Artist Spotlight

Artist Spotlight: Salle

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Nigerian artist Salle has amassed a growing fan base with her debut track "Icon," which gained viral attention on TikTok and Spotify. Following the success of the song, Salle released her second single, 'Countdown.'

Produced by Monro and mixed by JAE5, 'Countdown' serves as a preview of Salle's upcoming debut EP. The song is a reflective exploration of impermanence and the significance of embracing the present. Salle's vocals dazzle on this track, cementing her status as an emerging talent worth keeping an eye on.

How did your viral street performance in Lagos influence your decision to pursue music professionally?

It made me grow passionate about music as I’ve neglected and never believed in my talent, after the video went viral I Dre so much strength from everyone who supported me and believed in me.

What 1 valuable lesson have you learned as an emerging artist?

One valuable lesson I’ve learned as an artist is not to acknowledge any kind of pressure whatsoever. It’s me versus me and I’m doing my best to be the best version of myself.

What is your top advice for new music artists 

Be yourself, acknowledge every feeling and every experience you may meet positive or negative and in all improve your craft it’s the only thing that makes us artists.

If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?

I’d love to collaborate with lots of amazing artist but since I have to pick one off my list it’ll be “Rema” because of his mysterious tune that I enjoy.

Can you share a favorite moment from your journey in the music industry so far?

A favorite moment from my journey in the music industry so far will be the when I put out “ICON” it was the most liberating and remarkable so far.

What are your goals for the future as you continue to pursue your music career?

My goal for the future is to keep improving in my sound and in all aspect of my life.

3 things I can’t live without in my bag

Sunglasses, perfume and cash.

Artist Spotlight: Kelly Moran

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Kelly Moran, shot by Brandon Bowen

New York-based composer and producer Kelly Moran has spent the past decade challenging traditional piano conventions with an experimental approach.

Moran has collaborated with artists such as Oneohtrix Point Never and FKA Twigs, composing for classical musician Margaret Leng Tan and working with contemporaries like Kelsey Lu and Yves Tumor. Her solo albums, "Bloodroot" and "Ultraviolet," have explored extended piano techniques and received critical acclaim across various genres.

Her upcoming album, "Moves in the Field," moves away from prepared piano techniques and instead focuses on a more experimental use of the instrument, similar to her previous work on "Ultraviolet."

The inspiration for "Moves in the Field" originated from Moran's experience composing a piano duet with Missy Mazzoli in early 2020. During this collaboration, Yamaha Music loaned her a Disklavier—a state-of-the-art player piano, capable of surpassing human capabilities in composition.

During the pandemic, Moran began composing with the Disklavier as her duet partner in isolation. The duets between Moran and the Yamaha Disklavier embody her pursuit of both technical precision and emotional resonance, creating an interplay between human performance and the Disklavier's automation, resulting in multi-layered compositions.

Influenced by both classical minimalism and contemporary electronic music, "Moves in the Field" serves as a bridge between two distinct musical worlds. Mixed and recorded by Dan Bora (known for his collaborations with Philip Glass), and mastered by Joshua Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv, the album exemplifies Moran's bold artistic vision and technical prowess.

"Moves in the Field" marks a departure from Moran's previous works, positioning her in a compositional league of her own. The album explores themes of humanity versus technology and the interplay between technicality and musicality. Released under Warp Records, it firmly establishes Kelly Moran as a leading figure in modern music.

What sparked your transition from prepared piano to the Disklavier piano, and how did it inspire the new direction for "Moves in the Field"?

My last record was music for prepared piano and electronics that was based heavily in improvisation. When I set out to make a new record, I intended to make another album exploring prepared piano, but this time with more repetitive song structures and loop-based grooves to evolve the rhythmic feel of the previous record. All the music from Ultraviolet was so loose and unmetered, and I wanted to create music people could dance to. But unfortunately after I began writing the record in this direction, I became bored and uninspired by the prepared piano because the pandemic hit. I needed fresh inspiration to feel motivated, and working with the familiar sound of the prepared piano wasn’t doing it for me.

Around this time, Yamaha loaned me a disklavier player piano, and it provided a new way for me to compose and interact with the piano. I suddenly had a flood of new ideas that I wanted to explore, and it was then when I decided to abandon the prepared piano music and head in a fresh direction. 

The album title draws a connection to skating rudiments. How does this thematic element tie into the music and what role did the Disklavier play in bringing these movements to life?

I started figure skating as a hobby a few years ago, and all skaters learn basic patterns to master control over your blade edge. These patterns are called Moves in the Field, as the ice rink is often referred to as the field. You’re supposed to practice small simple patterns so you can build up your skills to achieve more intricate, difficult moves. I saw a lot of parallels in the process of learning to skate and learning how to play music - moves in the field are like scales and arpeggios for musicians.

When I started working with the disklavier, I would often record a simple pattern and then complicate it by adding layers, so it reminded me a lot of the practice of building up skating skills so you can skate more difficult elements.

How did you use the Disklavier in these compositions?

A Disklavier is a player piano that allows you to record your performance and have the piano play it back with expressive and dynamic accuracy. It uses an advanced system of MIDI to translate the touch of a pianist to MIDI information and have the playback sound identical to the performance that was played into it.

One of my favorite aspects of working with this piano is being able to listen to my music being played on the piano from the listener’s perspective. As a pianist, I can be very emotional and get swept up in the music I’m playing because it feels so good physically. But this doesn’t always sound the best from the listener’s perspective - some songs need more sensitivity and control, and I wouldn’t realize this if I weren’t able to listen back to my playing the way the disklavier plays back my performances. 

Did you encounter any challenges or revelations during the compositional process?

When working with a player piano, it’s very tempting to want to over-correct in the editing process. You have the ability to record a take and then delete all your wrong notes, or correct your dynamics. But the more you edit your playing, the less human it sounds, and I had to find a middle ground between perfection and expression.

Moves in the Field seems to bridge classical minimalism with modernized and synthesized textures found in electronic music. How did you balance these influences?

I like to write a lot of dancey patterns that might be found in techno or other dance music - I was working a lot with my synth arpeggiator on early versions of the music. It was fun sending these MIDI patterns to an acoustic piano because it’s the kind of music I would never physically play on the piano, but still sounds very satisfying to listen to. I used a sub bass as the only non-piano sound on the album just to add a bit of weight to the low end because I wanted to keep the focus on the purity of the acoustic piano sound.

The album is mixed and recorded by Dan Bora, known as Philip Glass' sound engineer. How did this collaboration impact the overall sound of Moves in the Field?

