“TAVE Takes Flight: The Soulful Journey Behind Fly Away”

So FN Dope Magazine
Nov 10
11 min read

From the heart of London to stages across the globe, TAVE is redefining what it means to be a modern soul artist. After sharing stages with Mark Morrison at 17, touring with All Saints, and later shaping sounds for icons like 6LACK, Masego, Kelly Rowland, and Jazmine Sullivan, the GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter, and producer steps fully into his own spotlight with his debut EP Fly Away—a stunning collection that fuses emotional vulnerability with lush, genre-blurring production. Featuring collaborations with legends like Musiq Soulchild and Eric Bellinger, Fly Away is more than an introduction; it’s a declaration of purpose. With every note, TAVE invites listeners to heal, to dream, and to reconnect with the beauty of truth, proving that passion, when grounded in purpose, can take you anywhere.

SFND MAG: For our readers who are just now being introduced to you a your music,

tell us a little about yourself and how you got started in the industry.

TAVE: Thanks for having me. I was born in the Kennington area of London, in the UK, and moved to East Dulwich when I was about five. The house we moved into had a piano, and from the moment I saw it, I was fascinated. My mother put me in lessons soon after, and I worked my way up to Grade 7 before earning a scholarship to the Royal School of Ealing at 13. Around that time, I started getting deeper into gospel music and playing in church, that’s

really where I found my voice as a musician. By 17, I was playing my first pop gig with

Mark Morrison, and not long after, I went on tour with All Saints around 19 or 20. From

there, everything started to grow. I began working with groups like Big Brovas, Atomic

Kitten, Blue, and Westlife, which opened a lot of doors for me. Eventually, I made the move to New York, where I started collaborating with artists such as The-Dream, Kelly Rowland, Jazmine Sullivan, Ella Henderson, Iggy Azalea, and Bibi Bourelly, among others. Each stage of that journey taught me something new about

music, culture, and collaboration—and it laid the foundation for who I am as an artist

today.

SFND MAG: From our understanding, you’re a self-taught bassist as well as a songwriter and musical director. What drove you to pick up new skills outside of formal training, and how has that versatility influenced your collaborations?

TAVE: I began with classical piano before gravitating toward Gospel and Soul, and I developed a real love for Jazz along the way. Growing up in church, I spent a lot of time writing gospel songs and performing with different groups. Eventually, I started touring as a keyboardist, but I always felt drawn to the bass. While musical directing for an artist one day, the bassist didn’t show up, so I decided to fill in and brought in another keyboard player instead. From that moment on, I stuck with the bass, it felt natural. That dual perspective, coming from both a pianist and bassist background, gives me a broader creative lens. It allows me to fuse melody and rhythm seamlessly, which has deeply influenced my sound and the way I collaborate with other artists.

SFND MAG: You’ve worked with legends ranging from Rod Stewart to Bow Wow, as

well as newer icons like 6LACK and Masego. What’s the most important lesson you’ve taken from collaborating with such a diverse group of artists?

TAVE: Each collaboration has been an incredible learning experience, and I’ve had the honor of taking something meaningful from every artist I’ve worked with. One of the biggest lessons for me has been the importance of authenticity, showing up as your true self in every creative space.

I’ve also learned how essential it is to pay attention to detail: taking the time to research the artist, understand their lane, and recognize how your sound and perspective can best align with theirs. Listening plays a huge role in that process. Sometimes it’s not about doing the most, it’s about knowing your role and contributing in a way that serves the music and the moment.

SFND MAG: Co-writing AESPA’s debut single and seeing it hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Shot Debut charts must have been surreal. How did it feel to contribute to a global K-pop phenomenon while staying rooted in your own sound?

TAVE: I started paying attention to K-pop around 2017, the energy, production, and precision in the sound really caught my ear. Not long after, I got the opportunity to work with an artist from SM Entertainment, and that opened the door to an entirely new creative world. I’ve always loved the process of executive producing K-pop records because it allows me to blend my R&B, Soul, and groove-driven influences within that high-energy, cinematic landscape. Working with AESPA was a huge moment, it became my first Billboard #1 across any genre. Seeing that song debut at the top of the Hot Shot chart and later receiving my first Billboard plaque was surreal. More than anything, it reaffirmed that staying true to your sound can translate globally. I’m still deeply involved in K-pop and excited about continuing to build bridges between that world and the soulful, organic roots I come from.

