Jake Aldridge is a 28 year old unsigned solo Artist from Suffolk. A decade of writing, recording and performing has enabled Jake to achieve many milestones. He’s received airplay on Tom Robinson’s ‘Introducing Mixtape’ on BBC Radio 6, signed a Publishing deal with Leopard Music and has had some of his tracks featured on British Television.
Jake’s music is a unique blend of Hip-Hop & RnB and his sound is so distinct, it’s unlikely you would confuse it with that of any other artist in the music industry today.
I began writing lyrics when I was about 17 years old. My Father passed away unexpectedly when I was 11 and the years after, I never knew how to deal with what was such a huge loss. I didn’t know who to talk to or how to express myself positively. Angry inside, i developed a temper and often found myself getting into trouble. I didn’t ever go out looking for fights, but whenever confronted, I’d never back down.
Going through that period between a boy and a man, my head was full of emotions and I began to keep a diary where I’d jot down my thoughts about different things that were taking place in my life and how I felt about them.
One day, I very randomly begun rhyming some of the words I was writing. I even remember what I first wrote:
“I’m not a perfecter, I don’t need a director
I can find a lump of gold without a metal detector”.
Looking back of course, I realise that it doesn’t even make sense, but at the time, I felt like I was being creative and I enjoyed the feeling of coming up with different rhymes.
My Diary, had no structure to it but these rhymes served a purpose, I thought i could turn them into Poems or Song lyrics.
Before long, I was filling up A4 Pads of paper (I’ve still got them now actually) and one night, after a few too many drinks, I decided to perform one of my rhymes to a couple of my closest friends.
Since I was a fan of Rap Music, I guess it was an easy decision to perform the lyrics in the form of a Rap. I even remember where I was standing when I performed them for the very first time. I didn’t know whether my friends would laugh, cry, or perhaps do a bit of both. Thankfully, they were blown away by my lyrics and were completely shocked to hear me Rapping.
Their encouragement spurred me on to continue writing.
Music became what was very much like my Therapy. Any thoughts and feelings I had, I’d turn into a song. I still do the same today. It’s funny because I put so much of ME into my music that I actually feel like someone may get to know ME better by listening to my music, more so than they would by actually meeting me person. I write about the kind of thing we as people don’t openly talk to each other about.
Some of my songs have been about hope, fear, love, life, death, ambition, happiness, sadness, and the list goes on. Sometimes, i feel like I’m turning myself inside out for my listeners. The honesty within my music is raw and uncut, it’s like I’m showing you the stitching inside of my shirt and all those bits you’re not really meant to see.
The thing I’ve always loved about music besides it being like therapy for me is that it’s a recording! It never changes and it stays the same forever.
I used to play Golf and I won a few competitions at my local club. As good as those times were, all I have now is snippets of the memories. So much of it has faded away in my mind, to point where I don’t really know if I remember more than one shot. I love that my music will stay with me forever. For me, there’s no better feeling in the world than having the master copy of my latest single coming back to me to listen to it for the first time and then being truly happy with it from top to bottom.
I’ve always said that success is measured by how happy you are, not by how much money you have. So if i never make another penny from my music, as long as I’M still happy with the songs I’m writing and I still get that feeling of excitement every time I put out a new song, then I’ll forever consider myself to have been successful.
Social Media Links:
WEBSITE: http://www.jakealdridge.com/
SOUNDCLOUD: https://www.soundcloud.com/jakealdridge
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/jakealdridgeuk