my biggest writing inspirations. I deep dived into his work! I spent the entire pandemic learning how to become an artist and learning how to make music by challenging myself in the studio. 

It’s so refreshing to hear someone talk so passionately about their craft! 

Thank you! I literally eat, shit, breathe and sleep music. I don’t think I would be here without it. I thank God everyday for my ear because it’s my love for the game and respect for the art that makes me want to take it seriously. 

Let’s talk about this EP! It’s been a long time coming. What inspired the concept of this project? Talk me through the name ‘The Ranch’… 

‘The Ranch’ symbolises the place of a 6ft man or taller. It symbolises the great escape, the rush, and lowkey the violence. It symbolises manic energy, crashing out, and having fun. I was at a place in my life where I was continuously running away. I’m obsessed with running away – it’s part of the mental illness! [laughs] I wanted nothing more than to get out of the situation that I was in. It was stopping me being my best self and I had a part to play in that. I didn’t always see a way out and so I would end up going to “the ranch”. I was definitely using a man to run away from my problems. Until you decide you want to take time to heal you will find yourself running into more damaged people. ‘The Ranch’ is a host for those people but it’s a safe space. It’s the home that you hate! It’s the place where you feel the most seen but are disgusted by it. Why do you understand me? We shouldn’t be understanding each other on this level. At the time it was a specific 6ft5 man who would speak sweet nothings to me! The whole time he thought I was falling in love with him. I just wanted the music! [laughs] I’m getting the song and I’m leaving! 

The music within the project is based around freedom. For example, ‘Cha Cha Freestyle’ is literally telling you to do what you want. I had people around me saying I couldn’t make this kind of music. Oh really? I am going to do whatever I want! So much so that I’m gonna say “cha cha baby!”. In the song ‘Worthy’, I talk about how there’s no one that I like. That’s why my music doesn’t sound like everyone else’s. Theres a reason why everything has so much tempo or rage. I am not in a place to slow down and do a little love joint, I’m in the rush! ‘The Ranch’ is nothing but feminine rage!

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Where did you draw from sonically? It’s not a predictable project. It doesn’t fit into a genre specifically; you’ve bent sounds and formed them in a way that fits you. How did you push yourself to get into that space? 

At the time I was creating this project there were people around me that wanted me to sound like artists we hear today. Which is great! But I’m a real student of the game. I wanted to evolve and make a name for Tempest whilst fitting who I am right now. I’m not solely R&B, I can make R&B very well and it helped me learn how to create songs. It’s a great genre to study! I was gravitating towards alternative sounds. I have an entire playlist called “art hoe” and it’s alternative music from all genres. I was heavily on SoundCloud – it will always be one of the greatest places for inspiration and sourcing new sounds and artists.

I was listening to music that wasn’t mainstream and wanted to create something similar. The people around me didn’t think it would make sense, but I don’t want to create music for the masses, I want to create music for me. If people gravitate to it, then great! I heard the word no with no solution, so me being stubborn I went into the studio everyday with the intention of making the most left-sounding R&B possible. ‘The Ranch’ is made up of R&B chords but I wanted the hardest drums on there, to switch the tempo or drop things an octave, I wanted to yell on that bitch instead of sing! [laughs] I was doing the opposite of what I was told. I had to bet on me! It cost me a lot to be that defiant, but I have no regrets. I can listen to this project and know that nobody sounds like this! Shit, not even me! I don’t know if I can make those songs again! [laughs] 

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How long did you work on it?

Those songs are over a year old now. I haven’t been in the studio since! It took a lot for me to make those songs, and I needed a break. I had to fight for the sound and show people that it would work. I would play it to regular civilians at Trader Joe’s, to A&R’s and models – I always got great reactions! Why is it that the people around me who support me don’t believe in it? 

Every song that I do, I tend to finish in one day. We’re doing it all from scratch. Typically, my sessions will go from 1pm-10pm, I don’t do the night shit – I want to go to bed! [laughs] The producers will catch a vibe and I will start writing, I’ll hear different ways to approach the song as they finish creating it. I will leave the studio with a full song. I don’t tend re-visit either, nine times out of 10, the song you hear is the song I made that day. I write all of my songs; I wrote 95% of this project. That extra 5% came from Naomi Wild, one of my greatest writing partners – she helped my juice up ‘Stop Playing’. 

You’ve got a track on the EP with Amindi, talk me through this collaboration. Were you able to push each other creatively on this track? How did it all come about…

The way that session happened was so random but perfect! I had just left “the ranch” that morning and I had a studio session later that day. I saw Amindi in the hallway, I asked her to come to my session and I was just filling her in on my life. This was the first time that me and Amindi were TALKING – we knew of each other, but we were just yapping about music and boys! We were going through the same thing, so we decided to put it into a song. The guy I had just been on a date with was 6ft 5 and I kept referring to him as my stallion, I kept saying I was at the ranch tonight! [laughs] Amindi was writing her verse, I freestyled some of mine and we joined forces. We did it in the same day! It was so fun! 

You haven’t released music for a while, this year you’ve really come back and kicked ass! You’ve just mentioned how people weren’t necessarily believing in you, and it feels as though you’re now breaking free. Do you feel as though you’re entering a new creative era and if so, how?

I definitely am breaking free! I am walking into a new era; it has been a long time since I’ve dropped. This comeback is about me having fun. I was robbed of that. I had a lot of labels, distro and big corporations trying to scoop me up! I came into the music industry from early, it became serious very quickly. I didn’t have the time to experiment and become the artist that I wanted to be. Even with these new songs, as good as this project is I wouldn’t take it and say that this is what Tempest is doing now. This is me allowing myself to move on from that and have some fucking fun! I should be able to enjoy the fruits of being an artist. I just want to make my silly little songs, with my silly little beats in my silly little outfits! That’s what this era is! What can I sound like with no bounds? This is music that people were shitting on! No one is no longer forcing me to make a certain sound. I’m re-gaining my confidence as an artist. Tempest will never make the same thing twice. It’s time for me and my supports to have fun! 

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Which one are you most excited to perform? 

Ooo! If I’m honest, I don’t perform that much – 

Girl! You need to come to the UK; I need to see this shit live! 

I know!! [laughs] As of right now, one of my favourite songs to perform is ‘Heathens’ and it’s not even on the project. First of all, everyone paid that song dust – it was so HARD! When I perform that song, the energy is so good. There’s a whole dance break in the performance! 

Putting the music aside, what keeps you grounded? What do you like doing for fun?

I look to cook, it’s one of my first loves. I love arts and crafts; I did a beginner’s painting class in college and thank God I did because it’s helped me musically! It’s called synaesthesia, they taught us about colour theory and how they attract certain emotions. I like to bowl, travelling and watching Criterion channel or a movie. I love walking down the aisle in the movie theatre – 

That’s the realest thing ever, you can’t go wrong with the popcorn and snacks!

Yes! [laughs] I pray a lot to keep myself grounded. I found out last year that I have BPD (borderline personality disorder) and what’s helped to keep me centred throughout all of that is journalling. I make sure I have my cup of tea in the morning and go for a walk to regulate my emotions. I do everything! My next hobby I want to pick up is horseback riding, I really want to do it. I was told I have great form when we did the music video for ‘The Ranch’, I don’t know how to ride a horse, but I do know how to ride! [laughs] I want a real stallion! 

We’ve got the EP coming, is there anything else we can expect to see? 

We can expect me to do whatever I want! We can expect a real artist. 

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‘The Ranch’ EP is out now.

Words: Elle Evans
Photo Credit: Courtni Poe

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