Singer and rapper Angel Haze put out one of the most underrated albums of 2015. In September, Haze put out her second full album Back to the Woods. In an interview with VICE reporter Mary HK Choi, Haze discusses how the album was inspired by their (Haze identifies as pansexual and agender) experience growing up “relatively homeless” and how that informed their views about nature and humanity. Haze tells Choi about how they would sleep in the woods after fighting with their mom and that “waking up in the morning, completely unharmed, unscathed… I realized that everything works in unison… Everything in nature, it sort of coexists.”
The final song on Back to the Woods, titled "The Woods," showcases this exact sentiment: “I mean, yeah, I really miss being at home in the woods, I used to, like, like, f**king lay there and just like pass out in nature… I swear to God, literally that was the only time in my life that I felt like I belonged anywhere, I’m like, you know, I just, I want to go back, I miss, I miss being, I miss being home”
This song, starting with Haze speaking the lyrics, continues with them singing over a chill track, and ends again after the beat fades in whispered lyrics. Citing advice Kanye West gave them when they met him at his show in Paris, Haze shares that “Kanye told me, he was like basically, take all the drums off your record, take all the drums off, take off anything that will make people call you anything other than what you want to be called.” This is the advice that Haze tells Choi inspired them to put out this album. Along with Kanye West, Haze says they are inspired by artists like Amy Winehouse, Tracy Chapman, Ani DiFranco, and Yolanda Adams who Haze says embody the value of emotional music over technical perfection.
This is the bread and butter of Haze's new album, intense emotional connection over technical perfection. Songs like "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Detox" are very clearly inspired by their relationship and subsequent break up with Ireland Baldwin. In lyrics like these from "Detox," it is easy to feel the pain that Haze went through, "I'm 'bout the chemistry, you just react to me, But you never made me feel different, no, You said this love was the same, Yeah, and I know that sex is medicinal, But I just want inside your pain."
When asked about the pain and suffering that Haze shares through their music, they respond with simplicity, “Everybody suffers, but I was born to suffer and tell the story."
Haze's album embodies this theme and really reaches into your soul. Back to the Woods is one of the most underrated albums to be released in 2015. I look forward to more to come from Angel Haze.
