Happy New Year, Pigeons! Rock the Pigeon is proud to cover King Aiden’s newest record, WALK IN MY SHOES. It just dropped today, January 1st, and it’s an excellent way to kick off 2024 while remembering 2023 and all the lessons it taught us. King Aiden is a quickly rising artist based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He is one of the hardest working artists that I have personally come across. In the trans music scene, he rules. He is the master of writing captivating hooks, emotive lyrics, and delivering honesty in all his music. He is an authentic songwriter with a unique style that everyone can enjoy. If you are a fan of hip hop, rap, and pop music, you must listen to King Aiden.
I told my whole story through this album. The 2011 interlude is a Justin Bieber-Down To Earth, cover song. I switched the lyrics to match my life, using my old voice and playing as male with the acoustic guitar. Me playing with me. Just FYI. No song should sound the same either. I made sure to show how versatile I can be and to not limit me to any genre. I produced half of the album on my own then had my team of producers from around the globe, come in and finish it off or spice it up instrumentally with me via video chat. I’m highly involved in the production as well as the only songwriter on the album. It’s all me. – King Aiden
Rock the Pigeon is proud to offer a track by track review of King Aiden’s brand-new 15-track record “Walk In My Shoes.”
The record starts off showcasing a side of King Aiden that listeners have not heard before. We hear a slowly picked acoustic guitar and a country sounding vocal. “That Old Kentucky Road” highlights King Aiden’s songwriting talent and his ability to venture into other genres fearlessly. This song serves as a perfect introduction to the record. It tells where King Aiden is from and where he is going. Harmonicas and electric guitars lift the track to even greater heights.
During the songwriting process of this album i leave Kentucky and my past on that old Kentucky road, get through my depression, I gain my confidence back, Realize I have a purpose, then end it with riding life with my cousin Reagan Wilkerson. – King Aiden
“Life Pains” featuring Kerrington Jackson, brings the listener back to King Aiden’s original sound, hip hop. This is a slowly paced hip hop track with a long intro and a low bass. The bass rumbles the speakers as King Aiden comes in with a smooth flow. This song brings about a vibe of empowerment. It sets up the rest of the record. Kerrington Jackson is King Aiden’s backing vocals that works with Nappy Roots member “Vito.” Jackson plays keyboards for King Aiden live.
Jazzy pianos kick off “How I Feel.” Autotune vocals smoothly deliver a singing rap style. The song features a modern hip hop / trap beat while the pianos fill in the space in the song. We asked King Aiden for more information on the songwriting process of the song and he said:
When I wrote How I Feel, it was the day before I went into therapy and everything clicked that day and cured my depression. So at that time I was very close and knew there was hope. I was holding onto hope in healing and feeling okay again. So I started the hook that day before therapy.
“Imma tell you I feel”
Nothings forever
I need to heal
Need to heal
Need to heal
I had hope and I wanted to begin writing this song with hope and healing words! Then the next day after I felt great after therapy, I wrote the verse in hopes to connect with my audience on every day things that I even struggle with.
So I started the verse, “This is for a soul that’s hurting every second of the day “ “this is for the people going on and on the same.”
“How I Feel” flows in perfectly to “It’s Some Things In My Past.” The pace picks up for this song. We hear a faster rap flow over a trap-style beat. The piano section of the song is a hook in its self, and the vocal chorus serves as another hook. We hear King Aiden’s impeccable rap flow in this song. He raps with speed and stays in the pocket – impressive. King Aiden mentions the album title in this song.
“The Spirit Flow (Save Trans Lives)” is currently King Aiden’s personal favorite track on the record. This is an upbeat song with an important message, especially in the year that over 500 trans bills were introduced into congress. King Aiden uses his music as activism, and this song proves that. This poppy song has a catchy hook that says “Save Trans Lives, let the spirit flow.” The song features experimental tempo changes that pull on the listener’s emotions. King Aiden sings in unison with his pre-testosterone voice on this track. He speaks of it below. He also does this for the song “I Never Thought That It’d Be Easy.”
