with one of her songs. When I finally got the album, I was kind of sad that it didn’t sound the same way she did it on air, but it still was amazing though [laughing]. Her spirit is amazing. I interviewed her when she first came out as a new artist, and it was the same then.
Divine Brown: Right, I really do too. She’s a monster vocally. I really love people on the come up. Minnie Ripperton, Rachelle Ferrell, Lalah Hathaway, Chaka Khan … there’s just so many. My elders, like Maya Angelou, and powerful women like Oprah Winfrey, who started from nothing and built not even an empire but a conglomerate.
U.G. Digital Mag: You and I are inspired by many of the same people, but it speaks volumes to hear you say the people you did.
Divine Brown: The thing is, there’s so many artists that I draw different things from. Even now, someone I’m loving is Niki West. She’s an exciting young talent. She’s like a female Bootsy Collins. Her bass playing is incredible. Tho range of people I look up to is wide. The range of people who inspire me is wide. It’s not about a genre. It’s the feeling I get when I listen. Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, and so on. The range is great. Earth Wind & Fire, Cameo, Confunkshun, Journey, there’s just so many.
U.G. Digital Mag: It’s so great, and I see the influence. What’s next now? I know you’ll be doing the performance in November.
Divine Brown: The workshop in December for Passing Strange. In the interim, I’ll be working on my bass playing skills. I’ll probably pick up an acoustic guitar so I can use that as part of my songwriting arsenal. I’ll also be doing writing. The project I’m dropping early next year is Crazy Love Amplified. The song that will be available online is Love Alibi. It’s like a soulful house track, reminiscent of Martha Wash back in the day.
U.G. Digital Mag: It’s funny how musical taste can change. Years ago I was not into any house music, whereas now, I love it.
Divine Brown: Yea. The whole EDM thing was banging for a little too long. It was like that was all you would hear all over radio. Now you still have some songs like that.
U.G. Digital Mag: When people think of you as an artist, how do you want to be remembered?
Divine Brown: I want to be seen as powerful, yet delicate. The biggest thing for me is versatility. I want to be seen and known as that. I want people to know there’s nothing wrong with being versatile.
U.G. Digital Mag: You can do Soul, Jazz, perform with Nelly Furtado, and you can mix it up and do whatever. You don’t just “pull it off”. They get nothing but versatility from you.
Divine Brown: What I love about being independent is I don’t have to have somebody in my ear all the time. People can have an opinion, but an opinion is just that. I got really tired of hearing “well wait a few years”, or “this doesn’t sound like the first album”. Why would it sound like the first album when I have an entirely new set of experiences?
U.G. Digital Mag: If it did, then that shows you haven’t grown.
Divine Brown: Right. That’s it. But then the artist gets labeled. True fans love it. They don’t care. It’s like D’Angelo. He put out Brown Sugar and Voodoo. Then you waited, and waited, and waited for the Black Vanguard. I’m a fan, so I love everything.
U.G. Digital Mag: I thought people were crazy because when Voodoo came out, I loved that album. I played it so much that people around me were sick of it.
Divine Brown: You played it like that because if was dope.
U.G. Digital Mag: Exactly. And when you look at Lauryn Hill. She’s grown so drastically, and people couldn’t keep up with it. She was here in Cleveland just a few days ago, and it was like, I’d be crazy not to go. I love to see