A3- ESCAPE CALLING a review:
Hello everyone and welcome to another installment in my album review segment of the Artist of the Week series, this week’s featured artist and album is a very special one.
I present to you ESCAPE CALLING by A3 a review, A3 is a recurring guest on this series, with this review marking the third time he’s been featured on this series, once as artist of the week and now twice as an album review.
This project is a very special project having taken A3 three years to complete, what started out as a project after Aiden dropped his debut album Hear The Heavens turned into a three year long journey.
Having lost the stems to this album completely, Aiden turned to his good friend Blaine Taylor for help, Blaine (who also serves as producer, mixer, engineer and featured artist on the project), was able to completely recreate the stems and help piece this album back together, using an app that Aiden had found and brought to his attention.
Having been made over the course of three years also meant that the album saw A3 go from a teen making music to being an adult, having released three projects as well as being a part of the artist collective HEAVENONEARTH, so this was a very special project to A3.
Theme wise this project deals very heavily with Aiden’s struggles, doubts and ultimate comfort in discovering his true calling through God, having always wrestled with insecurity about his music or even his purpose in life, Aiden walks us through all those thoughts, struggles and doubts which led him to God.
Coming off of the release of his 2024 project SACRED CALLiNG, ESCAPE CALLING serves as kind of a sequel, delving more into the personal life of A3, with tracks such as “COPING MECHANISMS”, “CONFESSIONS OF A RUNAWAY”, “HOMETOWN”, and “SEE WHAT U SEE”, dealing with Aiden’s struggles, insecurities and doubts we see a different side of A3, a more vulnerable and mature side.
Through these tracks Aiden walks us through family troubles, lies he’s been told ever since he was a kid about his purpose and calling in life, wanting to make music that makes his mom and friends proud of him to wanting to view himself as God views him and wanting to step fully into the calling that God has placed on his life.
With tracks like “ESCAPISM” “FREE FROM SIN”, “SECRET PLACE”, and “TIME TO LET IT GO”, Aiden discovers his calling and chooses to embrace it and live for God declaring “Calling on my life, can’t escape it” while also praising God and choosing to let go of all lies, hurt and struggles he’s gone through and giving them up to God.
We see tracks like “LIVE FOR YOU” that’s about both his wife and God, choosing to keep God first in their marriage and make sure their foundation is in Jesus Christ, Aiden delivers what is undoubtedly his best work yet, you can tell a lot of care and time went into making this project the masterpiece it is.
Aiden also was very hands on with this project, not only writing and rapping/singing but he also helped produce a few tracks as well as helped engineer this album, showcasing yet again how much intent and care he pours into his music.
This album without a doubt is one of the best albums released this year and will go down as one of A3’s best works, drawing inspiration from so many different artists, albums and genres, Aiden found a way to combine that inspiration and make his own unique standout project, I for one am very excited to see what the future holds for A3 as he’s one of my favorite artists and one of the best young artists out there.
I pray this album blesses you the way it blessed me and that you would be encouraged to live out your dreams, strip away all the lies, insecurities, struggles and doubts, give it all up to God and allow yourself to step into the calling He has placed on your life.
