Following the success of the first series of UK urban music show Play It, we caught up with the show’s creator and host Julie Adenuga to talk about what we can expect from the forthcoming second series, her favourite artist from the first series, how she plans to become the ‘new Jools Holland’ and more…
On who was her favourite artist from the previous series…
Julie: Ah man! I would have to say Novelist. Yeah novelist is my favourite person full stop; I love that guy. You know when your with a child and they have no cares and they’re not worried about anything, they’re just themselves; he’s that guy! He’s just Novelist and he’s got a sick personality. He’s the first person that I wanted when I thought of the show. So I have to say Novelist cos he’s my favourite human on the earth right now.
On who we can expect to appear on the new series…
Julie: I was really scared when I started moving into the new season with Channel AKA because one of the things we spoke about is not alienating the people that watch the channel because they’re not used to a music television programme. So we were really into making sure the people we have on there are representing what is on the channel already and then anyone new that hasn’t been on the channel falls into the same arena. I’m aiming to get at least one woman on each episode because there aren’t a lot of UK female artists out at the moment that fall into the Channel AKA rap, hip hop, grime category. Little Simz is definitely on my hit list of people that I want on there, plus legends like D Double E and Footsie, who has already shot his episode. I’m gonna keep Wiley for Season 3!
On what sort of music we can expect to see…
Julie: There’s a weird Drake/Rap/UK Hip Hop thing happening at the moment where people aren’t your typical grime artists. I went to an event the other day where there was a singing vibe going on. Bonkaz is one of those artists, so I’m gonna get some of those guys involved in the show as well, so it’ll be a mixture.
On picking artists to feature on the show…
Julie: I spend a lot of time on the internet, as I’m sure everyone else does and so I listen to a lot of new stuff, so a lot of it is me, but at the same time friends of mine will recommend someone to me they think would be really good. But there isn’t a certain way or method that I look for people. Music is everywhere so it isn’t hard to find talented people.
On the willingness of artists to feature on the show…
Julie: At first I was a bit nervous about approaching people about it, but I’m always transparent about what I’m doing and I’ve only ever had one artist ask me if there’s a budget for people being on there. I’ve had people say that they can’t do it right now and that’s absolutely fine. There are no hard feelings with it in that sense because everyone is different and people are gonna do what they wanna do.
On the collaboration with Daily Motion…
Julie: The reason I’m doing it with Daily Motion as well is because AKA has a specific type of audience but I didn’t wanna just report on one side of music, so the Daily Motion episodes will include the musician side; the singers, songwriters, poets and stuff like that. So the online version of the show I’m keeping to make sure I’m not just sticking to one section of what UK music is. I’m up for anything UK!
On us dubbing her the ‘new Jools Holland’…
Julie: It’s so funny you say that because when I first started making Play It, I wanted to make a Jools Holland type show for music we listen to; that was the vibe. Obviously in life you have to scale down, start small and then build, but that is exactly what I wanted to do.
On other upcoming projects…
Julie: I’m a really content person and when I’m in a comfortable place and I feel like I’m doing something that’s good, I’m ok to stick around for a bit. I don’t like to move away from things too fast and with Play It, that’s the thing I was really worried about. I was so adamant that I wanted to go onto a second season because I didn’t want people to think that I’d done it and it was done, I want them to know that it’s gonna be here all the time and I’ve got no intention of stopping it. One of the things I always reference is FWD, because it’s been running for years and I remember speaking to Sarah Lockheart when she started it and she said “it’s gonna run whatever happens” and that’s the aim of Play It.
With the new series of Play It starting today, keep your eyes locked to Channel AKA and the Play It Twitter for all the latest news and info for the rest of the series.
Matt Tarr
@MattTarrJourno
Matt Tarr
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