I’ve always been told life is about exploring new things. Whether that may be new foods to try, new people to meet, or hidden locations scattered around the city. For me, I’m all about exploring new sounds in the heavily populated music scene occurring in our country.

Being a massive Hip Hop fan, I decided it was time for me to take a leap out of my comfort zone and to explore different worlds of sounds I was unaccustomed to. That’s when I came across Aidan Fraser’s “Anxiety” release that dropped in 2024. I was left feeling perplexed by how the gifted vocalist was able to transport me into a world of wonder, charming me with his luscious performance over a spellbinding instrumental while also unveiling his truest emotions on the beautiful track.

I always knew a chat between the two of us would eventually have to happen, especially knowing that he was recently based in the Mother City. Our wishes at VERVE were easily granted, with me linking up with Aidan at Yours Truly for a beer and margarita to reflect on his journey, his sound, and his views on his world of music.

Let’s obviously start with your music journey - how did that come about?

“So, I grew up in Joburg, in Edenvale. I always had a passion for singing. For as long as I can remember, I just knew I just wanted to sing, make music, and to be on stage.”

“I guess growing up, I just sang and wrote a lot of music, but when it got to like 2017, I started actually writing properly and making real songs. Then in 2019, I released a few demos. I just made shit on GarageBand on my phone. That was my thing, and it is still my thing - I still make music on GarageBand, and then I’d pitch that to my producer, and we take it from there.”

“I don’t know...I’ve always just had a passion for singing. In 2020, I worked with Dale Schnettler from Prime Circle and Kelvin Alston (also known as Jack Atlantic); they both produced together. I made a few songs with them, and that was cool. They helped me pitch my music to the label that I’m with now, Just Music.”

“From there, we’d just fine-tweak the songs, and I added more songs working closely with Matthew Fink. When I made the songs with Dale and them, we just experimented a lot, and it put me out of my comfort zone. At that time, I was very Indie/Alternative vibes then, when I made the songs with them, they wanted to take me a bit further and turn it into something bigger - like my sad little Indie songs into really strong Pop songs.”

“So my music is kind of a blend of Alternative, Pop, Indie, and Electronic. I guess that’s kind of a brush-up of where I’m at now.”

Taking it back, you mentioned you grew up in Edenvale. What was your childhood like? And how did it shape you into being a musician?

“Well, it’s actually funny and a lot of people laugh at this, but it’s Miley Cyrus. Hannah Montana. Like I watched that, and I always loved singing before watching that, but when I saw that, I knew I wanted to be on stage and be a rockstar.”

“Because of that heavy inspiration, she’s always been like my core artist. She’s also always experimenting with her music, like a chameleon, always changing. I have the same vibes, and I don’t like to stick to one thing. I like to branch out as well. I’ve made so many different songs, even Hip Hop. They’re not all released, but it was for fun, you know.”

“But I honestly don’t remember much about my childhood. A bit traumatic...I got bullied. Because I was ginger, I was an outcast. It was actually hard growing up. Traumatic, but yeah.”

Listening through your discography, you’re always doing different things with your sound. How would you describe your sound?

“I’d call myself an Alt-Electro-Indie-Pop artist.”

“Some of my songs are very inspired by Rave Music; Techno, Drum ’n’ Bass, etc. And then some of my songs are inspired by Pop or Rock. When I make music, it’s never just one genre. The song has elements of Pop in the voice with Electronic in the beat. It has to blend a little. It just makes sense for me to call my sound that.”

I think that’s really cool, and myself as a music lover, I appreciate variety. To you, as an artist, how important is versatility?

“I have respect for people who stick to one lane. For me though, I’m not like that. I don’t like to make the same thing all the time. I just love branching out, and I also love learning other perspectives and how other people make music. It’s about the experience. I love the experience of trying new things, and it can be scary. You get that adrenaline because it’s new and different.”

With the music, what’s your writing process like?

