Grammy nominated Neo-soul artist, actress, rapper, and all around legend, Angie Stone, sat down with Onsite to discuss her new single Kiss You. The singer also discussed the secret behind the longevity of her career, being the face behind the iconic Girlfriends theme song, and much more.
Stone revealed the inspiration behind Kiss You, noting that the record was a fun song. She explained how an individual can gauge someone’s characteristics based on a kiss.
“One of the reasons why Kiss You was a fun song for me was because I gauge everything on a kiss, especially, when it comes to relationships. If a person [kisses me] aggressively then I call them an aggressive person, aggressively attacking love. If a person [kisses] me [gently], [sensually], that’s a very romantic person and a person that appeases me because of what I’m looking for. So, I always [advise] people [not to] jump into it just because it looks good, you got to test the goods out and the goods being the kiss, nothing more,”
said Stone.
The grammy nominated singer went on to discuss her experience on tour in Europe, which she recently returned from. She revealed that she specifically enjoys performing overseas because she can feel the support and appreciation from her fans.
Stone confessed,
“Anytime I go to Europe, it’s over the top because they sell out all your shows, you [have] to diversify the audience, and they know all your songs. So, for me, I love going overseas because I feel so appreciated. You can always feel great in a room where everybody knows who you are and knows what you’ve done.”
Angie Stone has been in the music industry for four decades. She was initially introduced to music through the church setting as she sang Gospel during her upbringing. From there she transitioned into being a member of The Sequence, an all female group that released the first rap record called Funk You Up in 1979. Stone later launched her solo career cultivating gold-certified albums like Black Diamond and Mahogany Soul.
However, Stone made sure her success didn’t stop with music and she takes pride in being multifaceted as she has previously appeared in movies, sung on soundtracks, produced projects, and is currently running a foundation called Angel Stripes.
When asked about the importance of being multifaceted, she said,
“That has been the key to my success, being what we call a round robin, doing it all because you can. One of the reasons why I think I’ve been successful is [because] when everybody at the record label was doing this and I realized ok, you’re number nine on the list and you’ve got Alicia Keys, you’ve got [Jennifer Hudson], you’ve got Fantasia, you’ve got Mario, you’ve got all these people coming and we’ve got to focus on them..[because] I’m the senior in class now so I’ve got to help all the underclassmen. That was when I began to do television and film because one thing I never did was [get] comfortable in one spot and that is why I’ve been remaining relevant.. If you don’t hear me on anything, you’re going to hear me on a soundtrack, you’re going to see me on a tv show, you’re going to see me in a movie. I’m going to keep it moving and when that doesn’t work I’m creating a tv show, or I’m creating an outlet for others. I have a foundation called Angel Stripe, I’m always going to be doing something that will make me feel complete.”
Stone also reflected on being the face behind the culturally iconic show Girlfriends, which spoke to the many hats she has worn throughout her career journey.
“I did that so long ago and because I have the ability to change my voice..to go from a soul singer to my Girlfriends people are like ‘who is that?’… It makes me feel good knowing that number one, they didn’t know it was me, and number two, they fell in love with who they didn’t know,”
said Stone.