Philip Glass has been a huge inspiration for me as a composer and his music always sounds incredible. Because this record is more reliant on the acoustic piano sound and less on electronic elements (than a low of my past works) I wanted to try to work with an engineer who was very experienced in mixing classical music. Dan was extremely thorough and mathematical in his mixing, which is very different from my approach, but I learned so much from him about all the little ways you can make a piano sound better on a recording!

Kelly Moran, shot by Brandon Bowen

Does this album mark a departure from your previous works, defining a new sound? 

It doesn’t feel like a total departure to me, honestly. I’ve made a lot of records and most of them exist in their own unique sound world. This record felt like going back to my roots as a pianist, because piano was the first instrument I ever learned and so much of my experience as a composer has been about combining the piano with other sounds, or manipulating its sound in some way. I tried to restrain myself in some way by working only with the acoustic, natural sound of the piano as the main basis for the pieces, instead of relying on electronic or synthesized sounds.

As a musician, do you draw inspiration from other genres?

I listen to a lot of music, and most of it is not in the vein of music I write. I think I get most of my inspiration from artists who make music completely different to what I make. 

How do you tap into your creativity on particularly tough days?

Get out of your house, get your body moving. I like going on runs to clear my head and reset my energy. Make contact with a friend if you’ve been home alone all day. Even though I make most of my music alone, I don’t recommend letting yourself get too isolated from the world. It’s important to connect with other people and find purpose outside of your own creative practice.

What’s your top advice for artists who want to enter this industry?

In order to pursue music for a living, it has to be your main passion. I never allowed myself to entertain the possibility of doing anything but music for a living because I knew I would be miserable. You have to be in it for the right reasons.


  • Interview by ninakeh for shesaid.so

Moves in the Field is out now on Warp Records

Artist Spotlight: Crystal Murray

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Crystal Murray, Photo by Ottilie Landmark

Parisian musician Crystal Murray has achieved notable success in her music career. She founded her own label, Spin Desire, providing a platform for up-and-coming artists. Additionally, she kickstarted a residency and club night at the renowned Paris venue, Silencio, and has appeared in campaigns for Vogue, Dazed, Paco Rabanne, and Diesel.

But with teenage years intertwined with the industry, Crystal felt stifled. “I got pushed in the ‘neo soul’ direction,” she says. “I was contending with this cliche of the ‘neo-soul woman’ – she's a Black girl with an afro. loved it, but it scared me too. At 16, I was trying to fit a box that wasn't mine – I wanted to rock shit out too.”

Emerging as a mercurial star with the 2020 EP "I Was Wrong," she expanded neo-soul boundaries with mature lyricism. Her 2021 hit "BOSS" and the 2022 EP "Twisted Bases" showcase her evolution in themes of messy relationships and vulnerability.

Crystal declared her revenge in the fierce song "PAYBACK," a preview of her debut album, Sad Lovers And Giants. At 22, Crystal rejects expectations, emphasizing a move towards authenticity in her music, described as tragic, theatrical, and cinematic.

Accompanying the album announcement is a visually stunning Charlotte Wales-directed music video for the new single "STARMANIAK" (out now), described as an anthem for those who feel walked over. Crystal is also set to host a special night at Beaubeaus, London in association with shesaid.so.

As Crystal embarks on this new phase of her career, the album promises to be a transformative experience, weaving together her lived experiences and offering a powerful narrative of emotional strength and release.

Your latest single, "STARMANIAK," addresses the challenges women face in today's society. Can you share more about the inspiration behind this song?

I wanted to highlights the struggles and challenges that many women face in today's society, particularly the pervasive issue of being over-sexualized, disrespected, and mistreated. My acknowledgment of the toxicity that some individuals, can perpetuate is important. Im talking about my own experiences but also shedding light on broader societal issues that need to be addressed.

What was it like collaborating with Charlotte Wales on the music video?

It was amazing, the idea of doing something bizarre came from Stephy Galvani my artistic director and myself. The song came from somewhere so pure and real that I didn’t want to make a visual just to look good, we wanted something that makes you uncomfortable and makes you re-watch the video to understand where it comes from. We pitched the idea to Charlotte and she brought it to a whole other level, that was visual, smart and slick.

Was there a memorable moment during the creation of your debut album, SAD LOVERS & GIANTS?

The whole making of the album was a moment really, when I’m focusing on something I enter this tunnel in my head and can’t get out. It was a lot of soul searching, rage turned to maturity, answers. It was a whole awakening for me. I think something really changed when Kyu Steed came in, I had worked for a little year already but it really helped me find the right direction for it.

What's your top networking tip to connect with a record label?

Mmmm, I think really try to understand if they understand your work and your vision. Ask yourself if you’re ready or if you need a little more time without a label. Cause once you have a whole team, to have the result you need, you need to know exactly where you want to go.

What's your favourite/least favourite thing about making music?

My favourite thing is going on stage, I love the connection I get to have with the public and my musicians and that’s where I really find answers, it’s like therapy for me. And I know exactly why Im making music, I love it.

My least favourite thing is promoting my work. I find it sometimes hard to explain 2 years of work through few questions - and answers, it can get a bit frustrating. Sometimes it feels a bit meaningless. When you try to make it as clear as possible in your music and visuals and give 100% of your emotions in it. But It’s a part of the game, I guess.

How do you overcome creative blocks?

By surrounding myself with the right minds, I believe if you federate yourself around beautifully artistic people, your creative mind will always flow. Being in an environment where people appreciate and engage in artistic expression can help stimulate your imagination and encourage innovative thinking. I always try to surround myself with people or circles where I feel energized and inspired by the creativity around me.

Tips for musicians/songwriters who are just starting in the industry?

Follow your guts, and surround yourself with the right people who understand where you want to go. And really have fun with your music, we do this for art, for emotions, for feelings. If you’re doing it for something else just don’t do it.

3 women that influenced your music

ESG, this group of women that really made me get out of my comfort zone, on stage I always had this punk rock energy and could never find it in the studio. ESG made me get this part out of me.

Ouri riou is an artist, musician, and producer that worked on my album. I really love her because I would start some songs and she would finish them with such warmth, we would finish with some really crazy pop/ rock songs but with so much air and light.

And Macy Gray will always be my one and only (since I was a little girl).

3 things you can't live without in your bag

My vogues, my block note, my swords ( I have these little silver swords, they’re very tiny) they’re my lucky charms. Everything is little cause I like little bags lol.

STARMANIAK Out Now

PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM “SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS”,

OUT MAY 31st

CRYSTAL MURRAY & SHESAID.SO 

Presents STARMANIAK RELEASE PARTY

In conversation with Charlotte Wales 

Plus live performances (Crystal Murray) & DJ sets (Emma Korantema, Broodooramses)

BeauBeaus 4 - 6 Gravel Lane, E1 7AW

The event is free but guests must RSVP via this link.