SFND MAG: Your music has been supported by platforms like BBC Radio 1, Apple Music, and Spotify’s biggest playlists. How do you balance making music from the heart with the pressure of creating songs that resonate in today’s streaming-driven culture?

TAVE: Honestly, I don’t feel any pressure. I create music that I genuinely love, music that brings me joy, and I trust that it’ll connect with the people who are on the same frequency or vibration as me. That’s always been my approach. I stay true to the sounds and artists that have inspired me over the years, and I pull from those influences with intention. For me, soul and feeling are non-negotiable; that’s where my consistency lies. The industry may shift, trends may come and go, but authenticity never goes out of style. When you create from the heart, the music finds its way to the right listeners.

SFND MAG: You’ve described your music as “feel good music” built on authentic storytelling. What does “feel good” really mean to you, and how do you translate that into sound?

TAVE: For me, “feel-good” is definitely part of it, but at its core, I make how I feel music.

Everything I create comes from a place of honesty and presence, where I am emotionally and spiritually in that moment. I’ve always considered myself a student of the ultimate Creator, and I make a conscious choice not to create dark sounding music. The intention is rooted in love, light, and truth. There are certain tones, chords, and sonic textures that naturally move people, they guide emotion. Those are the spaces I gravitate toward. Even without lyrics, the music should still be able to tell a story and evoke something real. I learned that from my time playing in church and from studying the greats, Quincy Jones, D’Angelo, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, artists who understood how to translate soul and humanity into sound.

SFND MAG: Let’s switch gears a bit and talk about the album…In Fly Away, you

explore heartbreak, growth, and healing. How did your time in St. Lucia influence the emotional and sonic palette of the project?

TAVE: St. Lucia is a healing place, about 70 to 77 percent of the island is rainforest, so I had the space to just sit in nature, with or without my guitar, and be still. That quiet gave me room to reflect, to hear myself again without all the noise. I spent time practicing my instruments, reconnecting with my emotions, and translating those feelings into vibration. Being surrounded by the ocean, the mountains, and the people, it grounded me. There’s something sacred about watching the Creator create in real time: the waves moving, the wind shifting, life just happening effortlessly. That energy reminded me that I carry that same creative power within me. Fly Away was born from that realization, an honest reflection of letting go, growing, and finding peace through sound.

SFND MAG: Your collaborations on Fly Away read like a dream team—Eric Bellinger, Musiq Soulchild, Tia Gordon, Mali Music, Cory Henry, and more. How did you curate the features to fit the story you wanted to tell?

TAVE: Most of the artists on Fly Away are people I already had real relationships with friends, collaborators I’ve worked with before, or artists I’ve built a strong creative connection with over the years. I probably made over a thousand ideas within a two-year span, just experimenting and creating freely. Then I sat with everything and started to really listen asking myself who I could hear on which song, and who could bring out the emotion or energy I wanted each record to have. Once I had that vision, I reached out, shared ideas, and played the music to see what resonated. I wanted every collaboration to feel natural, not forced, each artist had to align with the story and the spirit of the project. Fly Away was about honesty and connection, and everyone involved brought a piece of that truth to it.

SFND MAG: The title track “Fly Away” is both lush and vulnerable, celebrating love’s flow. What personal experience or philosophy inspired this song in particular?

TAVE: Fly Away was actually the last song I recorded, and it felt like the perfect way to close the project, it tied everything together. After going through so much loss (during the pandemic), heartbreak, and personal growth, love showed up at the end of it all. I

wanted that feeling to come through clearly, not just in the lyrics, but in the vibration and

melody of the music itself. When Tia heard the track for the first time, she immediately gravitated toward it. There was this instant alignment; she understood the emotion behind it without me having to explain much. That synergy is what made the song so special, it became a moment of peace and freedom, a celebration of love after everything that came before it.

SFND MAG: “Trinity,” with Mali Music and Cory Henry, is filled with melancholy and

cinematic depth. What space were you in emotionally when creating it, and what did you want listeners to feel?

