Good songs can cross borders: Asher Yelo on his collaboration with Sirusho with song "i love you" and recognition he gained in Armenia

20:30, February 22

By Syune Arakelyan

Anglo-Nigerian producer, singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, speaker and model Asher Yelo has gained recognition in Armenia after his recent collaboration with Armenian music star Sirusho. The two artists represented their duet on Asher's song "i love you", which gained a huge recognition in Armenia.

Before even graduating from high school, Asher Yelo had already written and produced for the likes of Harmony Samuels; producing duo, Sons of Sonix; Brittany B.; Coco Jones; and Reina. The young artist has also caught the attention of legendary Quincy Jones Productions, and signed to the company for management.

NEWS.am STYLE tried to learn more about Asher Yelo in our recent talk with the artist.

Asher says, he started playing around with producing when he was just 11 years old, "So ever since then I’ve always had a love for music and the creation process. It didn’t fully become clear that I wanted to pursue music as a career until I was 16, so I’d say that was the moment I first knew what I wanted to do."

Speaking about his inspirations, the artist says, "There’s too many to count since I juggle between singing, writing, and producing all my music. I draw from all sorts of influences, like Louis Bell because of his sonic choices, Julia Michaels for her clever perspectives in writing, Bazzi and Bryson Tiller for vocal tone… plus so many more! And honestly, most of my music isn’t actually inspired by music but rather from life, movies, dreams, and complex emotions. I enjoy the fact that there’s no singular route to telling stories and creating worlds."

The collaboration with Armenian singer Sirusho, who is the representive of Armenia in Eurovision 2008, has a very interesting story behind.

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"Just over two years ago, I posted a video on my Instagram, of a song I had written one day called “i love you” where I was just singing at my keyboard. People seemed to like it, so I finished the whole song, but I didn’t really feel like releasing it, and I just left it", recalls the singer, "Then fast forward about 8 months, this film producer sends my video to Sirusho saying “You need to have this song!”. She initially doesn’t pay much attention to it but reopens the message chat with this producer a couple months later and puts my video on her Instagram story asking her followers if she should duet the video. It was a pretty unanimous “yes”, so she goes ahead and does it, and her duet with my song got over half a million views in a week! So, I reached out and asked if she would genuinely like to feature on the song, and she said she’d love to! Then she flew over to LA to record at my home studio, and we released “i love you” on December 2nd of last year! It’s been out for only just over 2 months as of now, and is still gaining a lot of attention."

Asher says, working with Sirusho was a great experience, "She has such an incredible voice and she is very diligent in a studio setting. We managed to record all her parts in under 3 hours, which was amazing."

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Good songs can cross borders, as in the case of "i love you", says Asher Yelo, "The fact that so many people have been resonating with the song is such a blessing, especially in Armenia. Hundreds of people are using the song on Instagram for their reels, and the sound has already gotten over +2.8 million views! It’s so cool!".

The artist is currently working on a number of personal and collaborative projects, including a remix of the song "i ove you," to continue to reach new audiences.

As for his ultimate dream, Usher wants to open up new opportunities through his music, "My ultimate dream is that music affords me the opportunity to enter into the rooms where the cultural leaders are. I believe that today’s society, leadership, media, and industry desperately need light and change. And I hope the influence I have on those rooms, circles, and conversations can help to influence the few thousand leaders of culture which then further influences the millions of people around the world. And I’m talking about influence that is exemplified and inspired from love, conscious denial of pride and greed, a willingness to serve others before oneself, and having the tenacity to speak truth and life into those around us. Though it’s intense, the world needs servant leaders, and I feel that is my biggest calling while I’m here".

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Asher promises, "This year is going to be essential for further building out my image and brand as an artist as well as contributing to other people’s projects. I’m making lots of singles, and also want to make a lot more visual content to go along with them. Just trying to push myself as much as I can, as an indie artist, and striving to be excellent in all I do."