OUR QUAINT WORLD

For Asriel Hayes, aka Asri, music is not the question, but the answer. Asri doesn’t see his artistry as merely representative of himself, but music is an outlet for him to touch others with an emotional depth that lets his audience know that they are never truly going through anything alone.

“I do music to see people be impacted… I want to see people have breakthroughs in their lives, whether that would be through heartbreak… depression and anxiety, my desire is to see people have a fresh perspective, but also to listen to music that leans into these feelings so they can feel seen.”

While emotional impact is central to Asri’s artistry, he hopes for overall music industry impact as well.

“Also, I do desire to shift the artistic world in some format, not in a prideful way, but I think that we have become lazy in the music industry, specifically in the pop realm. Like the music industry has put itself in this pithole, and my hope is to break that in some way.”

He grew up with his mother’s repertoire of tapes consisting of gospel and contemporary christian music, through which he would pick up instrument lines with ease, carrying much of this for his whole life.

“I’m singing in the church, gospel songs and hymns, and then I’m going to jazz when I’m 12, learning about jazz artists, but also incorporating jazz on the violin, and what that sounds like and improvising, then using some of that same ear, that inclination to follow melodies that I hear in my heart or in my head and translating it into these varied avenues…

“That transferred into KOLORS, which was more of an RnB and rock sound, so that is to say all these worlds meshed and have become a foundation for me to build off of.”

On his latest EP, HOPEFUL ROMANTIK, Asri ventures out to share stories of unfulfilled love in an effort to find healing for himself and his listeners. Opening the record with an alternate version of “SENDING A MESSAGE,” he entrances his audience with a reclamation of a song which was once somber and longing; instead opting to take his power back in the situation.

“Sometimes I shrink myself or sometimes I go in overthinking that I’m not credible enough to be playing on the song… The root of imposter syndrome in my opinion is perfectionism and pride, and insecurity is born out of pride because you feel like you have to prove something to fulfill this image of perfection when nobody on this Earth is perfect.”

Written And Photographed by: Djamal Antoine (Dec. 2025)