Highest 2 Lowest | Sound & Screen Film 2025 - video Dailymotion

Deadline

Connect with Deadline online! https://www.facebook.com/deadline/ https://twitter.com/DEADLINE https://www.instagram.com/deadline/ https://www.youtube.com/Deadline

Transcript

00:00Now I'm stronger

00:10I thought you were feeling much lighter

00:14I think you're older so you're right

00:18I know I'm young but I wasn't born last night

00:28Oh no

00:32You just took my youth for ignorance

00:36Yeah true for innocence

00:38That you took my life and wouldn't survive

00:42But I'm still alive

00:46You said I was too free

00:50So I should listen to me

00:54But souls don't have an age

00:56I've been through the pain

00:58And I'm not ashamed

01:02Now I'm whiter

01:04Thought you were feeling much brighter

01:08Now that you're out of my life

01:12Now that you're gone

01:14I can find reason

01:16Now that you're out of my life

01:18And now

01:20Ayana

01:22Please give it up one more time for Ayana Lee and Ricky Padgett

01:30Well that's some voice you've got on you there

01:34Thank you very much

01:36Also I wanna firstly thank the orchestra

01:38Round of applause

01:40They've been doing this all night

01:42All day

01:44And they're just incredible

01:46Thank you everybody

01:48Incredible

01:50They certainly are we can co-sign that

01:52Ayana you have a pretty wild story in terms of how this came about

01:56From what I understand

01:58Spike Lee slid into your DMs

02:00And said this is the real Spike Lee

02:02And he was talking about a film

02:06You know what

02:08So Spike Lee DMed me on Instagram

02:10He discovered me on Instagram

02:12I had written this one song in my room

02:14A completely random song

02:16And yeah

02:18It went viral on the internet

02:20He found me he DMed me

02:22My idols lied to me

02:24Yes and

02:26A crazy story there too

02:28Let me tell you

02:29It's a story on story

02:30But Spike Lee DMed me

02:31And I did not believe it was real

02:32I saw the check mark

02:34And I was like

02:35You know what

02:36Maybe a fan bought this

02:38But alas

02:39So I'm in person

02:40It was the real Spike Lee

02:42Yeah

02:43And how did he explain what he wanted in

02:46He was making a film

02:48He was looking for a song

02:50Yeah

02:51I think he really wanted a climactic moment

02:53That encapsulated the feeling of the film

02:56Kind of also touching on my own personal struggles

02:59He really wanted it to be a raw, real thing

03:02And right from the heart

03:04I wrote it with my mom

03:06Who's actually here

03:07Nicole Dachiana Anderson

03:09Yes!

03:10The queens!

03:11I have to shout out the moms as well

03:13But, you know, got to co-write it with her

03:16And what an incredible journey

03:18He wanted a crescendo at the end

03:20Touching on, you know

03:21What I've been through

03:22Whether it was in my career

03:23Or whether it was, you know

03:25In relationships

03:26Just having that raw moment

03:28Yeah, given that you were going through a tough time

03:30That must have felt even extra special to

03:33Liberating

03:34Yeah, very liberating

03:35I mean, I was about to be homeless

03:36Before this movie

03:38So I had a lot to pull from

03:40And then he named his movie after the song you wrote

03:43How did that feel?

03:44It's surreal right now

03:46It's surreal

03:47I'm just so blessed

03:48I'm so grateful

03:49To be able to do what I love to do

03:51Yeah

03:52Did he give you any sort of inspiration

03:54In terms of the type of song that he wanted?

03:57How did he sort of explain what he was looking for?

04:00Well, I wrote ten

04:02Oh

04:03And so those weren't it

04:04So like, let me go in a different

04:06Let me pivot

04:07It's time to pivot

04:08And I think he just really wanted something soulful

04:10And something real

04:11And yeah, it ended up being this

04:14Just a soulful jam that we did completely live on set

04:17Right

04:18Raw

04:19There was

04:20It was the dead set

04:21So just an actor's mic

04:23That we used

04:24Literally

04:25And singing this song in front of Denzel Washington

04:28No pressure

04:29It was that too

04:30And he's a rock star

04:32He's just the coolest dude ever

04:33And it was very surreal to have him walk on set

04:36And he's just like

04:37I'm Denzel

04:38And I'm like, yes

04:39Oh no

04:40Ha

04:41And then we did that probably for

04:44I want to say

04:45All day

04:46And I was just performing it over and over

04:48And I was like, oh my gosh

04:49Are the people on set fed up of me yet?

04:51Is everyone good?

04:52And it was such a beautiful crew

04:54And I think Spike has a talent of choosing good people

04:59Which is so rare and so beautiful that I get to say that

05:02Good people

05:03Yeah

05:04You mentioned your mother who was here

05:05Who was a songwriter in her own right

05:07Yeah

05:08And you come from Motown royalty

05:09Your uncle is David Ruffin from The Temptations

05:12So this clearly runs in your blood, right?

05:15It's crazy, it's crazy

05:17Did she inspire you when you were growing up to be a songwriter?

05:21You know what?

05:22Just watching her in the studio inspired me

05:24Just being able to have nothing and then walk out with a song

05:28It's just pure magic to me

05:30And just, it was my form of therapy

05:33I was bullied in school

05:34I was a bit of a chubby kid

05:36Pimples

05:37I was

05:38You had to see the vision

05:39You know what I mean?

05:40But, you know, songwriting felt like this escape

05:45And what a beautiful way to escape

05:47But also help other people that are going through the same situations

05:51What was your inspiration for this song?

05:53You wrote ten, you said

05:55But what were you going for internally?

05:59I think it was just like talking about my lowest points

06:03But also finding my way through it

06:06And knowing that there's actually a light at the end of the tunnel

06:09And it's purposeful

06:10Yes, you go through the lowest

06:12Lowest

06:13I know it's highest to lowest

06:14But actually I feel like this film was my lowest to highest

06:17I tried to be punny

06:18It didn't work

06:19But, you know, it just encapsulated the journey

06:24And that's what this is all about

06:26Is telling that journey

06:28What's next for you?

06:29More acting or more songwriting?

06:31No, I hope both

06:32I hope both

06:33Being on set with someone like Denzel

06:35Completely inspired me to want to act as well

06:37That's such a, oh my gosh

06:39Mind-blowing experience

06:40So I'd love to act

06:42And definitely will be making more music

06:44Good, well we look forward to hearing it

06:46Ayanna Lee everybody

06:47Thank you guys

Highest 2 Lowest | Sound & Screen Film 2025

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended