For Brandon Avery Smith, professionally known as AVEHRE, those two worlds have never been particularly far apart.

He is a singer. A songwriter. A producer. A vocal producer and coach. An artist developer. A creative director. And, within our own walls, he serves as Executive Director of Media & Culture for us here at The Hype Magazine.

Today, Friday, Aug. 21, AVEHRE steps firmly back toward center stage with “PUSH IT,” a commanding new single built around pressure, discipline, resilience and the decision to keep moving when resistance says otherwise.

The record also carries some history with it.

“PUSH IT” is the first artist release through HYPE The Label, The Hype Magazine’s new music imprint, through its distribution relationship with ADA/Warner Music Group. It is a business milestone for the new imprint, certainly, but the more interesting story begins with the music and the artist behind it.

Listen below!

An Artist Who Never Really Left the Music

For readers who primarily know AVEHRE through his work at The Hype Magazine, his recording career may seem like another dimension of an already wide-ranging creative résumé.

In reality, music came first.

Born in Germany and raised in Chicago, AVEHRE developed his voice in church and grew into an artist shaped by R&B, soul, gospel and contemporary pop. His journey eventually placed him alongside one of the most important voices in modern music history, seven-time GRAMMY Award winner Gladys Knight.

AVEHRE became Knight’s protégé and background vocalist, gaining an education that went well beyond standing onstage behind an icon. He developed as a songwriter, vocal producer and recording artist while absorbing lessons about performance, preparation and the responsibility that comes with possessing a gift.

His work with Knight eventually extended into the studio, including songwriting and vocal production contributions to “Just a Little” from her album Where My Heart Belongs.

From there, AVEHRE’s creative footprint continued expanding.

He co-wrote Lloyd’s “Blown” featuring Curren$y and has worked creatively with artists including Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men and Samantha Mumba. His songwriting, production and vocal-development work has also intersected with a long list of artists across R&B, Gospel and Pop.

Yet one of the more telling measures of AVEHRE’s talent may be what other vocalists say about his ear.

GRAMMY Award-winning artist Durand Bernarr has publicly credited AVEHRE with helping him find and develop his artistic sound during the early stages of his career. GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter and producer Travis Malloy has likewise praised AVEHRE’s abilities as a vocal producer and songwriter.

Those endorsements speak to a part of his creative life that deserves attention alongside his own releases: AVEHRE has spent years helping other artists discover what makes their voices unique.

Giving Away the Gift Without Losing His Own Voice

There is a particular challenge that can come with being good at developing other people.

Sometimes your own work waits.

AVEHRE has built a reputation as an in-demand vocal producer, coach and artist-development resource, helping singers refine performances, discover vocal identities, arrange records and turn raw potential into something that can survive outside the rehearsal room.

That work requires generosity.

It also requires the ability to separate what you would do with a record from what the artist standing in front of you needs to do.

AVEHRE’s career has increasingly been defined by that balance. His gifts have allowed him to move comfortably between artist development, songwriting, production, creative direction, media strategy and executive leadership without treating any one discipline as disconnected from the others.

But “PUSH IT” brings the attention back to AVEHRE the recording artist.

And perhaps that is what makes the record particularly timely.

An artist who spends significant energy encouraging other creatives to move beyond hesitation, refine their gifts and keep building now has to apply that same discipline to himself.

“PUSH IT” Is About Forward Motion

The title does much of the talking.

“PUSH IT” is centered on movement through resistance. Rather than framing pressure simply as something to survive, the record turns it into fuel.

It is the kind of message that can move beyond any one circumstance.

There is the artist pushing through uncertainty. The entrepreneur building when the results have not yet arrived. The vocalist rehearsing the same passage again. The person showing up to work, the gym, the classroom or the next opportunity while carrying whatever life placed on their shoulders before they arrived.

That universality gives “PUSH IT” room to become personal without needing to dictate exactly what the listener should be pushing through.

It is forward-motion music.