TAVE: That song came from a really raw and honest place. I wrote Trinity after realizing that a love I’d been holding onto, and working so hard to get back wasn’t actually good for me. I saw her that day, and when I got home that evening, it hit me that it was truly over. It was one of those moments where heartbreak meets peace, you understand that letting go might be what’s best for both people. I was staying at an Airbnb that had a studio setup and an upright piano. I sat down and just started playing, tears in my eyes, not even sure if what I was playing was something I’d heard before or something pouring out of me for the first time. But once I realized it was my emotion taking shape, I hit record. It became a snapshot of that exact feeling, a vibrational memory I’ll never forget. About a year later, when I revisited the song, the only voice I could hear on it was Mali’s. I had only met him a couple of times, and honestly, I procrastinated on sending it because it felt almost too good to be true. When I finally did, his response was perfect. He said, “I don’t wanna take it in the wrong direction even though I don’t think it could go in the wrong direction. What do you think?” I didn’t give him much guidance; I just told him to tap into however the music made him feel. And he did perfectly. He was completely aligned with the emotion I had when I first created it. Vibration is real. That’s what Trinity represents, energy, emotion, and truth existing in perfect harmony.

SFND MAG: Tracks like “Into You” touch on toxic attraction and ignoring red flags. Why was it important for you to lean into those raw, sometimes uncomfortable truths in your debut?

TAVE: Toxicity in relationships is something a lot of people can relate to, it’s more common than we admit. Sometimes we stay in situations that aren’t healthy simply because they’re comfortable, or because we’re afraid to be alone. I wanted to talk about that honestly, about the real things that happen in real relationships. It’s not just about pointing out someone else’s red flags either; it’s about recognizing our own. That kind of self-awareness and healing often has to happen in solitude. But, let’s be real, when your partner is fine, it definitely makes walking away a lot harder [laughs]. Into You was me exploring that tension between desire and discernment, love and self-worth. It’s messy, it’s human, and it’s part of the journey toward something healthier.

SFND MAG: You co-founded SSTM, an award-winning AI platform for artists. How

do you see technology shaping the future of music creation, and what role do you want to play in that evolution?

TAVE: To be honest, AI has been part of music creation long before most people realized it. Even tools like Auto-Tune or drum quantization are forms of artificial intelligence, they’ve been around since the ’90s. What’s different now is the scale: AI can generate full songs, lyrics, and even mimic artists’ voices. I think it’s all about intention. Technology can either enhance creativity or dilute it, depending on how you choose to use it. For me, there’s still nothing that compares to writing and creating music from scratch, feeling the emotion, the imperfections, the humanity in it. That’s where the magic lives. I see technology as a collaborator, not a substitute, and I want to help shape that balance as we move forward.

SFND MAG: As someone who’s written hits for others and is now fully stepping into the spotlight, what has been the biggest challenge—and reward—of finally telling your own story?

TAVE: Stepping into the spotlight has definitely been one of my biggest challenges. Coming up as a musician, I was always behind the scenes, supporting other artists, building their vision and sometimes, that made it hard for people in the industry to see me as an artist in my own right. Managers or A&Rs would say things like, “You’re great for an artist,” instead of recognizing that I am one. That kind of mindset can really shape your confidence if you let it. Another layer of that challenge was internal, accepting that identity for myself. I don’t come from a family of artists, so it wasn’t something that was easily understood or encouraged. Finding the courage to own that space, to say “this is who I am,” took time. The reward, though, has been incredible. Just putting the music out into the world, seeing it connect, grow, and take on a life of its own is the most fulfilling part. For me, it’s not just about how it’s received; it’s about the journey of creating something honest and letting it breathe. Telling your story matters but how true you are in telling it matters even more.

SFND MAG: At the core of your mission is spreading positive energy and healing

through music. Ten years from now, what impact do you hope TAVE’s artistry has left on listeners and the industry as a whole?

TAVE: I hope my impact inspires artists not to take the quick route, to really study, practice, and develop their craft in a way that allows them to tell their story authentically and uniquely. I want people to see that being honest in your art, and putting genuine love and passion into what you create, truly works. You don’t have to be the most popular to make an

impact, just make the impact, and let God handle the rest. Your honesty is your consistency. For listeners, I want them to feel the essence of who I am as an artist, someone deeply influenced and inspired by the greats who came before me, but still carving his own lane. I think the industry needs to allow artists to be artists again, not machines built just for business. People need healing, and music still has that power.

I create with the intention to move souls, to raise vibrations, and to remind people of the

beauty in truth. My hope is that the music I leave behind stands the test of time, not just

because it sounds good, but because it feels real.

@callmeTAVE_