Spotlight On...? Chrisette Michele

There is more to music than what's hot in the streets. There is more to music than the rhythm and beat. The force behind music that drives the cadence is unique to each performer. Chrisette Michele Payne, you know her as Chrisette Michele, is driven by the essence of art. Payne performed at The Fillmore, in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday, June, 30, 2015 and sat down backstage with AXS to discuss the courage intertwined with her artistic vision.

Art at its best is the visual expression of a person's most intimate thoughts. The ability to lay bare the innermost workings of the mind and heart is courageous. With so much going on in the realm of social justice and societal pain, these days, people are hungry to know that artists are in tune with the plights of their fans. Payne's path into artistic expression is paved with courageous moments that give life to the art of courage and the heart of the society in which she lives.

Payne stepped off of the stage and into fans lives through the reality show R&B Divas LA in 2014, shortly after the release of her fourth album "Better." Many questioned why someone with such a currently stellar career would step into the drama of a reality show. It takes certain gumption to open yourself up to reality TV cameras.

It was through her appearance on this show that her fans were introduced to her family, mom Linette and brother Lem, and her new label, Rich Hipster.

AXS: I want to talk to you about courage. We've watched you on R&B Divas LA and how you left Motown to start Rich Hipster. Take me back to when you made that decision.

Payne: R&B Divas we made the decision backstage at a show. My mom got a phone call that they wanted me to be on it. And we all jumped up and down because it sounded like an exciting endeavor. The jump from Motown to Rich Hipster...I had just felt like my rolodex had gotten thick enough, I had learned enough lessons and I knew enough people that I might be able to, with my mother by my side, run an artistic experience and that is Rich Hipster.

Payne was never an “inside the box” style artist. From her funky jazz, hip-hop sound to her forward fashion sense, she hit the scene vibrant and unique.

Most fans see Payne as eclectic and “not your average girl in the video,” to take a line from India Arie, who happens to be one of the catalysts for Payne’s career. Arie used Payne as the opening act for her shows back in 2007.

AXS: One of your fans wanted me to ask you: A lot of what artists do these days kind of drifts away from what artists did in the past. That means getting involved in social issues. What do you see as an artist’s role in the social atmosphere?

Payne: I think that art does imitate life often. And you’ll see that in fashion and you’ll see it in music. A lot of times music, the lyrics say what’s going on in the world. I had a song called, “I Am One,” on my first album “I Am,” that talked about if we could all join hands…whether it be community outreach…or whatever…even my tattoo that says “feed the hungry,” just little artistic things that we have. Then my last record, "The Lyricist’s Opus," had a song called “Make Us One,” which talked about Colorism in South Africa that I experienced. The next album that I have coming out has a song called "B-more," and it is a dedication to B-more and everything that has happened in the last few months there. So if it is something that affects you then you usually write something about it.

These days the music industry has a formula, and that formula can give an impression that artists are being manufactured more than managed. Music sounds more computerized than composed.

For most artists, being yourself is a fight that they often lose, but Payne was never anyone other than who she had always been: jazzy, spiritual and artistic. That is in and of itself very bold.

AXS: Listening to your latest EP, “The Lyricist’s Opus,” you open it talking about the artistic part of music. You open by saying you want an opus with violins and pianos…What gave you the courage to step outside the box of what the music industry sees as an artist?

Payne: You know what? I went to school for vocal jazz performance. I was raised around tons of instruments. For fun, my dad and I, at times, would go to the Salvation Army and get a violin or something like that. So writing music, with a pencil on music paper was always fun for me. It always looked so nostalgic. So to be able to do that for a piece in real life for a real record label for real people out in the real world in 2015, just meant that music was still alive and well.

Alive and well in Payne is a throwback to artists of old. From “We Are the World” to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” the populace has always looked to its most popular members to speak power to their pain.

Originally published on AXS.com