This song is highly important to me because I’m singing with my old voice. I was biologically born with before I started testosterone. So yes, I was only around 14-15 years old for the female vocals in this song! I actually made the basis of the instrumental in this song and definitely influenced the drop near the end. I then sang with my voice now so I was singing with myself during this song! I hit the issue of the anti trans bills and laws in America and how they would actually impact transgender people, like me.
The drop near the end is fun for the trans community to dance to and also they get to hear a transguy confident while having the public realize we are all human.
– King Aiden
The pace slows down for the next track, “Exhausted.” We asked King Aiden for his inspiration about this song, and he said “How I was feeling when I wrote Exhausted…people would think I was writing about someone, but I wasn’t. I wrote it about me and was talking to myself. I was talking to my mental health, and it made me realize I’m the only one stopping myself. Cycles can be broken, and it starts with yourself. I was my own enemy and didn’t realize it. So, writing that song. I just left the hook and let it repeat to resonate and shifted and progressed the music.” King Aiden says this song served as inspiration for him to change his life with the tools and wisdom he has learned from therapy. “I’m a perfectionist, so I think I beat myself up a lot inside when things aren’t perfect in my life. Well I realized that after writing exhausted and made the necessary changes in therapy, and now I’m not like that.”
The next song follows a similar message of empowerment. “Many Changes” brings some soul into the speakers. This is one of my personal favorite tracks on the record. It is complete with a mellow beat, a catchy hook melody, and soulful vocals.
This brings us the title track, “Walk In My Shoes.” We hear a darker sounding beat, perhaps the artist bringing his past into his music, showcasing the hardships of life, all the trauma he has been to, but with the message of overcoming. This is an important song to listen to if you would like to understand where King Aiden is coming from.
“I Am Nobody Else” featuring Adoe starts off with a catchy hook that sounds much like a chant. King Aiden delivers the hook of this song, while Adoe handles the rapping. Adoe is a local artist from King Aiden’s hometown in Kentucky, who King Aiden works closely with.
“Drop Them Low” brings us back to a quick rap flow and a trap beat. This song is perfect for the club or a party. It’s a total vibe. This song brings us into “Icy” where we return to a soulful style for the intro before going back to a trap beat. This song features a catchy synth piano that is simply irresistible.
“Wanting You From Ukraine” continues on with the trap style drum beat, while bringing in some Ukrainian sounds to lift the record to a more unique production level. The fusing of genres of American-hip hop and Ukrainian-pop in this song is truly spectacular. King Aiden has a fascinating story about the creation of this specific track.
So the music was made on video chat with me and one of my producers. My producer lives in Ukraine while war is going on, only making a living and hiding with his family from making music for artists in America! I’ve had a friendship with him for almost 5 years! We made this song bringing an iconic Ukrainian sound together. The female vocals you hear is actually his wife and that’s all we had for the song was her kind of mumbling and singing because she does not know how to sing in English. So to take our minds off the bombs and war going on, we pretended I was over in Ukraine and missing my wife. That I was in the studio in Ukraine. So I wrote about “cooking up with “Bady” making beats sang” and also about my wife.
“Heaven or Hell, Together Is Better” is a soulful hip-hop track with a catchy hook line that repeats throughout the song. This song will surely get stuck in your head. It’s one of the most catchy songs on the record! It features great production and an awesome vocal delivery.
“I Never Thought That It’d Be Easy” features King Aiden’s vocals from 2011, that are pre-testosterone. This is a cover of a Justin Bieber Song called “Down to Earth” from Bieber’s 2009 EP “My World.”
“Riding Life” is the grand finale on the record where King AIden duets with his cousin Reagan Wilkerson.
“Reagan Wilkerson’s was on my very first release/EP. So I reveal to listeners that she’s my cousin and how we are gonna ride out life together positively as she just beat her depression as well.”
Listen to WALK IN MY SHOES now! Happy New Year: https://linktr.ee/onlykingaiden
To hear more Trans Artists check out the Trans Sounds playlist:
written by Ryan Cassata
The post King Aiden Overcame Depression While Working on His Newest LP Release “Walk In My Shoes” appeared first on ROCK THE PIGEON.