Panel discussion will start at 6:30 pm sharp so make sure you are there to grab your seat.

Music Insider: Zamaera

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Malaysian artist Zamaera is a household name in Southeast Asian music, navigating an 11-year career that transitioned from TV hosting to music. She’s a skilled storyteller who continues to break barriers and recently organized Malaysia's inaugural all-female music festival, 'Queendom Fest' dedicated to spotlighting and empowering talent in the industry.

Zamaera marked her solo debut with the grime-inspired single 'Helly Kelly' in 2017 - featured alongside Malaysia’s hip-hop icon Joe Flizzow and has been independent since 2021. Her music skills flourished in a male-dominated scene, where she had to break boundaries and prove herself.

Her new track 'Big Fish' features Kuala Lumpur-based DJ/producer Daaliah, is influenced by hip-hop, pop, garage, and soul, and reflects Zamaera's desire to break free from her artistic constraints.

The song originated from a candid conversation with Daaliah in July 2023, expressing her feeling of being a 'big fish in a small pond' and her aspiration to step outside her comfort zone. 'Big Fish' is out now through Zamaera’s ‘Mean Malaya Entertainment’.

Tell us more about your collaboration with Daaliah on Big Fish.

‘Big Fish’ is me stepping out of my comfort zone and I really love this new venture. It’s a very different kind of song that I wouldn’t normally do, because I predominantly work on Hip Hop and R&B music (but I've always loved electronic and I’ve always loved House Music and Techno). My relationship with Daaliah is that we were the only German speaking artists in Malaysia and it kind of grew from there. We've known each other since 2019 and made some demos together but never really had the chance to put something out.

I met up with him last year and we had this conversation about how we were doing (just catching up) and I told him in my exact words “I felt like a big fish in a small pond”. That exact sentence was what sparked the idea.

We went to Daaliah’s studio and it was just the right vibe, the right energy as Daaliah had just come back from a tour in Europe and he was really inspired by Garage Music and different types of sounds (that in Malaysia, producers won't particularly look or touch on).

You had a 30 minute time crunch when creating “Big Fish”. How did you tap into creativity and stay focused under pressure?

Honestly for this project, I did not feel like there was any pressure involved just because everything felt so seamless and natural; from the moment that we were talking, to us deciding that we were going to make a song. It really felt like it was exactly what it needed to be. Even though there was this “time crunch”, we were using it as a way to to be even more creative. The time crunch helped us find exactly what we wanted.

It took out that deciding factor, that time to think and decide whether we wanted something “in this way or that way”. For example, there is a sound that you hear (the piano) that’s a sample by an amazing producer and I was writing at the back (coming with the melody) while Daaliah was producing and it just came together. I think the pressure on the time was a great thing for us.

As an independent artist, how do you think the independent music scene in Malaysia has grown?

I do feel that independent music and independent artists have taken a step forward hugely - all thanks to accessibility and information coming via YouTube videos, courses, social media etc. A lot of people understand now that we don't need to rely on traditional mediums such as radio or TV to get to the point of visibility. We can always use socials and also other forms of content for us to showcase our creativity.

Artists are now pivoting to a more independent style that is giving us the freedom and leeway to really be fully and creatively ourselves.

I do feel that a lot of independent artists (such as myself) lean towards working with brands. For example, with Big Fish and our music video premiere party, we got the chance to work with a really amazing global brand (they unearth and uplift independent artists such as myself and Daaliah and graffiti artists in Malaysia).

Can you share a memorable moment from your music career

I would say that the biggest one or the most recent one for me was organising my very first all female music festival. Throughout all my years of being a musician I had never ever organised an event for more than 5 - 10 artists (let alone 15 women and creatives) with the idea of building a strong community and platform to really uplift and showcase their talent in Malaysia.

After 11 years of doing this work, I realised we have all this amazing talent which was not reflected in the live performance space in Malaysia (and I thought that was really necessary). That's one of the most memorable things. I have a lot more, but then this conversation might never end!

What are your goals for ‘Queendom Fest’ in 2024?

My goal is to take everything I’ve learned from the first edition (the feedback, the critique etc) and really look into how we can better manage the festival. As an artist, I tend to look at things more on the artistic side (e.g. whether the artists are going to have a great time performing or how the lighting and the visuals, the music and the sound will be), but there's also this very important aspect which is the management of behind the scenes (running with your project manager, the vendors, the production team, and stuff like that).

I really want to take everything that I've learned and make it bigger, make it better. And of course I want to have more way more artists for 2024 and also hopefully international acts as well. So stay tuned.

What's your least favorite thing about making music?

That's actually quite an easy question to answer. My least favourite thing about making music is that I do not know how to play all of the instruments and that really frustrates me sometimes.

I know that you can learn stuff (make sounds on e.g. Logic or any digital audio workstation) but I feel like I always am so hard on myself because I feel like “oh my gosh, if I just knew how to play the violin, or if I just knew how to play the cello”. It stops me from actually going out and learn.

Thinking that “I can only play the piano or the guitar” makes me feel like it's not enough. I want to be able to do more but I have to take a little step back and chill. You can’t play everything but you can collaborate with so many amazing, talented people out there. So if you play the cello, you know who to call.. (call me, I'm gonna work with you).

What is a valuable piece of advice for an artist that wants to enter your industry?

You should just not think and do it. A lot of people might be worried about what other people might think because of maybe e.g. a taboo that surrounds your passions. I don't think this is only the case with music, it goes with pretty much with anything you want to achieve in your life.

Stopping yourself because of what other people might think and not taking a chance on doing what you love could be one of the biggest regrets.

Don't think about what other people think of you (because people are going to say something anyway, so you might as well just do what you love). Let the music be your life.

Connect with Zamaera

Instagram & More Links

Artist Spotlight: Merry Lamb Lamb

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Hong Kong-born, London-based musician Merry Lamb Lamb has crafted a distinctive and vibrant artistic identity. Her trilingual music weaves together English, Cantonese, and Mandarin, each language revealing a different facet of her personality.

Growing up in Hong Kong and later moving to Toronto, Merry Lamb Lamb faced the challenges of being one of the few East Asian students. Encouraged by her now-creative director, Lung, Merry taught herself Ableton and began her musical journey.

Genesis, her 2022 debut album, explored eclectic '80s pop and thumping house, while its follow-up, Exodus, took a bolder, more club-oriented direction. Beyond her musical talent, Merry Lamb Lamb's visual arts background attracted collaborations with Gucci, Moschino, Chanel, and Acne Studios.

Merry Lamb Lamb joined forces with Miso Extra, and aimei 媚 to create their electronic pop gem, 'Better' - a track expressing resilience after heartbreak, which carries a message of optimism for the future.

