a conversation w/ Chai Sully

Chai is an rnb fairy, rap diva, big boss, vocalist, producer, straight shooter, songwriter, ETC. At least that’s what her Spotify bio tells us. In this conversation you’ll get to know the real Chai and how she got to where she is today. 

What did 5 year old Chai want to do when she grew up? 

Oh my god. Five-year-old Chai wanted to do exactly what I'm doing now but on a larger scale. She wanted to be like the next Shirley Temple, the next Judy Garland. I think I was interested in being a Broadway star but what was really important to me is that I was dancing and singing on a stage. At five years old I wore my top shoes everywhere for about like two to three months. 

What was so special to you about the tap shoes? 

Everywhere I went I wanted everyone to understand that I was Shirley Temple. 

Who were you listening to when you were younger? 

I’ve had so many phases, I might need you to give me a time frame. 

Okay, when you got your first IPhone, how old were you? 

I was 13. 

And who were you playing on your IPhone? 

I was definitely listening to Lana Del Rey. I was definitely listening to 10 dragon, I feel like I was starting to get into trap. It was making its debut. I honestly had my most crazy years as a teenager and I was around a lot of trap houses to be completely honest. So that was definitely the vibe. In my room it was Lana Del Ray, like with my flower crown you know vibing and then when I left the house it was my little booty shorts and my crop top and it was like Ali and AJ shit. I still would have been on all my Disney stars, Justin Bieber would still be a little bit relevant to me. He was huge and I've actually been dubbing back into Justin Bieber lately. Also, Ludacris I loved Ludacris at that time. Sean Kingston. Who sang Dynamite again? Taio f****** Taio Cruz. 

What was the first moment that you thought to yourself, okay, I’m going to pursue music full time? 

The first time I was like okay I'm going to do this, I had made this slightly cringy (upon reflection) music video. It was about reproductive rights. I genuinely think I predicted the future. I was talking about Bill 314 which was a bill about abortion bands in Alabama and I was talking about how I thought it was going to be sort of a domino effect to the rest of the States and potentially Canada after that. I don't know why I was so fixated on that subject at the time but I was and once I did that music video out I got a bunch of opportunities to speak at conferences about reproductive rights. But that was really not the goal for me. 

From then I started doing some audio engineering work so like doing recording people's podcasts and just kind of branched off into this world of freelancing. So even though I wasn't directly doing music, writing this song and making this music video led to me being able to quit my barista job at the time and freelance full-time. That was when I first thought like okay cool I can already do creative stuff full-time. I was ready. I've never wanted to work a job. I've never wanted to work all that hard unless it's about dancing or music, I have no interest. I’m probably not a great employee when I'm not doing creative things so it was like a no-brainer. As soon as I could pay my rent then I just knew I was gonna start phasing out all this extra stuff out and turn to music. 

And then what was the first thing you did? 

I got a manager for the first time and I started working on my music. 

What about now, what have you been up to? 

At the beginning of the year, I had a ton of songs that were done so I was just revising lyrics, fixing everything and some personal issues with my family came up and I wound up getting stuck in California for about 6 months. I was in a really sketchy and shitty situation and I was just trying to survive but I was also only 45 minutes from LA. So even though it was tough for me and it was a time full of grief and loss, I really took advantage no matter how bad I was doing mentally, to take the train to LA. I would go any chance I got and I started to meet people and started playing my music at whatever show I could. 

So I would say this past year, it started out being focused on finishing the album. But then it turned into a question, like should I release something now, while no one is really paying attention? Should I wait until I find people to take me seriously and then once I have a bigger network of engineers and producers then I can really elevate my sound. Instead of staying at home budding heads with myself, not really going anywhere as far as the music itself improving. So it was sort of like a silver lining, this really shitty situation is how everything kicked off this year. 

Do you have a big team around you? Who helps bring your creative ideas to life? 

No, I do not have a big team around me. I would hesitate to say I have a team at all but I definitely have heavy support and I always have people to call and people that come through when it's time to create something really dope. My main creative partner would definitely be Makai Sharp on the visual front. He's somebody that I trust to translate my ideas into something really beautiful and consumable and on brand for me. He's someone I bounced all my ideas off of and together over the past three years we have built a really beautiful network of stylists, videographers, editors, producers, writers, you know, graphic designers, DJs. Stretching from Vancouver, Montreal, LA, Atlanta and it's taking a long time but I think we have a really beautiful community that surrounds us and I think when it comes time, I'll be able to build and unstoppable team.

What about your music? Does anyone support you in writing? 

I do have a mentor. My mentor definitely supports me in writing, she's the one who showed me the ropes to the songwriting industry and who really has just helped prop up my confidence in the second half of this year. She really reaffirmed everything that I had started in the six months prior because you know, it could be a little crazy doing it on your own. It's like you think it's working but you're not sure. And she's somebody who is definitely standing behind me ten toes down. 

What inspires or drives you to write music? 

Well I'm trying to write less out of spite. I'm not gonna lie, I often write out of spite, it’s just a place that brings a really sassy side out of me. 

What is that process like for you? 

Honestly, it’s like 50/50 with the melody. Sometimes I just hear a melody that hits like let me come up with some words that I can sing this. But more often I just get like a download of a whole idea and I usually don't understand exactly what I'm talking about straight off the bat. I’ll get a random idea and then when I reflect later on I’m like oh this is what was going on. Or you know, what I was dealing with. These were the conflicts that were arising and these were the blessings that were coming. 

