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Photo: Kendall Bessent

Adi Oasis reintroduces herself to the world in her latest album, Lotus Glow, telling delicious stories of ancestry, body reclamation, and as its title suggests, paying respects to the murky mud you bloomed from.

The NY-based singer, songwriter, and bassist formerly known as Adeline has a funk that is uniquely hers, bleeding truth not only through her lyrics but through the art she adorns her body with. Referring to Oasis as an R&B artist would be doing a grave disservice to her vast artistry that is rich in color with soul and metaphor. She plays with textures and groove the way a child plays with Play-Doh, and while her eyes are firmly locked on the prize, her empire will always be rooted in curiosity and wonder.

While Lotus Glow certainly doesn’t lack in features, platforming fellow soul artists like Kirby, Jamila Woods, and Leven Kali, it's a coherent hero's journey that fully encompasses Oasis’ story and the courage it took to stand in the skin she wears today. One could say that her living in full transparency is a radical act, though it seems like it is beyond choice: nothing about her could ever be muted.

Oasis lives in exclamation, a bold musician who takes up maximum space with minimum effort. She just simply is, and the room around her adjusts accordingly. We sat down with the artist to discuss her relationship with her upbringing, the experiences that shaped her, and the deeper meanings hidden within Lotus Glow.

Ones To Watch: You have such a rich cultural background. How do your roots inform your artistry?

Adi Oasis: Great question. I grew up right outside of Paris, in the suburbs. Not in fancy buildings by the Eiffel Tower, I grew up in the projects. It was very rich in culture, super mixed. My dad came from Martinique and my mom is white from the countryside of France. Lots of Caribbean flavor, and creole is my second language. I moved to Brooklyn right after my first year of college, so I’ve been in touch with so many more cultures being here, but I try to shout out African Americans because they are taken for granted so much. Even in this conversation, I don’t want to sound like I think I’m better because I’m Afro-Caribbean. African Americans are amazing, what they’ve created on so many levels. I grew up with Caribbean music, the music from Martinique is called zouk, but what has inspired me in my heart and made me want to leave my country and say “I want to do this” was the soul music, R&B, and jazz created by African Americans.

Thank you for saying that. I think it's really important—especially here in Miami, there’s a lot of unspoken disparagement between the two communities.

Caribbeans and Americans, we all come from the same boat. I relate to their culture and feel at home in the ways where our history overlaps and the context of how our music was created. Gospel is the same as our traditional music in Martinique.

Another thing that’s notable about you is how loudly you wear your sense of expression, particularly in fashion and the way you style your hair. How does fashion equate to liberation for you?

It’s more creativity than liberation; liberation is the payoff. Dressing up and putting together outfits is what I’ve been doing my whole life, I did it with my brother on our days off. We never played video games, we just played music, sang, and came up with outfits for our photoshoots. All of the artists I admire most have always had the best style because once you’re comfortable in your skin and you’re in front of people, it just comes naturally to want to give a 360 experience.

I love that you mentioned influential artists, because when I think of you I think of Les Nubians, Erykah Badu. Who are the artists that come before you that, whether through fashion or music, paved the way and inspired you?

It’s funny you mentioned Les Nubians because they’re good friends of mine, they’re like my big sisters. I used to sing backgrounds for them! They’re fashion icons and I’ve learned a lot from being around them. Grace Jones, David Bowie, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, those are my icons. Especially Hendrix and Davis, not only are they style icons but they’re regarded as some of the best musicians to ever touch this planet, and there’s a stigma in the jazz world that if you care so much about your looks you’re less serious as a musician, which is total BS, so I like to mention them.

What I see in those examples as well is duality and the marrying of masculine and feminine, which you definitely exemplify. You stand in your masculine, while making a delicious single all about ovulation! As the dialogue surrounding owning our ovaries continues, how has being empowered in your body been for you?

It’s a journey of experience. I use this amazing period app called FLO. It’s great that these tools exist for us. It’s just unfortunate that we live in a world run by technology and don’t have the opportunity to fully be in tune with ourselves because we’re not walking in fields all day like my grandmother was. My grandmothers would laugh at me having an app, it’d be ridiculous to them. But they also had 10 to 11 kids each and I have none yet, so I have a different kind of relationship with my body. Most of my closest friends have kids now, and the abortion ban has made me want to be as vocal as possible. It’s so important that we have control over whether we want to have kids or not. It’s my body and my choice about when it’s the right time. I’m using that to say “I think I’m ready to have a child now,” just like how at one point I would have said “I’m not ready.” It’s not up to men. It will be my husband and I’s decision once it’s time, but with that said, I grew up with too many R&B songs of men telling women to be their baby mamas, so I said “How about I choose? How about I write a song where I say I want YOUR sperm?” See how you react. Hahaha.

How do you think your ancestors are rejoicing in you using your voice and power through art?

I lost my second grandmother last year and dedicated the song “Red to Violet” to her. She passed away right after I shot the video. Both of my grandparents were very tiny, very old, one lived to '97 and the other to '99, and they did not give two F’s about my career. They didn’t care about what I did! I think of them when I want to tone it down or sit down to ask myself what is truly essential in life. There’s this chase in which I’ve been obsessed with my career, my whole life I’ve wanted this. Sometimes I think about what they’d say, which is “You’re fine. You’re healthy.” They’re a grounding place for me. I have a song called “Sidonie” where I’m asking my grandmother in French to tell me who I am. Just by looking at her and going to her house, which is a farm my family has had since the 16th century, she had her own animals, grew her own vegetables, that is a dream way of living. You don’t have to be an artist or a millionaire to be successful. If your goal is to have children and raise them well and you’re doing that, you’re successful.

You seem to be someone who embodies pleasure very profoundly. What does that mean to you?

I realized through the years that when I started to be successful was when I learned to take breaks. For a while, I was a hamster on the wheel, not going anywhere but just running. I hurt myself many times by doing that. You have to sleep a lot, you have to take care of yourself, I’m a fitness freak who loves to exercise and eat well. I take care of my body and meditate every morning, it’s done so much for me. I’ve felt extreme moments of satisfaction and pleasure just through meditating.

Let’s talk about Lotus Glow because even the name itself sounds so symbolic—lotus flowers bloom from very murky waters. What does the title mean for you and what does the project have in store for us?

It’s a big pivotal in my life as a woman, in my career. It feels like a debut album. It’s my first album under the name Adi Oasis and I share that journey with vulnerability because we’re told one story in artistry, which is that you have to be 20 years old, freshly arrived as who you are and do it all by yourself. That applies to Prince and no one else, which is why he’s one in a trillion. For me, my journey was a winding road and I think it is for everyone. Lotus Glow is an arrival, a beginning. It’s time to tell my story. It’s an homage to my ancestors, my roots, being a black woman, being an immigrant. These are my stories. It’s the most personal and by default, political work I’ve ever done, but it’s also the most hopeful! That’s why I called it Lotus Glow, because like you said, from the mud I’ve blossomed into that flower that I’ve been waiting to become and am working on becoming, and there’s nothing wrong with mud. It’s what’s necessary. We need night for day, we need rain for sun. The mud is the projects I lived in, but it’s also my family, it’s everything I’ve come out of. The glow is where we’re going next.

You’re telling so many people’s stories through telling yours. Lastly, who are your Ones To Watch?

I am the luckiest artist ever because I have all my idols on my album! Kirby, Jamila Woods, Leven Kali, Aaron Taylor, J Hoard. Also shout how to my good friend Nick Hakim, and Little Simz. It’s a great time for music, there’s so much out there.