The project emerged from a 3-day writing camp organized by Platoon’s 'She Runs The Board,' shesaid.so, and ESEA Music. The project highlights the East and South East Asian music community's female producers, songwriters, and engineers, aiming to elevate and increase visibility for women in the industry.

What's your new song “Better” with Miso Extra & aimei 媚 about and what do you hope listeners take from it?

The song is about a failed relationship that you once spend and you thought that they are going to be the love of your life. You started to get very deep into them and they have been very manipulative and toxic. The worst part is that you feel like you're starting to lose yourself. So you want to get out of this relationship, and to be better without them basically.

I think the song is so special to me, because sometimes life is not about love. There are friends and family that will always be rooting for you, they will always support you. The song “Better” is just not solely dealing with this person, just that. It’s to realise that you have a fragile side of yourself, and you're capable to face your past and to learn from the lessons you have, and to be strong and independent and to be better without them. I think this is “Better” for me.

Name one artist that has influenced you and your music.

When I first started music production, I looked up to Grimes a lot. I remember that I saw one of her performance videos - she was performing her song ‘Oblivion’ on YouTube at one of the very big festivals. I was blown away because she was controlling everything all by herself, from drum machines to synthesisers and to singing and dancing with her dancers. It's just the fact that she does everything herself - from music production to music videos. The DIY style and the way she works with everything is just so admirable and I looked up her a lot. I hope that one day Merry Lamb Lamb could be very strong and independent like her.

If you had to pick one song to introduce someone to music, which one would it be?

I think a very good introduction song to Merry Lamb Lamb’s world will definitely be ‘Empathy’ because I just love talking about a lot of my soft spot to people. These are really common topics that I asked myself a lot growing up as a person.

The song is about feeling very misplaced everytime, from moving from place to place. Sometimes, I wanted to seek for help, maybe just one hug. "I felt very lonely and left out sometimes. I love how the song's (vibe) is so different because the music is so dancey, yet it has very vulnerable lyrics, which I love. What I love about dance music, it's just how it pulls up your heartstrings so much. It just gives you the power to dance to it and listen to it from a club situation, to a long ride solitudes. This is ‘Empathy’ for you.

What’s your top tip for artists who want to follow this industry?

It is very important to not to be afraid to put up sounds that you feel they are not 100% to perfection. To me, there's no such thing as 100% perfect song. As a musician, you will grow day by day and you will learn from mistakes. When you put out songs, listeners do actually love honesty and rawness from music that you've done, music that will feel real about you. So don't be afraid to put out songs.

When you start to write more and you look back to what you have produced or what wrote in the past, you will be like “oh, actually, I’ve been through that faze and I'm glad that I put out the song at that certain time”. You will feel more grown up. You will realise what you’ve been through from the beginning to now. As a musician, it’s a very beautiful thing to know your past and to be honest to people.

‘Better’ is out 16th February 2024

Connect with:

Merry Lamb Lamb

Miso Extra

aimei 媚

ESEA Music & Platoon

Interview: Little Monarch

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Little Monarch is the brainchild of LA-based artist Casey Kalmenson. Recognized for her exceptional songwriting, production, and vocal abilities and blend of indie pop, soul, jazz, and funk, Casey has collaborated with a diverse range of artists, including Daisy The Great, Jessie Ware, Far East Movement, Parra for Cuva and more. 

Little Monarch found viral success as a solo artist with her debut single "No Matter What," which has wracked up over 25 million streams across platforms.

She has seen her work feature prominently in a variety of TV networks and film projects (including ABC, CBS, MTV, and VH1 and popular shows like Grey’s Anatomy, All American: Homecoming and Love Is Blind).

With her sound as a summer sunset, Little Monarch continues to shine in the music industry, resonating with audiences globally. Her more recent single "Same Old" followed Little Monarch's track "Tears" and an extensive tour playing in Gracie Abrams band. The tour included multiple opening act performances for Taylor Swift on the Eras stadium tour. "Tears" combines pieces of soul, jazz, and indie pop to create a sunshine filled sonic reminder to let go of control and find your own place in the flow.  

What's the one thing you hope fans will take away from listening to your new song “Same Old”?

In general, it's always “self confidence” and a renewed sense of self worth. And not giving up. That's always been kind of the pillars of what I write about. Because it's always what I need to hear and what I want to transmit into the world, the messaging of “don't give up, just keep showing up”. You just gotta keep going and things turn around.

What's the most unexpected place/time/space you found inspiration for a song?

I don't think this is unexpected, but it's recent. I was feeling really blocked creatively and I went for a hike. There was this little rock and I thought “that looks like a wonderful rock". I'm gonna sit on it”. And I sat on it and I closed my eyes, did a little meditation and I got this inspiration for a song, came home and started to play it. It was just this feeling that I really wanted to capture and I think that I did. It was just so renewing because I had kind of felt a little bit lost, trying to navigate putting this album together. I was thinking “I really want something, I don't know what I want yet, but I don't know what it feels like”. So, I kind of landed on this when I got quiet and got out in nature. And that always seems to do the trick for me.

What's an important lesson you've learned in your music career?

Ooh, I mean, so many but…don't give up. Just keep going. There's really no “one path”. You can read people's bios. You can study the greats (and you should) but there's no trajectory that you can copycat. So you really just have to be patient and keep showing up for yourself and your own path, which is going to be unique.

What’s a piece of advice for finding creativity on a tough day?

Don't force, it would just show up. Even if it's just 20 minutes of practising or journaling, there's a lot of ways to be creative that doesn't involve sitting down and writing music or producing something. Also, make sure you’re giving yourself a “creative palate cleanser”; get a little bit done, go take a walk. I love to do that - it just clears my head - and then I can come back to something with fresh ears. And also, most importantly, if it's a tough day and you're not feeling it, just don't. You don't have to. You can take a rest and that's just as productive sometimes.

What’s your top tip for people that want to become music producer, singer songwriters etc?

When I wanted to start producing, I was buying some gear (I was you know, figuring it out what I needed) and somebody ironically (amazingly enough) at guitar centre said to me “give yourself seven years and then you'll actually be a producer, you'll be good enough for you to want to hire yourself”. I actually still think about that and think that's kind of true.

You have to give yourself this runway of time to you know, learn the skills and you're always learning. I think, just giving yourself a runway of time and setting yourself up for that, knowing that it could happen overnight or you might want to build something where it has a lot of longevity and you can sustain it - in which case you, you need to set up a support system and figure out a way to really know that it's a 5 to 10 year journey to get to a place where you might deem yourself successful or comfortable or sustained. Just give yourself some time and patience because it's beautiful that you're even showing.

What are some of your favorite songs to wake up to?

