Today’s video premiere features Alicia Waller & The Excursion performing “Soul” from her February 2020 EP Some Hidden Treasure (innova Recordings). The video for “Soul” is the product of an all-women of color creative team, including Shay Paresh (director), Katie Huang (cinematographer), and Eva Yuma (editor).
With a background as an operatic soprano, Some Hidden Treasure marks a divergence from Alicia Waller’s classical training in order to explore the vast landscape of Black American music. The album aims to reach beyond contemporary classical and jazz audiences, with “Soul” serving as “a love letter to Black men, but also an affirmation of her own identity while coming to grips with living in a country founded and fueled by white supremacy.”
Here’s what Alicia had to say about “Soul:”
It was my aim to create a bluesy celebration of Black sound. I wanted it to sound unapologetically soulful—unapologetically Black—and to feel like an expedition that traveled through time as it weaved through different periods of Black American music. More specifically, I wanted to celebrate myself and my people. I wanted to uplift our passion, our nuance, and the incredible love that we share between us—all of us who experience so much by being born Black in this weighted world. The video reflects my effort to show all of these things while centering, above all, the Black woman in a way that is without fetishization or the male gaze. I wanted to share us in the way that we see ourselves, which is exactly as we are—powerful, strong, beautiful, and free.
Alicia Waller is an innova artist. Her EP Some Hidden Treasure is available now on innova Recordings.
About Alicia Waller
Alicia Waller is a multi-talented singer-songwriter whose vision is to inspire cultural diplomacy through music. With a background in opera as a soprano vocalist, Alicia has since focused on soul music and the African diaspora as the foundation for her EP Some Hidden Treasure, released in February 2020. Her voice and sound have been hailed as “flexible and virtuosic.”
Alicia’s work and process were recently featured in the documentary short What Moves You by SkyHour. She seeks to create music that feels as tangible, equitable, and fresh as a cultural exchange, highlighting the beauty of the commonalities we all share.
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