A Conversation with Aloe Blacc
As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, Vydia’s Sr. Project Manager of Label Services, Nico Moreno, sat down with Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum artist, Aloe Blacc, to discuss mental health in the music industry.
Throughout his career, Aloe Blacc’s craft has been deeply rooted in a commitment to uplift his community, advocate for mental well-being, and inspire positive social change. Beyond the stage, he actively supports philanthropic initiatives and uses his platform to raise awareness and create meaningful impact.
In this interview, Aloe Blacc talks about ways to recharge, his philanthropic 12-track album, Stand Together, and the future of the music business.
This Mental Health Awareness month, how are you taking time to take care of yourself?
For me, spending time with family is a huge mental wellness modality. Finding family projects to work on with my kids, and sometimes no project at all and just hanging out and doing nothing. In the music business, I travel a lot, and travel affects my sleep and stress levels. So performing is also a great way for me to wind down even though there’s a lot of energy extended – it’s definitely a fun activity.
When did you first get involved in philanthropy and what inspired you to start?
What got me into philanthropy was a trip I made to a local community organization in LA. “I Need a Dollar” became a huge hit and I was getting inbound requests to be an ambassador for different products. One was an alcohol brand, which happened to be my dads favorite gin. I personally don’t drink, but I thought I would do this gig because it’s my dads favorite gin. So I had billboards all over LA and this community organization called Community Coalition of South LA contacted me and the phone call was something like, “Hey Aloe, we see your posters and billboards all over LA” and I thought, yeah it’s pretty cool, isn’t it? And they were like, “No, it’s not cool. We’ve been working for the past couple of years to shut down liquor stores in the inner city because they’ve become a blight on our community and we want to empower the community by replacing those liquor stores with grocery stores and other kinds of commercial institutions.” And they said “Maybe you should come down to our offices, learn a little bit about what we do and see how you can be part of the transformation.” So that’s really what educated me – It was a lightning rod that made me realize I have a responsibility and it’s important for me to be in solidarity with the community, and not just make corporate or financial decisions without having any intention.
At what point did you recognize that your passion for music could evolve into a platform to create meaningful social change?
I made a song with Pharrell Williams called “Love Is the Answer” and I partnered with Community Coalition of South LA to use the music video as an opportunity to amplify a campaign that they were doing to improve students’ experience in the local school district. I also partnered with another organization called National Day Laborers Organizing Network to make a music video for my version of “Wake Me Up”, which then communicated a story about immigration. I had a relationship with Malaria No More, which is an international organization that works to eradicate malaria, and I used one of my songs called “Live My Life” to amplify a message that they wanted to get out, which was sort of like a PSA about how to properly use mosquito nets. I figured the best way for me to show up is to create the music and then use the music videos as an opportunity to further amplify a message, which is what I was doing prior to the “Stand Together” album. Now I’m using the songs as direct messaging, and hopefully it will inspire some of my peers to do the same.
Are there any specific experiences or individuals who have had a significant impact on you and your music?
On my recent album “Stand Together”, there’s a song called “Not On My Watch” and it is a song that I wrote for a film called Following Harry, which is a documentary about the last 10 to 15 years of Harry Belafonte’s life. He happened to be my mentor, and he was the type of artist who used his celebrity and his influence to impact society in a positive way and was part of the backbone of many movements, in particular, the civil rights movement here in the US. So listening to his stories and his guidance, I used that influence to color the way that I would write songs, present songs, and show up as an artist in society. I like to use the term artivist. It’s a combination of activist and artist, because I think it appropriately expresses the way that I am engaging music. My activism is radical love, radical empathy, and the artistry is songwriting and the music – and so I combine those two.
You work with various nonprofits and community initiatives including The Phoenix, Breakthrough, and Stand Together. What advice would you give to individuals looking to give back, but don’t know where, or how, to start?
Search your own heart for the things that you care about and there is likely an organization within your community that is engaging in that particular focus. If you are someone who loves animals, certainly there’s a way you can engage with an organization within your community that is protecting, healing, and showing up for the rights of animals. If you’re passionate about education, there are ways to lean in. And so that’s where I would say go first. If you have no idea where you would go, have a listen to my latest album “Stand Together”, and think about what each song is representing. ‘Breakthrough’ is a song that represents anti-recidivism, criminal justice reform. So if you’re passionate about giving people a first chance in life, think about how you might want to get involved in criminal justice reform. I think it’s just a matter of being able to step outside of your everyday routine and asking yourself “Who can I help?” “What skills do I have?” and “What passion do I have to help someone else?”
Your recent and highly anticipated album, Stand Together, contains 12 tracks each paired with a philanthropic cause. Can you tell us a bit about the journey in crafting this project, and the powerful message behind it?
The album is an opportunity for me to show up as an artist who is telling stories and amplifying messaging that could potentially lead to positive social change. My goal is to give people an opportunity to see themselves in the music, and this particular album, every song is inspired by a nonprofit organization or a positive social mission. The songs on this album represent heroes in the community that are standing up and helping the most vulnerable. It’s also a bit of age-old wisdom that we might hear from our elders, those are the kinds of messages I believe are important for us to remind ourselves. A song like ‘Don’t Go Alone’, which is based on an African proverb ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’, is a way to express that we all should be working together so that we can go farther – with respect to our own personal goals, to our collective goals, and with respect to our relationship to community. That is just one of the songs- all of the songs have a specific touchpoint. There’s an organization called Cafe Momentum and the song on the album that is representing Cafe Momentum is “My World” where I discuss the importance of stepping into someone else’s shoes, see life from their perspective, and have empathy and understanding for their circumstances. We all have our own struggles and I think it’s important for us to be present to those and allow others into our world, but also important for us to take the initiative to step into someone else’s shoes and see it from their perspective.