This week it's been “Love and Happiness” by Al Green (and just anything by Al Green). I really love to take a morning walk and listen to some (Frédéric) Chopin, it just stimulates my brain, it's beautiful.

Three things you can't live without in your bag.

Aquaphor, sunscreen, earbuds. Pretty pretty standard.

Follow Little Monarch:

▶ Stream: https://ONErpm.lnk.to/-LittleMonarch

▶ Instagram:   / littlemonarchmusic  

▶ Facebook:   / littlemonarch  

▶ Twitter:   / littlemonarchla  

Artist Spotlight: Belle Chen

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Belle Chen is a pianist and composer that skillfully blends piano melodies with synths, creating a seamless fusion of acoustic and electronic music.

Belle released the single 'Three Birds', as a preview of her upcoming album, "Ravel In The Forest," set to be released on February 16, 2024, through Platoon. The album, inspired by nature and created as an imaginative world through music, invites listeners on a journey filled with richly cinematic, ethereal compositions.

The album's production involves a collaboration with the Budapest Art Orchestra in tracks like 'Closer' and 'Moonrise,' showcasing Belle's diverse and intriguing approach to music creation. 'Ravel In The Forest' defies categorization, providing a refreshing experience that reconnects audiences with nature, music, and introspection.

Your new album, 'Ravel In The Forest,' takes listeners on a journey through nature and imagination. Can you share more about the inspiration behind it?

My new album Ravel In The Forest was inspired by the feeling of losing oneself in your imagination while being in nature. So in this album, you’ll hear textures and colors and sounds that were inspired by the movements and the colous of the flora and fauna found in forests.

Could you provide some insights into your classical training and its influence on your work, particularly when blending contemporary and electronic music? How did your classical background play a role in shaping the sound of this album?

My classical training is like the foundation that I build my own music language upon. And for me, it's like a big dictionary that I can draw words from to tell my own musical story. In this particular album (Ravel in the Forest), I draw inspirations from the approaches of Impressionist composers such as Maurice Ravel, and how they evoke certain feelings through the use of colors, light and shade and combining that approach with the technology that we have today, through the use of synths and production technique to create this whimsical, imaginative world that's this new album.

Making music for me is a very intuitive process. I'm always guided by the end feeling of what I want to create for the listeners. And in this journey to get there I would explore the different options and textures and colors that's available, and are the most appropriate to create this end feeling. Sometimes I find it through classical approach and sometimes I find it through more electronica kind of approach. Sometimes it's a hybrid, so it's never really the same.

The concept of 'Ravel In The Forest' seems deeply connected to nature and introspection. How do you believe music can serve as a medium for self-reflection and connection to the world around us?

For me, music is a really important medium for self reflection and introspection, because I think it creates this pocket of time and space to be really with yourself, and be really honest with how you're feeling and seeing the world. And in a way, music can also be a shared experience.

When a musician shares a piece of music with a world, we're actually sharing a part of how we see the world and our perspective as well.

And when two people share what they're listening to is similar; they're sharing how they see the world. It is a moment and a medium for connection, as well as self reflection.

As an artist who has performed globally, can you share a memorable moment from your performances at venues like the Royal Albert Hall’s Steinway Series and the National Theatre of Korea?

My most memorable moments when I'm performing happens when I feel like I'm in sync with the audience. You can feel the energy coming back in and I feel like we're on a journey together. And I feel like I'm getting to know them on a very deep and personal level. And so those are the most fun and memorable moments for me.

Your journey includes being recognized as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London and being a Yamaha artist. How have these affiliations influenced your growth as a musician?

I'm hugely grateful for the affiliations. I think both the academy and Yamaha has played such important roles in my musical DNA and in my journey so far, and to be able to partner with Yamaha on special projects especially has made a big difference.

What does your morning routine look like?

My morning routines are usually done in silence and solitude. That's where I think most clearly and my best and usually that involves meditation, reading, journaling, and then plotting up my day with a good cup of coffee before getting started.

Your tips for finding your creativity on a tough day

So when I'm having a tough day, I usually time box an hour or so to create as freely as possible. And usually that involves sitting in front of the piano and improvising and recording that on the voice memo. I think it is done without any intention, without any pressure. And then I'll step away go for a walk around the block clear my mind. And usually on these days I try to be gentle with myself and kind with myself, because some things just take time and sometimes it takes longer, and that's okay to take longer.

Artist Spotlight: Samantha Urbani

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Samantha Urbani is the artist behind the debut LP "Showing Up." From her rebellious roots in Mystic, Connecticut, to conquering Brooklyn's DIY scene with Friends in 2010, Samantha's journey is anything but ordinary.

After her old group “Friends” disbanded in 2013, Samantha chose collaboration over solo stardom, joining “Blood Orange” and diving into various projects. Tragedy struck in 2018 with the loss of close friend and producer Sam Mehran, propelling her into a six-month hiatus.

Nick Weiss, aka Nightfeelings, who pulled her back into music and sparked the creative process for "Showing Up."Co-produced by Samantha and Weiss, the album captures her spontaneous spirit. With contributions from friends like Rostam Batmanglij and Stuart Matthewman, it's a celebration of resilience and creative resurgence.

Want do you want people to get out of your new album ‘Showing Up”?

“Showing Up” that just came out is the health and the power of multiple feelings coexisting at once. There are lyrics and movements and music about a lot of really hard things. Heartbreak and alienation and mental health stuff and really close friends and family dying. And all of that is on this album. But on first listen, you might not know because a lot of it has very sick grooves. And a lot of it is quite danceable. And that was all very intentional. Because I think when you mute multiple feelings and truths existing at once is something that is really powerful to embrace. I think I was I went through a lot of hard things before the making of this album.

And for a while I was writing a lot of songs that really sounded sad. And I knew that that wasn't the way that I wanted to present these experiences. I wanted to find a way to make music that felt cathartic and joyful, and connective and energetic, almost like the breakthrough of celebrating survival through those things versus sitting in the pain of those things. I think that you can still honour the pain of those things. Feeling like a breakthrough or a sense of survival. I want this record to be the upbeat companion for anybody who's having a fucking hard time and anybody who's experiencing grief. Anybody who's had a really close friend leave, you know, this this existence. I want the record to be a companion that feels cathartic and feels optimistic, but also is like a witness to those kinds of experiences.

What’s your top advice to songwriters?

First of all, I think that we need to take these titles off of a pedestal, you don't need to think about yourself as an “aspiring songwriter”, or an aspiring artist, you are an artist, you are a songwriter. Trust your instincts, get in touch with that thread of unique insight and perspective that you have versus being a student, of how other people do their thing. I also always tell people not to let what kind of equipment or education, they have access to stop them from getting ideas down. I talk to a lot of people who are like, Oh, I have ideas for songs. But I don't play a lot of instruments. I don't know how to make a demo. I’m not where I want to be as a producer or something.

