The tandem that unites talent and hard work often results in a marvelous result. It is few and far between to discover artistry that draws from many different facets of life and incorporates incredibly gifted intricacies. More times than not, those who are able to discover their purpose from a young age are those who have an advantage over their peers. To know yourself and to use that as a driving force toward your dreams creates unworldly byproducts. Annalise Azadian is a singer/songwriter who has a phenomenal voice and a burning passion to let the world hear.
Annalise grew up living a normal life in Middletown, New York. She began writing music at the age of eleven to help her cope with the passing of her grandmother. It was also at this age that she taught herself how to play the guitar and piano. She first performed at the Bitter End while she was fourteen and also made a performance at the Apollo Theatre (Amateur Night Accolade) around that time. She flew very far under the radar in high school and did not associate herself with much of the typical high school cliques, dramatics or nonsense that usually engulfs teenagers during that era. Actually, flying under the radar is a common theme for this stunning young artist who prefers to keep her head down and constantly work on her craft.
Intellectually Gifted
As an excellent scholar, she graduated from Pine Bush High School at the age of sixteen. She would go on to attend Berklee College in Boston, Massachusetts. In just a couple short years, Annalise learned a great deal about music and applies much of the information to this day. During her time spent at Berklee she was traveling back and forth to the city quite often. Someone close to her offered free studio time in New York and this opportunity was too valuable to pass up. Ultimately, she would go on to drop out of Berklee to pursue her music career full time.
One of the best motivational moments that drove Annalise to chase her musical dreams was an encounter with Busta Rhymes. His encouragement and star-studded face-to-face endorsement gave Annalise enough fuel to completely reach for what she deserves within the music industry. With that being said, the time when she dropped out of school was rather rough. She took an accounting job and slept on DJ Enuff’s couch and out of suitcases while trying to project her career onto the necessary wavelengths. As the accounting job began to take a toll on her creativity, she decided to redirect her path in favor of working for Billionaire Boys Club. BBC is an ultra-creative and futuristic clothing line started by Pharrell Williams. Working there bolstered Annalise’s creative abilities and actually led her to develop several important industry connections. Certainly, this situation proved to be a win-win and continues to generate beneficial opportunities for her to this day.
A very important trope that Annalise stresses the importance of is perseverance. Not a lot of people have the gall and will-power to determine their own destiny. Your dreams could be right around the corner and near fruition with just a few creative strokes of genius. The thing about it is, you will never know if you do not decide to approach them head on and go full force toward your fate. As a woman who has made many sacrifices to advance herself, Annalise is extremely self-motivated, self-reliant and full of fortitude. She tries not to stress over things that are out of her control. She can only dictate what she has a direct influence upon and she does so with incredible mastery.
Galvanizing Gal
From sleeping on DJ Enuff’s couch to performing on his radio show, Annalise has utilized her connections in spectacular ways. She always shows strong appreciation for support and her polarizing personality, vocal performances and ways of packaging her artistic components have caused people to gravitate toward her. One of the most unique spaces that Annalise likes to create and visualize pieces of artistry is in a space called, “The Compound.” The Compound is a large industrial space in the Mott Haven section of The Bronx that was organized by one of her managers, DJ Set Free Richardson. DJ Enuff is her other manager and has been very supportive of her entire process along the way. The Compound was modeled after the Andy Warhol Factory as a way to get all different kinds of creative individuals within the same space. Its goal is to stimulate creative and intellectual efforts through positive vibes, art installations, sculptures and figurines. The energy within this inspirational space is organic and this is the spot where Annalise met and facilitated an ongoing collaborative relationship with Jim Jones.
Annalise writes music from the soul and her discography contains genre bending material. For a petite girl, she holds a tune with great depth. She refuses to be put into a box based upon her appearance or musical content. By refusing to be pigeonholed, she strives for greatness within every studio session. She is nowhere near reaching her potential and carries herself with a very humble demeanor. As someone who is always learning, growing and improving one of the most differentiating features Annalise possesses is the ability to see what is coming next. With great foresight for trends and sonic arrangement, she is able to belt out achingly eloquent and reflective tunes that turn her visions into reality.
Chess not Checkers
Annalise Azadian is more than just a singer and songwriter, she is an entire brand. Clearly, she is smart because she knows that there is much more to the modern day successful artist than solely music. While working at Billionaire Boys Club, she developed a mutually beneficial creative relationship with a Harlem (145th/Broadway) artist by the name of, “SimFromTheHill.” Sim is a music artist himself and self-taught graphic designer. Many of his collections for Billionaire Boys Club have revolved around innovative concepts that feature BBC Ice Cream clothing in a zine (mini-magazine) format. Annalise was featured in many of those zines and their collaboration has resulted in the exploration of several different fashion mediums.
Annalise and Sim are “1of1” types of individuals meaning they are irreplaceably unique. They both conceptualize ideas in an outstanding manner and carry themselves with the utmost confidence. They are each able to style themselves fantastically and don clothing that is perceived as outdated or uncool look stylish and on point. It is very evident that they are both on their own type of time and do not answer to anyone when it comes to being original.
Together, they started their own clothing brand called, “Bussdown Tees.” It all started from their mutual adoration of B.B. Simon belts. Whenever someone gets their accessories iced/flooded out with diamonds the term for that is, “busting down” your jewelry. What they have done is modeled their clothing after classic Billionaire Boys Club collections but they have added their own touch with Swarovski crystals. They started with the 15th anniversary BBC Cocoa tee. People at Billionaire Boys Club were able to pull strings to allow these two to sell their ‘Bussdown’ version of the Cocoa tee at ComplexCon. The next article they designed was based off of the Nigo chain tee. Due to its immense popularity, they were only able to acquire about six or seven of these tee shirts but still managed to add their own twist on it. Rather than fully, “busting” this shirt down they tastefully added crystals to the chain to simply illuminate the part of the shirt that deserved flashiness. As a brand, they are currently releasing their “Dancing Dog” collection which models directly from the ever-popular BBC “Running Dog.” They make themselves marketable with these amazing renditions and are user-centric by providing customization services so that consumers can match and coordinate outfits based on certain colorways that they desire.
Annalise Azadian and everyone she surrounds herself with are timeless individuals. Clearly, we can all learn infinite amounts from the blueprint laid out by Pharrell and Nigo. Annalise most definitely has and continues to improve her standing within the music industry by utilizing and solidifying important relationships. Undoubtedly, she continues to bolster her positive reputation with perpetual grind, pivotal networking connections and a mentality that will not allow her to fail.
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