What message do you hope listeners take away from ‘Stand Together’?
The main message from the album, ‘Stand Together’ is that we all are worthy and we all need to work together to make the world a better place. The album all started from my engagement with a nonprofit organization called Stand Together, who sponsor and support other smaller nonprofits. The work they were doing was amazing, but they were not marketing or publicizing their work, which made me feel as though there was a missed opportunity to call more people into this kind of engagement. So I wanted to use an album called ‘Stand Together’ to point to this tremendous organization and to call more people in. And that organization exists really for the purpose that I mentioned, to show and express to everybody that we must work together to make the world a better place.
In today’s digital age, we are more connected than ever – through social media, streaming platforms, and instant communication. What impact do you think constant digital connectivity has had on mental health?
I think it’s made us less connected to ourselves and to humanity. I feel like social media and constant access to content on our phones and computers takes us away from being human and gives us this constant rush of dopamine and constant distraction from ourselves as well as our communities and family members. The research has been analyzed over the past several years, and we’re seeing from some of the smartest scientists and researchers that social media is not helpful when it’s misused and the growth of loneliness is at an all-time high. The previous Surgeon General of the United States, Doctor Vivek Murthy, proclaimed that we had a loneliness epidemic in the US and also gave a surgeon general’s warning against social media – which is an indication that we should be using less – and he gave some prescriptions on what we should do instead, which is more time with family, more exercise, more time outdoors – instead of being online. It was a culmination of a lot of conversations and a lot of things that led to the reason why I created ‘Stand Together’, but for sure recognizing that the internet, social media, and algorithms thrive upon our separation. And they drive more separation and it’s because you can sell more if you appeal to someone’s fear than if you appeal to their joy. Joy is free and fear leads to consumption, so we have to be able to manage our intake and our consumption of social media.
What are some essential conversations the music industry should be having in order to push toward a more compassionate and supportive future?
I think it would be great to try to mimic an organic method of music discovery. In the past, music discovery was very much word of mouth. It was very much physical, going to the record store or reading the newspaper or trade magazines to see what the new releases were, and then going to listen and hearing the songs and then deciding to purchase. Nowadays, the algorithm gets to decide what makes it to the leader board in terms of discovery. It would be helpful if I had an algorithm that made sense for music discovery for my demographic – my age group, my region – but I think that I’m subject to the folks who have the most discretionary time to stream and engage all day, which is basically teenagers who are constantly online driving the algorithms that don’t necessarily reflect my cohort. So it would be cool if, given that this is the status quo and the way that we’re engaging, it’s possible to tweak the system so that it feels a little bit more sensible and organic, rather than conceding to the huge number of young people that are constantly online. Music and art is a beautiful paradigm and I feel like curation is important. In the past, A&R would go and discover new talent, record labels would go curate by choosing how to spend on marketing of music, and producers would curate on how to craft the songs. It feels like now, there is a lot less curation of art, and I don’t think that the wider audience is getting the best quality available, simply because of saturation but also the lack of real quality curation from experienced knowledgeable people.
How can labels and managers support artists in prioritizing mental health to avoid burnout?
I think one of the things would be to find ways to improve the income structure for up-and-coming artists. It’s difficult because musicians and artists are probably the most plentiful small businesses around the world and we’re all in a capitalistic society. You kind of live or die by the quality of your creation and your craft. But if the industry could help sustain the livelihoods of artists and really give them a sense of like, ‘this is not a promised career for everyone’ and a little bit of level setting. So one of the things that I also take on as an experienced individual in the music business is that I try to tell folks “It’s okay to have a job when you make your art.” You want to be able to make your art from a place that is uncompromised, completely genuine, and intentional, without having to make it to survive. If you’re only relying on your art, certainly you’re gonna reach burnout, and your mental health is not gonna be very strong because we as artists place a lot of ourselves into the art. And when people don’t resonate, it doesn’t pick up, there are no sales, or there’s no attention, it feels as though we are not valuable. But I would want to communicate, and I’d want the record business to communicate to artists and young people that your art, although comes from you, is not you, and you are much more than your art. Life is much more than your art. No lofty promises of stardom, wealth and fame – just simple level setting. You’re an artist, we are amplifiers of art, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. We can’t control all the things that happen in the world. We can try to control as much as we can to get you the visibility you deserve so you can have a sustainable livelihood, but if not, make sure that you have a plan B. There is no problem with having a plan B.
How do you recharge or reconnect with yourself?
For me, it’s a lot of relaxed reading. I like to learn new things, so I spend time learning everything that I can, from science to history and politics. In my community here in Los Angeles, I live close to Altadena which burnt down in the Eaton fire – my kids lost their school and our family lost a couple of properties, but we are really trying to support the community as much as possible, and a lot of support has come in. One of which is free training and transcendental meditation. So I’m going to also begin learning that method of mental well-being. But really, it’s just staying calm and focused on what really matters. That’s kind of the way I go through life.
Stream “Stand Together” here.
Follow Aloe Blacc on Instagram here.