“I’ll be honest - lately I’ve been struggling to write music. But my process always changes. Sometimes I’ll write a song, pen to paper, or I’ll put ideas into my notes app, and it’ll have random words. Or I’ll make a beat or random sounds on GarageBand, and I’ll see what the vibes are and then try writing a song with the sound.”

“Or I’ll literally just pick up a guitar and just freestyle. My best songs are when I’m just playing guitar or piano, and it’s just a stream of consciousness. Like my song “12:00 A.M.” is just a freestyle. Not the voice memo itself, but when I made the song, literally word for word, that’s exactly how it came out.”

“So I guess stream of consciousness is my favourite way of writing. But it always changes.”

Listening to your music, you seem very vulnerable and authentic. Why pick this angle for your sound?

“Being authentic definitely is a big deal for me. I won't lie, as much as the music that I have out, with the albums and the songs are authentic… I feel like I haven’t reached my true authentic self yet. If that makes sense?”

“I’m still trying to figure that out. But yeah, being authentic still is very important to me. When I’m in the studio, I try my best to put as much as I can to get as many ideas as possible into my music.”

“I like to write as if I’m just speaking to the listener. It’s like speaking to someone. It doesn’t even need to rhyme. Sometimes my songs don’t rhyme and it works because of the way I just sing it.”

You mentioned growing up in Joburg. Why the move to Cape Town?

“I only moved here in January 2024. Since I was a child, I had always had this idea that I would live in Cape Town one day.”

“But because my dad had a work opportunity in Cape Town, he moved over, and I felt it was a good idea to move over with him instead of staying in Joburg. He’s very supportive of me being a musician, and I’m very grateful for that.”

So having experienced the creative landscapes in both Jozi and Cape Town, what differences have you seen between the two creative cities?

I feel like Joburg has a very “stuck” energy. A lot of people are in cycles, and it’s just a weird energy.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met the most incredible creatives ever, and a lot of them come out of Joburg. I’m not denying that there’s no creativity coming from Joburg. I just feel like the energy of Joburg is not creative.

The whole vibe in Cape Town is creative. In Joburg, only a few sections are like that, and they’re all so far away from each other. I think Cape Town has a way of being easy to be creative.

Do you then find it easier navigating the Cape Town creative scene?

“I wouldn’t say that. I guess it’s still hard. But there’s a lot of inspiration here - more so in Cape Town than in Joburg.”

“I guess it’s complicated, specifically with what music you’re putting out there. For me, my music wasn’t really doing as well as I wanted it to in Joburg. I feel like there’s not a big enough demand and audience there. There might be, but to find that audience is a lot harder.”

Earlier you mentioned working with Dale and Kelvin and them wanting your sound to be more “Poppy”. How did that feel, having to change your sound into something mainstream?

“I was frustrated because it was not what I wanted. But I figured I’d just let it be what it is and see where it takes me.”

“But the music eventually grew on me; it still sounded good, and the message was still getting out there.”

“With my song "Dragonfly", it was supposed to be a soft Rock/Indie type of song, but then it became like that song “Stay” by The Kid Laroi.”

“As much as it was cool, it wasn’t what I wanted. But I’m okay with that. As I said before, I’m still down to trying new things. I still appreciate the experience and everything.”

Hmmm…do you enjoy being signed to a label then?

“There’s a lot of good to it, and there’s a lot of negatives. It goes like this: sometimes the negatives outweigh the good, and vice versa. It’s a very confusing place to be in.”

“If I want to release a song next week, I don’t have that control. I have to wait for their time schedule. But at the same time, I’m getting really great production. But yeah, it’s been really good. I think eventually down the line, when I’m at least making good money from this, I might just be independent.”

In your earlier interview with our good friends over at Let’s Get Local, you said “being on radio is amazing but that’s not my goal”. What’s the goal then?

“I think it’s just to make music from the heart. It doesn’t need to be a verse, into a chorus, into another verse, into another chorus, into a bridge, and then into the outro. If you want to be played on the radio, that’s what they mostly want it to be - it needs to be a more ‘structured’ song.”