Don't let those ideas get away, because you think that they need to be represented more professionally or traditionally. I think that making weird little voice memos, kind of like… scrappy demos, in GarageBand, or whatever you have often is way more interesting and more authentic and cool than if you wait and find an engineer or somebody to help you do it in what you might think is the right way.

Don't let a lack of equipment or knowledge stop you from getting ideas down. Or make you think that your ideas aren't real, because you're not like “a real musician”, or there's something. I think a lot of stuff that's done really properly or traditionally can be boring. So yeah, mess around with whatever it is that you have.

Everybody who has an iPhone, or a MacBook has GarageBand on their phone, or laptop. That's actually how I started making demos for my old band. I had a lot of vocal ideas and melodies. I think if I had waited to do it ‘the right way’, I don't know if I would have ever done it. I started just recording all my vocal ideas to drum loops. And I had ideas for baselines, and I would just sing them and pitch them down. And I had ideas for synth lines, and I'd sing them and pitch them up.

I was a college student in a shitty small bedroom in New York doing that, and it turned into a successful band. So I always try to tell people not to look down on their ideas, because they think that they're not like a real musician. What the fuck does that mean? What does it mean? Just make stuff the same way that you can pick up a pencil on a piece of paper and draw. Pick up whatever you have and get your idea down. And if you want to collaborate with other people on it. That's awesome. I think it's like a very fun, cool, strong thing to do to find your collaborators. But it's great to approach them with a representation of what you want to make. So don't be scared to to make things from scratch and do things in your homemade way.

What has been the most rewarding part of my journey so far?

It's crazy, amazing, beautiful when you travel to parts of the world that you've never been to before, and you play a show, and there are people in the audience singing words that you made up in your bedroom. That is an incredible feeling, especially when those people are not only just reciting them back to you, it's like, they're this mirror, where the emotional thing that you were feeling that you put into words is actually something amazing. As a musician or a writer, that's definitely just seeing things translate and feeling that maybe you could do that for people in the same way that your favourite musicians have done that for you throughout your life.

But as far as my music journey at large, I have loved just time going by and getting a little bit older and being able to sort of be like a big sister figure to people who are at the age that I was when I started making music, any kind of like professional sense.People feel they're supposed to be anxious about getting older or time going by but to me, it's something that is so valuable and beautiful and can't be faked. It can't be rushed.

Having a length of experience that continues and grows is so special to me and being able to realise that I want to pursue more avenues than just making music but also working in music as I did a year I worked for an agile at. I worked for a year as an adjunct professor at NYU mentoring songwriting and production students. And now I work as an A&R at Secretly Group, discovering artists, developing artists, helping advocate for artists on the inside of a company like that. Just finding ways that it feels all of my experience matters good and bad. All the bad experiences that I had throughout my 20s I feel I've found a way to channel those things to really mean something for other people.

Sometimes in the moment, when things are either going good or bad, it's hard to see the value in them and it does take time for things to review reveal sort of their, their meaning or their value. Being able to sort of be like a shoulder and a voice of reason and a big sister and a mentor or whatever to people now is so fun and valuable to me. I wish I had somebody like that when I was younger. To be able to be a support system for other people is amazing.

Things you can't live without in your bag.

  1. A notebook. But not a regular notebook. It has to be a notebook that is like a monthly calendar kind of thing for the year because I really don't do well with Google Calendar. Only remember that I have to do things if I break them down. And also lyrics and stuff like that. I think I'm a lot more creative when there's some tactility to my actual writing and you can physically cross things out or you can kind of keep building by adding words to things. I just feel like there's a tactility to words themselves even the sounds that words make and especially as singers, vocalist, lyricist, whatever. There can be a disconnect in the tactility of words, if you're typing them. You can actually feel the shape of words when you're writing out letters in the same way that you can feel the shape of them in your mouth. That makes sense. No, that's crazy.

  2. What else do I like to have in my bag? I also shades because sometimes you need to be incognito. I often, go to coffee places or get food by myself. You have to kind of be in your own little forcefield world. So shades for sure.

  3. My phone? I hate to say it but how else are we going to record voice memos. I did use to have a cassette recorder and maybe that's cooler. I do like to talk about anti social media. It's nice to have mediums of recording that will also distract you with all the other bullshit that's on your phone.

  4. But maybe most importantly; two types of cards, a regular classic deck of cards, and a deck of monopoly deal. I've been playing cards, especially in the morning with another person. It’s a very centering thing that just feels really meditative. I used to use tarot cards a lot, but now I like to play Monopoly deal. I highly recommend it as something that’s slightly escapist, but not as bad as sprawling bad things.

Connect with Samantha on Instagram

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Artist Spotlight: Nonô

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We are excited to feature Nonô for this month’s Artist Spotlight. The London-based artist from Rio, Brazil, has been described by NME as "a rising talent ready to become your new favourite artist”.

Nonô has over 200 million streams and has been championed on BBC Radio 1, with notable press support from NME 100, CLASH and Line Of Best Fit. Her single 'Domingo' heated up the summer with her club mix of dance-pop and Brazilian vibes.

Can you share a memorable experience that has significantly influenced your music?

A memorable experience that definitely has shaped my music is going on tour supporting ‘Example’ in 2022. That experience of being on stage every day really taught me a lot about what kind of music I wanted to make and how I wanted to make people feel - because it's a such a high pace energy environment that I just wanted everyone to have fun. I wanted that feeling of the live shows to translate into my music or everything that I was creating.

So after the shows I knew exactly where I wanted to go with my music; how to turn up the BPM, or to make (my music) more electronic. I feel that my shows are my favourite part of doing music. So yeah, definitely going on tour was the most memorable experience that has influenced my music

What's the one piece of advice you wish you had received when you were just starting out as a singer and songwriter?

A piece of advice that I would give to emerging artists is something that I'm also trying to tell myself. It just gets a lot, you know, when you're creating every day, and then you're also having to create content every day. And besides the songs, the marketing the content, you have to stay positive.

So besides not giving up is try to tune out the noise and try not to compare your journey to other people. My whole life, I grew up reading biographies. And something that really hurt me was when I was comparing my journey to all these incredible artists that I had read about growing up. And when your journey isn't going exactly like theirs you start thinking that, Oh, I'm doing something wrong, or it's not going to happen. At least I do that.

I'm pretty sure there's other people out there that might feel the same way; comparing constantly comparing themselves with other people. So if I was to give an advice to anyone that is emerging, is to work hard and to follow their creative dreams. Don't compare yourself. You're on your own path, and everything happens when it’s supposed to happen. The opportunity will come you just have to be ready for it.

