Wondagurl Talks Working With Rap’s Elite, Hosting Tequila Avión Listening Experience
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In an age where women have taken charge like never before, WondaGurl has chosen to boss up and place her future as a creative and mogul within her own hands.
Beginning her career as a production phenom, the 26-year-old has more than lived up to her moniker. The Forbes 30 Under 30 producer has compiled a resume that reads as a who’s-who of rap’s biggest stars and living legends. Drake, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Big Sean, Quavo, JID, and Pop Smoke serve as a mere slither of the list of names who’ve been laced with one of her highly sought-out tracks.
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Despite adding to her list of credits with her contribution to Kid Cudi’s acclaimed Entergalactic album earlier this year, WondaGurl is focused on more than placements, as she looks to expand her brand while ushering the next generation of hitmakers.
Wonderchild Music, the producer’s record label and publishing company, has allowed her to do just that. Inking a worldwide publishing deal with Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack Publishing and Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2020, WondaGurl began building a roster of musicians and writers to help carry out her vision of providing listeners with the best and most unique experiences possible.
That mission is in direct alignment with WondaGurl’s recent partnership with Tequila Avión, a brand dedicated to bringing its consumers the best products while championing the best and brightest talent in music and beyond.
Serving as the curator of Tequila Avión’s second Listening Experience, which took place on Dec. 7 in Miami, WondaGurl remixed a recording capturing the creation of Avión through sound. Holding court over an intimate crowd at Soundlux Audio in the city’s Wynwood section, The Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award winner was joined by Soundlux Audio owner Eric Gould and Carlos Andrés Ramirez of Tequila Avión.
Gould provided attendees with information about the $110,000 DALI KORE Speakers that powered the Listening Experience, while Ramirez detailed Avión’s manufacturing process, which begins in the agave fields of Jalisco, Mexico and ends in their distilleries. The evening was one filled with tasty hors d’oeuvres, a variety of custom cocktails, and the sounds of WondaGurl Tequila Avión, making it an event to remember.
In conjunction with the Avión Listening Experience, Tequila Avión and WondaGurl also announced an exclusive opportunity for aspiring musicians to enter for a chance to win a curated at-home studio set from Perfect Circuit. This includes a synthesizer, studio monitor, closed-back studio headphones, vocal microphone, audio interface, keyboard controller, cables, and $250 gift card (Approximate Retail Value of $2,875, prize does not include Tequila Avión).
Plus, one person will have the chance to meet 1 on 1 virtually with the renowned producer for a mentoring session. To enter, consumers can submit up to 300 words at www.AvionListeningExperience.com now through January 22, 2023 about why they deserve one of the at-home studio bundles curated by WondaGurl, and then the producer herself will determine the final recipients.
VIBE spoke with WondaGurl about helping bring Tequila Avión’s latest Listening Experience to life, working with rap’s elite, her forthcoming instrumental album, and building Wonderchild Music into a force to be reckoned with.
VIBE: The Listening Experience is described as a multi-sensory tour through the craftsmanship and quality of Avion Tequila. How would you explain the experience in your own words?
WondaGurl: It’s really just an experience through low and high frequencies and just bringing those out. It’s literally seven to ten years of their tequila-making process in a 10 minute audio, so that’s how I can explain it. Me adding to certain elements to bring out certain parts. Make it more high, make it more low.
This listening experience will be heard through the Lenbrook America’s DALI KORE speakers, which were first unveiled earlier this year. What were your first impression of their speakers and their overall quality?
I haven’t even heard them. We’ll see [laughs].
What’s the things that you look for in music as a producer in terms of the speakers?
I’m looking for some crisp audio with a good amount of bass. Just a balanced speaker and in terms of the high and the low frequencies. So yeah, a good amount of high frequencies and a good amount of low frequency, but [I] still want it to hit.
And you built a reputation for being one of the elite producers in the game over the past decade. How would you say your creative process has evolved over the years?
I feel like my sound is constantly evolving, because I’m just always trying to do new things. Literally every single beat I do, I’m not trying to do the same thing I did last, so my sound is always evolving. But yeah, my process is just working with more artists and being in the room and really trying to finish albums with them as well. And locking in that way because I came from just making beats in my bedroom. But right now, my process is just being locked in by myself because I’m creating an instrumental project right now.
Those credits of yours include hit by Jay-Z, Rihanna, Lil Uzi Vert and more. What would you say has been that career defining moment?
I think the Jay-Z placement because that literally put me on. It started everything for me, that Jay-Z placement.
How would you describe your chemistry with artists personally in the studio? Say like with a Travis Scott?
The chemistry is kind of kind of funny sometimes. I mean, I’ve been working with him since [the beginning], he literally put me on. But when we’re in the studio, sometimes we won’t talk or I’ll just give him some beats sometimes. Sometimes I’ll literally be just sitting there [doing nothing], but we’re like bro and sis at this point.
Your record company Wonderchild Music recently partnered with Cactus Jack and Sony. What can fans expect from the label moving forward?
Well, my producers and writers have just been going in constantly. So just expect more hits.
So who’s the producers [on the label]? And are you looking to sign any artists?
So there’s Jenius Level, London, Sear, FORTHENIGHT. This kid named Freaky. This girl named Lucy. Yeah, everybody’s just been producing great records. Yeah, so I have a record label as well. I have two artists signed. One of them their names is JUGGER. So yeah, I’m just looking to sign more, trying to find a new imprint, you know.
What do you look for when you’re listening to and scouting these artists?
I feel like just real special [talent]. Just something special. I need like something that just differentiates them from everybody else, you know.
Outside of Travis Scott, who would you say are some artists that you’ve had the best on chemistry in the studio that you’ve enjoyed working with?
I say Don Toliver. We’ve had some really good chemistry, but mainly just my artists that I’ve signed. I feel like that’s where the chemistry is really at.
You’re coming out with an album that’s an instrumental project. When can fans expect that and what can they look forward to from that project?
Just amazing sonics, in my opinion. I don’t want to speak too much on what’s going to [happen], I kind of want to surprise people with that. But I look to drop it in June [2023] if I can.
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