I often wonder who will be the artists of today which we’ll look back on and toast to as being truly great. I think to have that status of being an icon, like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, or Aretha Franklin, your music needs to have an enduring sound, and that isn’t necessarily tied to popularity of the day. 

The strange thing for me about someone like Amy Winehouse was that I remember seeing her on T4 running around doing some hilarious mad press thing with SImon Amstell way before Back to Black. And then I watched as she grew up and delivered these songs that just were so distinctive, so moving, so timeless and so cross generational. 

While there are lots of recent and fascinating documentaries about Amy out there what I really wanted to focus this episode on was how she created and established herself in the first place. She made really great music but there’s a lot that goes into that beyond just having a great voice and natural ear so that’s what I’m going to be digging into.

Lex Handles:

@lexonthedecks

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This week Lex chats to singer-songwriter Lavaud who recently released her debut EP King Vaud ft the track Oh My with Reekado Banks. Having grown up in Hackney, with musical parents Lavaud (full name, Estelle Lavaud) was surrounded by creativity, but she's had to forge her own path in this industry. We chat about her journey to this place, from collaborations, to the various label signings, to the growth process which happens around that. And then TikTok....

Lavaud Handles

@iamlavaud

Lex Handles

@lexonthedecks

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This week I’m looking at an artist who has had an insane and from the outset, probably completely unpredictable level of success. She’s also someone who creates a completely different kind of music to anyone else I’ve looked at this season. I’ve decided to look at Enya, partly because she is one of my favourite artists, but also because of the way her music has been sampled in hip hop. 

Being an outsider to the worlds who have sampled her, meant Enya almost got cut out of the credit she deserved but instead it ended up making her a huge amount of money and landing her a place in history as one of the most unique composers and artists of a generation. Her incredible legacy and net worth have fascinated people as she hasn’t toured, she does very little press and generally operates in totally different ways to the conventions of her worlds. As one vice reporter put it: Have you ever wondered how a reclusive Irish new age artist outsold Aretha Franklin?

This is a lesson in music, by Enya. 

Lex Handles:

IG / Twitter: @lexonthedecks

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This week Lex sits down with Komali, who is an A&R at Parlophone Records, looking after the likes of Hamzaa and Mnelia. She chats us through her career journey, inspirations, juggling and successes in a conversation of inspiration and insight!

Komali Handles:

@komali_krldn

Lex Handles:

@lexonthedecks

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Growing up, the first time I heard the name “Lisa Left-Eye Lopes" was when she stepped onto the top of the pops stage alongside Sporty Spice to perform the single ‘Never Be The Same Again’. I bought Mel C’s album off the back of that and as a literal child found that song dope. I came to know her later as the MC in TLC but never really realised just quite how successful and dominant TLC were as a group in the 90s. 

While this episode will centre around Left Eye, I’ll obviously talk about the group’s journey because that was so much a part of her. Fittingly, this episode is going live in a particular season known as GEMINI SEASON and I was thinking when I first started watching Lisa in interviews that something in her reminded me of myself and then saw her be described as a true gemini and thought ahhh that's what it is. We both crazy. 

But more than crazy, she was a brilliant brilliant MC. So slick and smooth and despite having her life cut short, aged just 30, she delivered so much in the time that she was around. 

So this is a lesson in finding your space, by Lisa Lopes.

Lex Handles:

@lexonthedecks

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Hello guys and welcome to Hot Girls with me Lex On The Decks. This week I am joined by the very brilliant and focused Blue Lab Beats. A production duo comprised of NK-OK and David aka Mr DM. Having released their first EP in 2016 they’ve gone on to work with talent like Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia, Kojey Radical and Sampa the Great. I was fascinated in how they’d come together as a duo, and how they’ve approached their careers to be carving out the space they are. Being able too flex their musical abilities across a fusion of genres, they’ve also been proactive in trying to encourage more women to get into production which if you don’t know is one of the biggest gaps when it comes to gender imbalance in the industry.

The guys were super open about their journey and what they’re prepping for.

Blue Lab Beats Handles:

@bluelab_beats

Lex On The Decks

@lexonthedecks

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Today I’m taking you through the life and musical legacy of Nina Simone. A musician I first heard through her famed and powerful rendition of “Ain’t Got No, I got Life..” I heard it when i was still in primary school and was introduced to it as part of the limited education about the slave trade and impact of racism. I didn’t know anything about the singer herself so now I’m putting that right. A film came out about her recently which is on Netflix so if you’ve watched that you’ll be familiar with some of the many struggles she faced in making sense of the world, her choices, and how she became quite such a brilliant pianist. 

Nina Simone wasn’t a singer, she was a communicator. And she communicated from passion, frustration, pain and belief.

This is a lesson in conflict by Nina Simone

Lex Handles:

@lexonthedecks

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This is the first episode of Season 4 of Hot Girls and Lex catches up with Ellie Ramsden to talk about photography, self-publishing, and the journeys of the many women she's captured and met. The conversation also touches on the responsibility of artists to tell truthful stories and capture history in its breadth and entirety.

Ellie Handles:

@ellie_ramsden

Lex Handles:

@lexonthedecks

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Hello and welcome to the final episode of season 3 of Hot Girls. Don’t panic, we’re coming back for a forth season and you won’t have to wait long for it, but to round off this season we caught up with the first woman to host a national weekly drum and bass show. One of the pioneers of the genre and a founding voice on BBC 1Xtra flight has also worked proactively to tackle diversity in the musical spaces she operates in through founding EQ50. We talk about all of that and moreee so enjoy guys and don’t forget to subscribe and tell a friend if you think they’d enjoy. DJ Flight on the Hot Girls Podcast.

DJ Flight Handles:

@DJFlight

Lex On The Decks:

@lexonthedecks

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This week I’m looking at a chart topping rapper who was rare in her originality. A fusion of street smarts and pop style, Eve blew up as part of the Ruff Ryders crew. The label also responsible for the early growth of DMX and Swizz Beatz. 

Undoubtedly someone who broke boundaries and defied conventions, Eve’s journey to number 1 was fast but included lots of initial ups and downs. She had to carve her own path and has experienced both being the label favourite and releasing independently. 

This is a lesson in Entrepreneurship, by Eve. 

Eve Handles:

@therealeve

Lex Handles:

@lexonthedecks

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