Spike Lee needs you to know that he’s not associated to Aiyana-Lee. “Possibly method within the roots,” he laughs.
In Spike Lee’s “Highest to Lowest,” streaming on Apple TV, Denzel Washington performs music producer David King, a person with an ear for expertise. Because it seems, so does Spike Lee. He heard Aiyana-Lee’s “My Idols Lied to Me.”
“I felt it was autobiographical,” Spike Lee says of the music. He reached out to her on Instagram, and after assembly in Los Angeles, Aiyana-Lee landed a component in “Highest to Lowest,” taking part in Sula, a rising expertise craving for her large break. On the finish of the movie, Washington’s King sits all the way down to take heed to Sula as she performs the music “Highest to Lowest” dwell in entrance of him, transferring him to tears.
“When he’s tearing up, that’s you,” Spike Lee tells Aiyana-Lee. Right here, the 2 talk about “Highest to Lowest” and the way it got here collectively. Spike Lee additionally talks about directing the brief movie for the one “Highest to Lowest,” which he shot in New York Metropolis.
“Highest to Lowest” feels very private. Are you able to discuss writing it, and for those who bought any notes from Spike Lee?
Aiyana-Lee: I wrote 10 songs, a complete folder stuffed with Spike Lee joints. That’s the wonderful thing about Spike — he’s very meticulous and cares so deeply about music, and its conjunction with movie. For that ending, we wanted to have a crescendo. I wrote numerous songs, and we ended up with this very soulful music that felt very autobiographical. He wished to faucet into the reality of bringing my persona and what I’ve been by — the hardships and people highs and lows. It actually encapsulated the movie, the journey, the messaging, and the place we’re at by that endpoint.
Spike Lee: Inform your sister how that efficiency was recorded dwell. It was not performed to playback.
Aiyana-Lee: We did greater than 15.
Spike Lee: We didn’t do 15 takes. Denzel would have pulled me to the aspect; he was prepared at take eight.
Aiyana-Lee: It was fully dwell. We recorded it on set. Each single second that you simply’re seeing is dwell. So I’m performing in entrance of Denzel, and each response he’s having is his genuine response.
Spike Lee: I wrote this, and it’s an audition for Denzel, his son, and his mother. Ricky Pageant is on piano, accompanying you. That’s it. Whereas we have been enhancing the movie, we needed to present Denzel’s response. We heard greater than as soon as within the scene within the film that he has one of the best ears within the enterprise. He doesn’t must take heed to the entire music to know he’s signing her. He is aware of he’s going to signal her, and he is aware of they’re going to the studio the subsequent day. However he’s a document man. I’m taking a look at his expressions on his face, reacting to this younger expertise, and he can’t put a document out of simply Aiyana and a piano. He wants orchestration.
However there comes a degree within the music the place we begin bringing in further devices, and by the tip of the music, there’s a full orchestra taking part in with Aiyana. That was not the way in which I initially thought it, however it was Denzel’s response that informed me we had so as to add instrumentation.
How did you strategy this music, because you’re writing the lyrics for this character versus Aiyana-Lee?
Aiyana-Lee: I felt like I used to be the character as a result of I had been in entrance of that govt, singing dwell. That scene is one thing I’ve performed so many instances on this trade. It was one thing near residence, and it felt very private to me. By the tip, it’s additionally leaving open this glimmer of hope. I’m stronger due to it, and I’m in a greater place. There’s gentle on the finish of the tunnel. There’s a goal for the ache, and there’s a journey available. The journey is captured on this music and its lyrics.
Spike, was there a lyric that she wrote that hit you?
Spike Lee: It wasn’t one lyric, it was what she wrote. It match the movie. It’s concerning the music trade. Folks neglect that, early within the scene, Denzel’s son is telling him, “Have you ever listened to the combo tape?” and he retains pushing it off. It goes full circle to that crescendo. It’s not simply his character digging her, it’s the entire household.
Let’s discuss capturing this brief movie. What was the story behind this visible?
Aiyana-Lee: We bought to discover numerous New York. We couldn’t sustain with Spike. He was simply going and going and going — strolling and strolling and strolling. This man can stroll for miles! However he had such an important imaginative and prescient. When folks watch it, they actually get the gist of arriving in New York, that baggage you’re carrying with you.
Spike Lee: With a dream. Right here’s the factor — we did some “Wizard of Oz” stuff too. Manhattan is black and white, and if you go to Brooklyn, it shifts to paint.
Spike Lee: It is a traditional story that younger artists maintain — the hopes and desires of creating it large. Her garments are in a suitcase. She took the bus there, making an attempt to make it occur. What I like is that we finish at my workplace, 40 Acres, and also you see the poster for the film.
Watch the brief movie under.
