Review Fix chats with singer The Rev, who discusses his new single, “Testify,†as well as his creative process and goals for the future.
About The Rev:
The Rev (Jean G Noel) was born in Haiti and immigrated to the US when he was 10 years old. His love for all genres of music influenced him in junior high school to be part of a local rap group called The Mixed Tribe. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York, but moved to Philadelphia, PA, during his senior year in high school. As an artist, The Rev believes that true music is both spiritual and inspirational. In essence, the sound and lyrics come together to form a symphony that can either carry a positive or negative connotation. Â Thus, the Rev uses his creativity and philosophy of music to continue create songs that are both relational and spiritual.
Review Fix: What has inspired the sound of this track the most?
The Rev: The melody and the sound of this track came from a personal experience I had working with a group of teenage boys, who were undergoing treatment at a lock down facility. I was working as a youth counselor there, and later on found out that one of the young men living at that place, knew how to play the guitar and also was a singer. Since I am a lover of good music. I encouraged him to play during breaks. He would play and I would sing, and sometime we would go back and forth together on the same beat. Ultimately, the other boys at the cottage would gather around and listen to us both sing. So the sound mainly emanated from a simple teenage boy and his guitar. I don’t like going to music producers and buying beats to write my music. However, I prefer the live feel of the piano, guitar and drums. Once I can feel the live instrumentals than I am able to use those sound to create a new symphony. And this is what happened with the sound for this music, I was so busy free styling so much while at work to entertain the kids , that one day the melody just came to me out of nowhere. Immediately, I recorded it on my phone and than had the same client play the sound on his guitar. Once the kids heard the lyrics and the melody, they began to push me towards pursuing to record the song professionally.
Review Fix: How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard you?
The Rev: I would say that my sound is a mixture of r&B and hip hop. I feel like my area of strength is to create music that would encourage people to overcome everyday issues. However, its important for me to protect the integrity of my melody. For instance, testify and my second single longing for more of you were constructed from scrath. I feel more comfortable as an artist to bring the melody to the porducer and than let him create the track base from my inspiration. As a result, the process use for my musical compostions require for the producer to play the piano, guitar, and than mixed the sound with a current tempo. So when people here my music they will be able to identify its genre but will be stuck on trying to label the sound, especially because I believe that I have a sound that is distinctive in terms of the manner in which the symphony is compose. So my fans will hear music that is upbeat, have a live feel to it, emotional, and current. On the other hand, the sound in itself will resemble a mixture of r&B and hip pop. I love to sing and also love to rap, and since I can do both. I wanted to merge both form of expression in my musical selection. So there is a little bit in each track for everyone. I am being forced to select the option to solely sing. But I feel like certain melodies can’t be sing but it needs to be put in rap format; whereas, other lyrics needs to be sang. So this is the reason why I choose to sing and rap in my music rather than select one particular style. So new listners will be captivated by an upbeat and current tempo that is accompanied by lyrics writtent to inspire every day individuals facing real issues.
Review Fix: How was “Testify” written? What inspired it?
The Rev: As I mentioned earlier the sound for Testify came to me while conducting a live free style session with a group of teenage boys that I worked with at this lock down facility. Yet, the concept for the lyrics for Testify came from my own personal life and struggles. When I decided to go back to write and produce music. I wanted to be the type of artist who had the liberty to sing about my personal life encounters. This is because I believe that music can be a form of therapy. It can help the artist writting the song to emotionally overcome certain psychological barriers; and yet at the same time empower those that can relate to the issues portrayed in the music ( hearers) to experience their own catharsis. My personal journey involves rejection in the areas of relationships, career, and business. I personally encountered situations that I thought I would never survived. Life situations that influenced me to make poor decisions that I can never take back, but left me void and spirtually confused. I grew up as a christian and I am still a christian. But my personal experience with religion or religous people caused me to question the love of God and his plans for my life. I couldn’t reflect all of the issues of my life in one song. So I decided to address aspects of my personal experience that invovles economic crisis, and barriers towards career growth. So amidst my imperfections. I always end up back on my knees praying to God for help ; whether it is asking for God to intervene when I am unemployed, confused, or at my lowest point. Testify is about how my belief in God helped to inspire me to overcome those hard momments and forgive myself, and let go of how people ( haters) view me. Every now and than a person is left praying in his or her heart asking for God to help them. So Testify is a spiritual song, and not a religous song. The message is one of grace and not condenmnation. I believe that God is a loving God and hears everyone’s prayers. In short, the end result of the music displays one of redemption. God favored me and restored what was lost ( a job) and all of my haters are left mad because my action and reactions to those personal struggles were not God-driven or quote unquote holy. So Testify shows God;s love towards a sinner who continues to question God’s love towards him. And this spiritual confusion emerged because of his personal encounter with religious people and their traditional expectations.
