Today is the release of Olaide Steele’s new EP Love Lessons. This follows on from her last single ‘Gave You Love’.

Olaide is an incredibly talented singer / songwriter and this EP was one that I was very excited to hear and it certainly didn’t disappoint. 

The four track EP has influences from many different genres R&B, Disco and House and features the collaboration of different producers. I spoke to Olaide about Love Lessons and the inspiration behind her debut EP. 

I wanted to release an EP that had a positive message. For me, Love Lessons is all about finding the teaching points in experiences and the importance of loving yourself. I wanted the sequence of songs in the EP to show a journey from heartbreak and letting go to self-love and then to finding love. I feel like everything in life happens for a reason and when things don’t work out with someone it makes room for the right things and people to come into your life.

Olaide is an incredibly talented songwriter. All of the songs on Love Lessons have a well thought through melody and ear worms that get stuck in your head instantly. I asked Olaide what her writing process is like? 

The writing process was quite quick. I wrote the songs on the EP in my teens and only made a few changes to the lyrics recently before recording the EP. I wrote a couple of the songs in my songbook and the others I recorded ad-lib in a voice note which I re-recorded once I thought of changes.

As mentioned, Love Lessons has taken influence from many different genres. This is one of the things that makes it such a delight to listen to. 

I love listening to a wide range of music and I love music that’s really unique, so I thought it would be cool to have four songs with a central pop genre and each having a different additional influence. I researched the common characteristics of different genres of music and noted down aspects I wanted to include, like certain instruments, in my notes to the producers. I started the process with slightly different ideas about the genres for each track (’Gave You Love’ was originally going to have a rock vibe and ‘Boom Bow’ was originally going to have a jazz vibe), but I just listened to the different samples the producers made and tried to follow my instinct during the production process as to what direction I thought sounded best for the song and the EP as a whole.

Collaboration can be what makes or breaks a project. The collaboration on Love Lessons sounds so Effortless. I asked Olaide how these collaborations came about.

I wanted to work with a different producer for each song. I created an online ad on a casting website for each track and had probably hundreds of applications. I reviewed the applications and that’s how I found KC Sounds, Saul City and WisdomzBeatz. I did some additional searching by listening to the songs of independent artists on Spotify and looking at the producers listed in the song credits of songs I liked, then I found their Instagram and emailed them. I was listening to Raelle’s song ‘Purple Skies’ and that’s how I came across Carter Sanders.

Love Lessons is out today on all streaming platforms. Go and show it some love!!!