Lauree, from NGEN Middays, virtually sat with WANDE to talk about her upcoming album!
L: What date is your new album 'Exit' dropping?
W: It's dropping on April 24th!
L: What's the song that you're most excited about?
W: I love everything. I really love the first song, it's called Be Yourself. I really love that song because it talks about, who do you really want to be? It's almost like a rewind to myself to about a year ago, before I got signed. I knew God was calling me to do music, but this really isn't working out. It's an introspective look at that person, in that moment, where you know what God is telling you to do, but maybe your situation doesn't align with that. It's that moment when you really have to make the decision that despite what I can see, I'm going to have faith even when I cant see that its going to work out. I really love that song because it's a remind to continue to trust God and continue to be who he made you to be, despite what everything looks like.
L: That song really speaks to what we are experiencing right now, knowing God's got this, but continuing to move forward.
W: Even right now, I have a testimony about that. All these concerts that I had planned out was how my rent was going to be paid. I was like, what am I going to do now? Naturally, you'd want to stress out. But, I was like I'm going to calm down and trust God. It's been cool because I opened up my consulting thing where now i give people advice on how to start up their careers and things that they can do. God's been able to provide and that's been going really well and now my rent is covered. It's crazy, this was not planned but God presented this new idea and He was like don't worry, I'm still going to provide for you during this time even if things don't work out.
L: If you haven't seen the album art, it's amazing. I have to ask, what desert did you go to?
W: We were actually in Georgia. Georgia has one location that has a natural sand deposit that's very large. It's weird, the science of it, the wind constantly goes a certain direction that causes the sand to never leave. I don't even know, I was just like that you Jesus for this being here because I had a dedicated place, but we would of had to drive like 20 hours. I really didn't want to put everyone through that. So, it was great that we were able to find a location that was like in a three hour radius. It was really beautiful, the vision got to come to life. Shout out to God for making some natural earth creations!
L: Is there a tradition you want to start when you release new projects?
W: I'll have to think about that, probably just a friend get together. That's something I'll definitely have to do because I think it's important to celebrate your accomplishments. You know, because you only release your first album once. We'll figure out something to do, maybe like a sing-a-long karaoke tradition.
L: How long has it taken to put together this album?
W: It's been a lot of phases. The biggest process was just my personal growth. So, I've actually been through like four albums, but through that I've learned a lot about myself, people and what I truly want. So, this final phase of an album probably took place over the last six months.
Such a cool time hanging out with WANDE! Be sure to check out more with WANDE & how her time in quarantine has been.