Review Fix: How are your live performances different from your studio work?
The Rev: When we were working on the final mixing for Testify. I specifically requested that the song was to be mastered in a manner which is aim to give the listners a live feel to the music. So when they hear the track, it would be as if the hearers were actually present at a concert or a live show listening to the performance. However, in person the audience is able to fully experience my vocal abilities as an artist and props created to ensure that the song is dramatize in a way that reflects the importance of the message behind the music. In some cases, I have had the opportunity to slow the tempo a bit and re-arrange the music to have a different emotional response to it. In other situations, where the show requires more of an upbeat and overly emotional response from the audience testify is use to pump up the crowd and to get them excited about their own celebration about overcoming tough situations. The lyrics are written in a manner to relate to all types of personal struggles. So in some cases it can be a worship music and other instances used as an upbeat hip hop song. Also, during the live shows we have more time to engaged the audience and build on their personal response.
Review Fix: How has this track changed you as a musician?
The Rev: This song has changed the way I estimated everything that I have been through. Now I can understand why I experienced romantic rejections in marriages, demotion in my carreer, and betrayal from business partners. All along I was expriencing personal pain so I can write lyrics to one song that I believe will help millions of people to feel emotionally free. As a result, Testify helps to keep me focus as an artist. Every time someone reaches out to me and send me an email saying they love Testify and how this music has helped them. I feel like I have accomplish my mission as an artist. Testify will always be my first baby, and it was the music that helped ‘ The Rev” to gain the self-confidence needed to write my second single entitled ” Longing for More of You” . There are so many talented artists and people out here, Who has allowed the circumstances of life to hinder them from pursuing their dreams. I had to really fight to get this music out. The crazy story behind this track is the producer who compose the sound, later refused to mix and master the song. So I had to pay an additional hundreds of dollars for an engineer to get it professionaly mix and mastered. I never understood why he refused to complete the project, and was willing to pay him for the final draft. But that was one of the mountains I had to climb in order to pursue something that I knew was part of my destiny. So no matter how many more hits I write, Testify will be the number one record for me. Now I can look at the opportunities set before me and not make the same dumb mistakes that left me emotionally and spirtually confused. I am not perfect and will never be, but the opportunities that is set before me in the present requires for me to work harder so I can continue to produce music for my fans that resemble the process used to create Testify.
Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?
The Rev: I am going to keep the answer to this question very simple. I want people to listen to my music and regain their spiritual self-esteem back. I want people to be encouraged and be heal of emotional and psychological pain. I don’t really care about being rich as an artist I just want people to hear the message. And if the message in the song is not for them, than they can forward it to someone they may know that can relate to sound of my music. I am conscious of the fact that not everyone will like my music or feel like its for them. So this is the reason why I always encourage folks who cant relate to it…send it to someone who may have lost their job, or been rejected, or struggle with depression and low self-esteem. That is my mission to write songs that encourage people.
Review Fix: What’s next?
The Rev: I recently concluded the release of my second single entitled “Longing for More ( featuring Saint Man) ” and now with two singles ” Testify” and Longing for More of You ( featuring Saint Man) that are getting lots of streaming via the digital stores like spotify. I am in the process of working on my first album, which is due to be released within the next 6 months. Also, working with E.C.K, which is a rap group signed to Noel Music Group on their first debut single. So I am busy working as an artist and producer. I am taking time for the release of my album because I always want to make sure I deliver nothing but the best for my fans and listeners.
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