What’s the one piece of advice you wish you had received when you were just starting out as a singer and songwriter?

The off days are just as important as the days you’re working. If you don’t allow yourself time to relax then you will end up creating the same song or worse. You might even lose the love for the thing that made you wanna follow this journey.

Building a fanbase and getting noticed in the crowded music scene can be tough. What strategies have you found effective in connecting with your audience?

Playing live shows is the most effective way of connecting with my audience as it’s a real moment! Everybody is there to have a good time plus I can see how they react to songs and in those minutes, we are genuinely forming a connection and our own world.

If you could describe your sound in just three words, what would they be?

Free, Energetic and Vibrant.

What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve learned about yourself since stepping into the music spotlight

I always knew I was a perfectionist but I didn’t know the extent of how deranged I actually am. I will lose sleep over parts of an unfinished song or merch items that I don’t think are 100% right yet.

Describe your morning routine

if I was to describe my morning routine, it's very simple. Very simple. Very easy. Because I wake up in pain, usually because I'm not a morning person. Unfortunately, I'm very much a night person. I want to be a morning person. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate morning people, but I am not.

So I try to wake up at like eight.

I fail. Then I wake up at nine and I have a chocolate milk because I don't drink coffee. Then I start getting ready for the sessions or whatever schedule program that I have in that day.

I usually start by picking out an outfit. I just sit on the floor and contemplate my whole life for like half an hour. And then I choose an outfit. Colorful outfit, usually. Then I go brush my teeth, get my makeup on, do the hair, put on accessories, out the door, I go to the studio.

So a typical day would be going to the studio. I would wake up, have my chocolate milk, brush my teeth, get my makeup on, get the clothes that I'm wearing, colorful accessories, then out the door, run to tube or bus, go to the session, stay in the session write a banger from like eleven until 06:00 p.m..

Or eleven till 07:00 p.m.. Or twelve till six whatever the time that it takes to create a song or two, depending on what we're doing.

If your music was a color, what color would it be and why?

I think it would be bumblebee yellow as I’m always trying to emulate the vibrancy of Brazil in my music so I think yellow/ orange, quite solar tones are very fitting.

3 things you can’t live without in your bag

Walkers crisps, a jumper and my rock salt luck charm.

If you could choose a famous landmark to host the ultimate Nonô beach party, where would it be and why?

I would definitely choose Rio de Janeiro because I'm from Rio. I would choose Copacabana beach because I grew up there. It's a very famous landmark I think everybody that knows a little about Brazil knows about Copacabana. I would throw it in February or March because that's when the vibes in Brazil are at the highest point. Summer is over there so you know it's gonna be hot. And yeah, definitely Copacabana would be the place for the ultimate Nonô beach party!

The Aces' Alisa Ramirez on Music, Identity, and Their Latest Album

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Indie-pop quartet The Aces released their highly-anticipated third studio album, I’ve Loved You For So Long, back in June. Spanning eleven tracks, the record sees the band reflect on their childhood and unpack how their early experiences with closeted love and religious trauma have influenced their relationships, mental health, and identity in the present.

Finding inspiration in the likes of The Cranberries and LCD Soundsystem, The Aces experimented with new styles while remaining authentic to their roots. The early singles caught the attention of tastemakers like KCRW, BBC Radio 1, and KROQ, to name a few, racking up over 12 million streams ahead of today’s release. The band is currently on a global tour supporting their album.

We are thrilled to have Alisa Ramirez from The Aces share invaluable advice and insights for industry newcomers

Hey, what's up, shesaid.so this is Alisa from the Aces, and I'm going to be answering some of your questions today.

What were some of the musical influences that inspired the sound of your latest record?

I'd say a big musical influence for this record was late 80s early 90s Shoegaze. And, kind of the end of New Wave as well as the beginning of Grunge. I feel that was a big thing for us. This record is largely about our teenage years and our youth and how experiences from our teenhood affect our adulthood. So it was very much about timing and kind of leaning into sounds that were really nostalgic to paint the pictures of the past and leaning into sounds that were really futuristic and really modern to paint the stories of our adulthood and our current moment. So I'd say timing and big eras of music - past and present - were really influential for the sound.

How do you overcome creative blocks?

I think having a creative block is really tough, but the best thing for me is just not trying to “beat it over the head”, you know? Just sitting at my studio desk, hoping something comes out. It's kind of a two-way street. If you're showing up to create something, and the Muses aren't showing up, then okay, it's not gonna happen. I think sometimes it just comes to you and it happens. But if you're going through a period where you just feel like you can't get it out or there's nothing inspiring, then I would just say take a break. Go live your life. Go read books, go to museums, explore, go out and meet new people. Just try to just live your life and find inspiration through everyday things and new experiences. That's what I always do. Seems to work.

What’s your top advice for young individuals wanting to become musicians?

I'd say just go for it. It's a lot of work practice. But if you love it, it won't feel like work. Just practice, practice, practice, build your audience, don't take no for an answer and just keep getting better at songwriting and keep getting better at whatever instrument you play. Keep chasing creativity, keep chasing inspiration.

Do you have any pre-show rituals?

Yeah, we do we always huddle up and do like a little mantra, kind of a prayer to the universe, kind of tap in and, and just, you know, ask to have a good show. None of us are very religious, but it's always a good feeling to kind of huddle up and combine our collective energy to put on the best performance we can.

If you could travel back in time to any musical era, which one would it be?

I would probably travel back to the 60s as it was a really exciting time. It was the first time that people were going electric. It was the first time people were talking about sex and mental health in a more forward way. It wasn't this kind of subliminal thing, it was more in your face. It just felt like the first time that music started to get really exciting and have a rebellious element to it, you know what I mean? And not just be kind of centred around like religion and social norms.

Okay, well, those are my answers. Have a good one!

The Aces Third Studio Album I’ve Loved You For So Long is out on Red Bull Records.

Stream The Album Here.

Artist Spotlight: Lucy Tun

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We’re thrilled to spotlight the Burmese/British singer-songwriter, producer and DJ Lucy Tun in this month’s Artist Spotlight.

As LCYTN, she found success with her debut project 'Good Nights Bad Stories' and the glossy trap-influenced forerunning single 'Kulture Klub', which has amassed over half a million Spotify streams. She was also courted by the fashion world, having DJed for the likes of Gucci and ROTATE.

But while her music and coming-of-age story as LCYTN was mired with self-doubt, she returns as Lucy Tun: a confident turning of a new chapter as a woman, artist and storyteller.

Lucy Tun’s ‘adhd images’ taken from her Instagram account (July 10, 2023)

What one thing do you hope your fans will take away from listening to your new EP?