And for AVEHRE, it arrives during a period filled with exactly that.

The Recording Academy Welcomes AVEHRE

The release also follows another important professional milestone.

In 2026, AVEHRE was welcomed into The Recording Academy Membership Class of 2026, recognizing his continued participation in the music industry as a creator and contributor.

For someone whose career has moved across so many areas of the creative ecosystem, the recognition feels particularly fitting.

AVEHRE’s relationship with music is not limited to what happens when his name appears on the front of a record.

It exists in the writing room. The vocal booth. Artist-development sessions. Production. Arrangement. Creative direction. The boardroom. And increasingly, in the media spaces where artists and their stories are introduced to the world.

That breadth has also shaped his work here at The Hype Magazine.

From Media Executive Back to the Microphone

AVEHRE joined The Hype Magazine leadership team as Executive Director of Media & Culture with a mandate extending across editorial initiatives, artist relations, multimedia, creative strategy, original programming and cultural storytelling.

Those of us who work alongside him have had the opportunity to see the level of energy he brings to developing ideas and people.

Now we get to watch him invest that energy into another piece of his own artistic story.

As Editor-in-Chief, there is a certain pride that comes with seeing someone from our team take a meaningful step forward creatively. Supporting that step does not require pretending the work should be judged differently because AVEHRE is one of ours. In fact, I think the opposite is true.

The standard should remain high.

AVEHRE knows that better than most because he has spent years helping other artists reach for it.

What deserves acknowledgment is the courage required to remain a creator while simultaneously carrying executive responsibility, developing other talent and helping build opportunities that extend beyond yourself.

“PUSH IT” represents AVEHRE choosing to continue doing both.

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HYPE The Label Begins With an Artist Who Understands Development

There is also an interesting symmetry to AVEHRE becoming the first artist release associated with HYPE The Label.

The Hype Magazine has spent more than two decades documenting artists at virtually every stage of the journey, from independent creators introducing themselves to the world to global names operating at the highest levels of entertainment.

HYPE The Label creates another lane within that larger ecosystem.

With distribution through its relationship with ADA/Warner Music Group, the imprint begins its recorded-music chapter with an artist who already understands that releasing a song is only one piece of building a sustainable career.

AVEHRE has been the singer waiting for the opportunity.

He has been the songwriter behind another artist.

He has stood behind a legend as a background vocalist.

He has helped developing singers discover their voices.

He has operated as a producer, entrepreneur and creative director.

And now, as a media executive, he spends part of his professional life helping determine how artists and cultural stories are presented.

That perspective brings some additional weight to this release.

Still Creating, Still Developing, Still Pushing

“PUSH IT” is not an introduction to AVEHRE.

His catalog already includes releases such as Star Filled Sky, “FOCUS,” “Complicated,” “Everyway,” “F2L,” “Letting Go,” “Pull Up,” “We Fade,” “Circles,” “Miles,” “Way Up,” “Shattered” and “Believe Louder” featuring Amber Bullock.

His music has also reached film through “BulletProof,” featured in Never Heard, and “Something’s Missing,” which appeared on the B-Boy Blues original motion picture soundtrack.

What “PUSH IT” offers is something different.

It is a new starting point.

The song arrives as AVEHRE continues developing artists through Avehre Inc., contributing to the evolution of The Hype Magazine, expanding his work across media and culture and stepping into his newest chapter as a Recording Academy member.

There will be plenty of time to see where HYPE The Label goes from here.

Today belongs to the music.

For a creative who has spent years pouring into other people’s voices, “PUSH IT” gives AVEHRE another opportunity to remind listeners of his own.

And from where I sit, watching one of our team members take that next swing is worth celebrating.

The journey continues.

The directive is right there in the title.

Push it.

Listen to “PUSH IT” by AVEHRE

Connect with Avehre on IG

The post AVEHRE Pushes Forward With New Single “PUSH IT” appeared first on The Hype Magazine.