Babyface returns to Hawaii with Blaisdell show

Babyface — recording artist, songwriter, record producer, movie producer, record label executive — was performing and recording professionally while he was still in his teens. He first started as a member of an Indianapolis-based soul band, Manchild, and then performed with The Deele. Born Kenneth Edmonds, the artist was dubbed Babyface by an older musician who remarked on his youthfulness.

In 1988, Babyface and Antonio “L.A.” Reid left The Deele and founded LaFace Records. Their early projects for the label were hits by Toni Braxton, Usher and TLC. It was the start of a great career.

Thirty-three years later, Babyface has written for, recorded with or produced a who’s who of American pop, rock and soul music stars. One of the footnotes of his career as a producer is “Baby I,” the song recorded by Waianae “girl group” Tenderoni, which was released nationally on the “Soul Food” soundtrack CD in 1997.

Babyface’s resume as a recording artist includes three Recording Industry Association of America certified gold singles — “When Can I See You,” “Someone to Love” and “Every Time I Close My Eyes.” A fourth single, “This Is for the Lover in You,” was certified platinum. He is an 11-time Grammy Award winner and received the Grammy Trustees Award in 2021.

Babyface, 63, brings all that musical history back to Hawaii at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Blaisdell Arena.

For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

A lot of people are asking about your upcoming new album. How did you put that together?

The album is “Girls’ Night Out,” and I did it with artists like Ella Mai, Kehlani and Ari Lennox. We went to the studio, and we wrote the songs together, with one day to do it with each artist. It was all part of this whole idea of working with younger girls, kind of like “Waiting.” (Babyface worked with all female artists in 1995 on the “Waiting to Exhale” album.) But this time, I was doing it with them, rather than just writing songs and handing them over to them. So it’s been a fun process, and I’m looking forward to the album coming out (on Oct. 21).

I would guess there must be a lot of pressure — in a very good way — for young artists.

I think a lot of them were nervous when they came in. I tried to get them to be unnervous as quickly as possible so we could get it done. Usually the music makes that happen. I’m pretty easy to work with, and so hopefully if you like what we have then we roll with it. If you don’t, we don’t roll with it.

For “Keeps on Fallin’,” the song you recorded with Ella Mai, you sampled a song you co-wrote and co-produced for another artist in 1993 (Tevin Campbell’s “Can We Talk”). What inspired you to sample your own work?

I hadn’t thought that I would ever do it, but since everyone else was taking my songs and working with them, why not try it myself? The question was: Could you write something new on top of something that you’ve already written and not be stuck on what you’ve done before? The process allowed me to stretch.

Based on your experience with fans’ reactions, do songs about loving relationships, songs like “Every Time I Close My Eyes,” or songs about heartbreak like “When Can I See You,” speak for more people?

I would say it’s pretty even. There are songs that just take you back to a memory. In some cases, it’s not even about you or about your life. It’s just a song that you loved at the time. And I think that’s the amazing thing about songs is that they can transport you to a different time. Usually in my show, I like to go through a medley of songs that I wrote for everyone else, which is a really fun part of the show. That’s where you really get to experience that feeling of where (a song) takes people back. You can see it on their faces.