Check Out Ashley Barrett’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Barrett also known as Aybe Lexington.

Ashley, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Wow! It’s so funny I have this picture in my phone had to be around 5 or 6 years old, I am in a black and white dress holding a red mic, sitting on top of a toy box with a stroller acting like it’s my stage and singing into it. ‘Till this day I wonder what I was singing haha! Who would’ve thought years later I would start writing my own music, writing for other local and international artist, and starting my own independent record label, The Clariteye Company.

I am 3rd out of 6 children. My introductory musical influence comes from my father, Derryl Barrett, Sr. He would take me and my siblings to his rehearsals with his gospel group, Reformation. My mom, Teresa Christian kept me very active in music as well as I was classically trained on the piano from age 7 to 12, learning classics such as Beethoven and Bach.

Funny fact, or maybe an honest moment, I was born to a musical family, in addition to my dad, my little brother is a drummer and my older brother is a singer as well, one day when I reached middle school, I said I want to play basketball haha! I am still not sure why I made that decision, maybe the pressure from coming from a musical family but for about 3 years I hardly did anything music-related. It wasn’t until I was 15 when I wrote my first titled “Looking for Love”

“Looking for Love” was a musical collaboration with my Uncle Eric Bailey, my father, and my little brother drummer DJ. From that moment, I played more the songwriter role. Working out of my uncle’s studio, I was given the opportunity to write songs for international artists and collaborated with local Baltimore artists on various music projects. Finally, in 2016, that is when I decided, it’s time to be an independent artist. My stage name AyBe was formed by combining letters from my legal name Ashley Barrett and my basketball nickname, AB. I recently added Lexington to show homage to my hometown Baltimore!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I feel dreams that are bigger than you will always be a journey. I don’t think there is really such a thing as being a smooth road. Each level you pass requires new knowledge, new perspective, and more money haha! However, with God on your side, you have a peace about the journey you are on!

Some of the challenges I had to overcome musically was finding my sound and networking to find the music producers that really wanted to invest their time to experiment with me and the sound that I wanted to create being in an artist role. Remember I started out as a songwriter. I also had to make sure when writing for other artist, I didn’t give my artist swag away, meaning I had to approach songs I wanted to place, with a different cadence.

Some challenges on the music business side was learning how to type up split sheets contract, learning how music publishing works, learning the process for royalties, trademarking my artist name and business name, and managing a musical project from start to end. Also learning how to be resourceful can be challenging when sometimes your budget does not have that much wiggle room, you really have to have an agile attitude.

My company’s team is still a work in progress, the biggest challenge I have now is building a music marketing team. That is a challenge I hope to tackle next year starting in Q1.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a singer-songwriter artist. I specialize in music songwriting, music engineering, and live performance. I would say people know me for delivering smooth, buttery, and soulful vocals on songs and for my live performances. Soulful meaning that raw emotion how they did back in the 90s. I’m known for giving you a grand live show and taking you on a journey!

I’m most proud of allowing myself to be vulnerable in my most recent EP 6803. This project was different I took my time I didn’t rush and I really allowed my listeners into my world. The ep opens up with a song titled, “Bad Taste” I actually cried in that session. It’s not easy picking yourself back up from a toxic relationship and also being self-aware in the part you played in it as well. The ep ends with a song titled, “Satisfied” talking about my relationship and love for God. The way we infused different genres on the ep I was very happy with the way it came out! Also, I’m proud of being my own boss! I’ve been blessed to work with great people and it’s a blessing to share my resources with other female artist on the independent music journey like me!

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Pray Pray Pray! Invite God into your journey. Remember being a leader means you are serving others more! When leading and building a team, make sure you are asking your team members what they like to accomplish as well, they have goals to, as they are investing in you, you should be investing back into them!

Contact Info:

• Email: theclariteyecompany@gmail.com
• Website: https://aybelexington.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aybelexington/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aybelexington
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLs6ZhpDylZCjl86PCOCWDQ
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/aybelexington
• Other: https://aybelexington.com/6803theep/

Image Credits
Roy Cox
Reesie Hicks
Lakeia Seward
Eboni Lyttle
Samson Binutu
Tiffany Ceara
Simeone Elissa
Bashirah Moore
B. Classic Photography