Elijah Boothe Talks His New EP Wake Up Call
What inspired you to title your latest EP Wake Up Call?
I've always wanted to do music. I always wanted to sing. I know you have an idea about who I am because of the fashion side, but everything kicked off from the acting. I think by doing that for so long, my music got put on the shelf. At the height of the pandemic, when everything started, it opened the door for me to tap into music. Through those experiences, going through that process, and overall growth, I feel woken up to a lot of different live lessons. And that typically inspired the title of the project.
What was your creative process like as you started to record Wake Up Call?
It was different for all the songs. Some songs came to me within the hour. For some songs, I would probably write a verse and a hook, then leave it alone for a little bit. Then I would come back and add more to it as well. But I gave respect to each song in its own way. Because I really wanted to give listeners something of substance. I wanted to make sure I didn't rush it. I took my time with it.
How did you connect with Durand Benarr for "That Bag?"
That was really fun when I first let Durand hear the song, and I found out he wanted to hop on. Durand is actually a good family friend. He's worked with my older brother Knxwledge maybe on three other tracks. My older brother, I'm not sure if you're familiar with Knxwledge, but he won a Grammy for producing on To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar's album. So it's me, it's him. And then it's my other brother Jordan that's a stylist. But I met Durand from my older brother. We got connected when I first moved out here to LA. We were chopping it up, and I played him the song --I actually played him a lot of songs. That was the song that really stuck in his head. Four years later, with this project, I circled back around, and he put his verse down,
Do you face any challenges juggling all your passions, acting, music, and fashion, if that's something you still want to continue to pursue?
Fashion is definitely something I'm still pushing for as well, and I think it's even more liberating now. You know, more so that I have a better understanding of how to manage everything. I mean, it can be challenging, but currently, I've just been making sure I give respect to each gift. I grew up in church, and I was taught if you don't use it, you will lose it. I think especially being in an industry now, whether it's acting, TV, film, or music, we're so advanced in pop culture you have to be multi-hyphenate. You have to be in all these different spaces and areas doing these things. So as far as challenges, currently, I feel a little bit more comfortable with everything. This is my second year of music compared to my acting. I've been acting since I was ten years old. I'm 26 now, so you know, it's humbling to see that within two years, we can get on all of these playlists on Apple Music. "That Bag" in just two weeks, we hit over 30k on streams, and there's just been so much love. There's always going to be pressure. I just learned to let the pressure turn to diamonds.
If you remember, what was the last time you needed a wake-up call, and why?
The last time I needed a real wake-up call was from my original EP. So I already had a finished project that was about seven songs. And you know, basically, something had happened where I had to scrap the entire project. I had already spent like a year working on it, so of course, after putting in hours, time, effort, and hard work, one might want to step back, regroup and take a break, but I decided to keep pushing. I worked with different producers, and I just went about it in a different way. I had to give myself a wake-up call to keep pushing, especially since this is new soil we're trying to plant seeds and grow. So yeah, that was the last moment I needed a wake-up call, and I'm glad I took it. If I didn't we would not be having this conversation right now.