“But I’m very weird with my music, and I like to incorporate lots of different things. All my unreleased music is completely different from what you’ve heard. I guess it’s more authentic. It’s more me. It’s coming from where I am and what I want to be. A lot of my inspiration comes from all different sounds, even Afrohouse and Techno. That’s the type of music I’m trying to make, and obviously, that’s not going to always work on the radio.”

“And it wasn’t always the case. As a kid, I had always dreamt of being on the radio, but as I got older, I realised it wasn’t that important. A lot of people will tell you that radio makes you money. As much as money is cool and all, that’s not what I’m trying to do.”

For you, what’s the best part about being a musician?

“I guess it always regulates my emotions. When things happen, I’m not really good at processing things. I just block it out.”

“But when I make music, it’s almost like putting down what I’ve had bottled up. That’s the only way I can open up the bottle.”

When you started properly making music back in 2019, was it easy for you to put yourself out there?

“My ego was way bigger back then. I would just release music, and I didn’t even care if it was bad. If anyone hated it, I didn't care.”

“I guess I just wanted my music out there. I don’t know...I just had this huge dream since I was a child, so I just wanted at least one person to hear my music and feel something from it.”

With the genre or sound that you’re pushing, how far do you think it can grow?

“I don’t even know how to answer that, but I know I’ll go as far as I can. I want to just keep going. I’ll be eighty and I’ll still be making music. That’s the energy.”

“There’s just something inside me that won’t allow me to stop creating. Even in my dark times when I’m not creating, I always come back to that creative space, so I know I’ll be doing this forever. I’m not going to give up.”

I love that answer and I completely agree with you. One thing I forgot to ask you about is your work with J-Something from Mi Casa. What was that all about?

“Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that. In 2020, Converse and J-Something were doing a thing where they were trying to find musicians to collab with. Whether it was singers, guitarists, or whatever. And so many people were sending me this, wanting me to do this, to just post a song and to just tag them.”

“I wasn’t so sure because there were so many people doing it, and there was just no way I’d get it. But eventually, everyone was telling me to do it, so I just did it. About a week later, he DM’d me and he loved the video, but he already had a winner, but asked if I minded sharing the prize because he really liked my voice, and I ended up partnering with Umzulu Phaqa and we both won the prize.”

“We won things like shoes, hoodies, and stuff. But that was all during the COVID times.”

And what about the whole Billie Eilish thing?

“That was my very first post! Yeah, I did a cover of a Billie Eilish song. You can even check it out now on Instagram.”

“But yeah, I just randomly posted the video, and it wasn’t even good. I had the account for so long, and I hadn’t posted anything yet, so I just posted a video covering ‘Hostage’. She liked it immediately.”

“I don’t even know how that worked. It was back in the days when she still only had like 400k followers. I love Billie. She’s also a big inspiration to me. I feel like we have very similar ideas.”

Closing off our chat, what more can we expect from you?

“I am in the studio. I’m trying to prepare or cook up an album. It’s more of my electronic kind of vibes. So, I’m excited about that.”

“It’ll still sound like me, but it’ll have a different sound. More evolved. Think Electronic-Pop. I do have a few radio-friendly songs that are still electronic vibes, but then the other songs are pretty fast, upbeat, and kind of like party vibes. Dark party, red lights, type of vibes.”

While still being a novice in the sphere of music making, Aidan’s views and perceptions of his surroundings were fascinating for me to uncover, and I honestly believe the young virtuoso is fully ready to take the big stride into the major music world.

While still exploring the different ways he could evolve his unique sound, this conversation we had assured me that Aidan is an artist who has always been accepting of understanding how and why the industry works the way it does. Knowledge is power, and I’m glad he’s understood that at such a ripe age in his career.

As promised, more music is on the way from the exciting musician, and we can’t wait to hear what more he has in store for us many keen listeners. For now, stream his catalogue and support his growth in the scene!

Aidan Fraser & His Field Of Vision

Hii-Rolling with LUUKHANYO