So you’re writing about your life and your experiences. 

Honestly if you know me even a little bit and you listened through the shit, you know what the fuck I’m talking about. My favorite writers are really honest and even if, you know, they could be totally making it up, pulling shit out of their ass, it feels so personal. And I love stepping into their shoes and pretending I know what the fuck they're talking about so I try to do the same level of detail with the stuff I do and make it kind of fun. 

How has your song writing style changed since you started putting out music? 

I think that I was really writing for what I thought people wanted to hear. With my first release, like if I'm being completely honest, I don't love that song but I was like this is what the people like. 

And how was it received? 

It definitely performed well, better than any of my other releases. So I feel like I could probably have kept doing that and kind of rode the coattails of that and it would have worked but then I would be building an audience of a sound that I don't want to make.

I think that's the biggest thing that's changed. Now, anything I make will always be me. I've really shifted. I think I've gone through a phase because when I started I was putting out things that I thought people wanted to hear and it didn’t feel authentic but it performed well. Then I went oh I don’t give a fuck what people think and I’m pretty much just ranting for a minute straight on a song. 

Now there’s a balance of putting tidbits of honesty, vulnerability and what I actually want to say but then also figuring out how to put it together into something everyone wants to hear.

How have you been received in the music industry? Is anyone welcoming you in or do you feel like you’re on your own? 

I'm starting to be well received now that I'm more confident. I always try to pay my respects to people who really put the time in and put in the work. I never want to walk into a room and claim it in a way that is arrogant. I want to pay my respect to the greats but I do want to walk into a room and have people understand who the fuck I am. Vancouver was a good launching pad for me, the music community there was always really supportive. It’s not a very diverse place though so it wasn’t surprising to me that my audience was mostly my own community. Branching out of that I’m just taking the confidence that the black and queer community gave me because they are really the ones who lifted me up. Now that I’m in Toronto I feel like I am still making introductions but I’ve been met with a lot of kindness and I feel like I’m being embraced. I’m meeting lots of other young creatives who are doing really really cool shit and it doesn't feel as lonely and scary as it did three or four years ago. 

So far, you’ve put out 4 singles in 5 years, can we expect an EP or an album from you anytime soon? 

I'm gonna be really releasing quite a few singles this year. I really been hiding and just putting my head down and improving everything. I'm definitely a believer in quality over quantity but I think that I've got a pretty high quantity of quality right now. My next release is just gonna be in late March and it's for a song I'm really proud of. It’s about what now looking back on, is a very funny situation that happened to me last year. I've really been reflecting on my teenage hood and what that taught me and wrapping it up in a bow from my now adult perspective. 

What can we expect from your next release? 

For this new release, I doubled down on the neo soul. I think up until this point I was still sort of pandering to being consumable in the pop Indy scene but I really went heavy on the vocals this time. I went heavy on showing off my vocal skills that I’ve been practicing over the years. I think I was less afraid to bring in raw instrumentals and pair that with more trap and hip-hop style percussion. The sound you'll kind of get from it is a little modern day Destiny's Child but it's only me. 

My influences lately have definitely been Fantasia, Beyonce, SATA as well as like the intensity of some of the Wu-Tang records I grew up listening to mixed with the vocal cadence of a Stevie Wonder. Tie all that in a bow with some of the early 2000s pop R&B classic girlies like the Fergies. Auburn, Brittany, you know, all those people. 

There’s also a music video coming too. 

Tell me more. 

It's directed by Mackai Sharp. The story, concept, choreography, and casting by me and it’s styled by our beautiful friend Tani. LA just really really showed out for us. We were super blessed with some of the like honestly hot, in coming people.

Especially the dancers, thedDancers go crazy! So that's just something I'm really really really excited to share especially because you know the videos based around a story of me getting attacked and a man really trying to fuck with me. It really did happen. We reenacted it almost to a tee and he knows who he is. I'm really excited for him to see it, I'm really excited for his homies to see it. I hope he likes that we got someone really fine to play him, I hope he's grateful and you know I genuinely hope everyone can learn from it. 

What have you been listening to lately? 

Baby Mother, non-stop. I mean I've been on her for a while, I don't get sick of Baby Mother, she's the shit. I think her clothes are crazy, I think she brings like this really intense energy that I usually hear from male MC's. She's everything I want to be. So cool. Who else really has had my attention? Oh Fantasia, I've listened to a lot of Fantasia, her vocals are just absolutely undeniable and I really hope that I could be on that level someday. Apart from that there's actually this group from I think Phoenix Arizona they're called Samnx and I've been listening to them a lot like there's no way they're not gonna blow up soon. I think they've got a really cool you know rock meets rap sort of sound. Their visuals are really sick and yeah they've definitely had my attention. One other person who definitely has my attention right now Ojerime. 

What other creative outlets have you been exercising lately? 

I love to collage, I usually start with a vision board but now I have a nostalgia board and a delulu board. I'm making just a lot of Beyonce collages, you know I'm a super fan. I've also been writing. I feel like I'm low key writing a book about my life for nobody to read but it definitely exists in my notes. And then fashion is always an every single day outlet for me. I literally can't stay at home by myself with nobody seeing me. Like my pajamas have to be cute, every moment has to be fun. I just think it makes life more fun, so that is probably my next go-to like after music.

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