I hope that they get a little piece of me because a lot of the songs are quite personal. This is my first project so there is a lot of vulnerability. I hope that they'll see that and appreciate that, and relate to it. The second thing I hope for them to see or hear or take away is the idea that change is a natural process. It has been a natural process since the beginning of time. We're all changing all the time. It's something that we all go through. Because of that, it's something to not be as fearful about as you grow up.

It's okay that change happens. It's okay to change. It's okay that your friends change. It's okay that your circumstances change. It's okay that your life changes. It's natural. And you're not alone in feeling that way.

How do you balance expressing your personal experiences and emotions through your music?

Well, this project is personal. But there are some songs in there, some elements of my music which I'd say I've moved away from. I've always written about me before that. Now I'm kind of wanting to tell different stories and take influence from people I know, things I've seen, things I've dreamt. And it is also personal. I think it's like accepting that you're going to be vulnerable and you're going to be a bit exposed, and people are going to perceive you in a different way, and you can't control that. You can't control how they perceive your music; that's been really helpful, just letting go of all of that.

Your best advice for young people wanting to become music producers, singers, songwriters?

I think that there are two elements of being a musician. There's the creative part of it, and there's the not-so-creative part; the industry. Some people love being in the industry. They love networking. They love meeting people. They see it as an extension of their creativity. Some musicians hate the industry. They don't like the business side of it and the networking side. They prefer to just make music on their own or with a very small circle and not branch out any further. It can be really overwhelming. There are some musicians who probably feel like it hinders their creative process when you care too much about this side. It's this weird, like, weighing scale of balancing it. And I find that when you're starting out specifically this part, the business side, the industry side, doesn't matter.

You need to focus on finding your sound and what matters to you the most; the music you enjoy making the most. That is the first part that you should only focus on. The music industry side, the business side of things, will come later, and it will come naturally. All you should focus on first is finding your sound. You probably don't need a lot of people to do that. You just need yourself or one or two people that you really trust, and you work with creatively. That's it. Find those people.

If you had to pick one song from your new EP to introduce to your music which would it be and why?

I'd say Kulture Klub. Kulture Klub is my pop banger. It's my baby, you know? I'd love to show off my baby and be like, hey, here's my baby. It's a very cute, very poppy baby. Here you go.

If your album was a color, what color would it be and why?

Ultramarine blue or that royal blue. I feel that deep blue color is a primary colour. It feels so intense and grandiose and almost whole and perfect in a way. There are a lot of connotations with that. I want to reference something; to make the ultramarine blue color, they used this stone called Lapis Lazuli in the period of ancient Egyptians.

So this colour has been around for a really, really, really long time. And it creates this intense, perfect, primary feeling that connects to me. Because just like a primary colour, this EP is the foundation of my music as Lucy Tun, so I see the connections there. This is the primary color of my music; whatever might be my second EP, an album, or any music after that, I'll mix in this first batch of music with that color. This EP is my primary, my foundation.

We as young people feel this pressure to be perfect and to be bold and striking and interesting. We want the same feeling of being like a perfectly shined shoe. We want to be that shiny all the time. When we don't feel like that, we tend to go into really existential feelings of like, gosh what am I doing with my life, you know? I think that that blue colour really represents that perfection that us as young people always strive to be. I think as you get older, kind of becomes a little bit calmer. I don't know if that makes sense, but yeah.

What's my favourite and least favourite thing about making music?

They're both the same answer, and it's the unpredictability of making a good song. You never know when you're gonna find, like, creative inspiration to make something. It is not a nine-to-five job. I cannot sit down and be like, hey, I'm just gonna write a good song today.

I think maybe there are some people who can, but I can't. So it always comes off to something, you know, at a random time, four in the morning, 2 p.m., on the train, on the toilet, something will come, and I have to savor this, and I have to write this, and I have to make this song. It's like a pang that comes. So, you know, that's great because you always have to be open, and it can come at really great times when you need it, or it can come at the worst times when you actually need to focus on other stuff. I remember being in uni and not being able to concentrate because all I cared about was making music. So that was when it wasn't as helpful but I did write some really great music during then.

If your music had a signature dance move, what would it be?

Like.. “emotional cramping”. Intense dance movements… but there's some welling up in the eyes. That's how I imagine it. I would love that to happen at a show where people are really dancing their hearts out; they see it as an emotional release. If there are some tears there, as long as they're getting it out (I wouldn't want anyone to just cry, you know, for no reason). But sometimes you just got to let it out. That's how I would love people to kind of dance to my music as a form of release.

What are your top go-to emojis?

The crying face emoji. I always find the crying face emoji can exhibit a lot of different moods. Like I'm so happy I'm crying, or I'm so sad I'm crying, but also not in a way that's too, you know, intense. It's like… you know, unstressed crying face emoji. It can be so many different meanings. It's a very Gen Z emoji. I love it. I use it all the time and people just get it. You know?

Second one; probably a blue emoji. Maybe a blue heart. The third emoji is the safety pin because it ties in a lot with the motifs of my EP, which will be shown later.

Three things you can't live without in your bag.

Number one, my keys! That might be obvious, but I am very forgetful. Number two, lip balm. Lip balm, lip balm, lip balm. When I have dry lips, I feel like a shrivelled-up tumbleweed in the desert.

It's a must. There are so many situations where even just putting on lip balm - emotionally and mentally - it does so much for me because I feel secure. So lip balm.

Number three probably blush. I wear a lot of blush. I love blush. I'm wearing blush right now. I feel a bit dead without blush.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Time travel, time travel.

I would love to like experience the past and see how it's shaped the present and also see the future. That would be amazing to be able to just travel between all of that. That would be incredible, BUT without messing anything up.

Okay, well thank you so much and have a good day.

Artist Spotlight: L U C I I A

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The shesaid.so Artist Spotlight is a series where we highlight new artists from our global community that you should keep an eye on. If you’re interested in submtting yourself or your artist please contact us at hello@shesaid.so

We're excited to feature Cuban/Swedish Grammy-nominated artist LUCIIA for our next #shesaidso Artist Spotlight. LUCIIA has opened for Coldplay in Sweden this month and has been championed by top tastemakers, including BBC Radio London, Vogue Scandinavia, Reprezent Radio, Rinse and many more. She has been working with Grammy-winning producers and songwriters in the US and UK and forged her sound, where classic 90s R&B blends with the future. Watch our video with LUCIIA, read our Q&A and listen to her single 'Same Thing New Man' 🎶.

If you had to describe your music using only three words, what would they be and why?

Nostaligic, Pain & Clarity

My sound takes you back to 00-90s R&B, I tell stories that have been hidden inside me for to long and releasing them hurts but gives me complete clarity at the same time.

If you could collaborate with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be and why? 

Khamari (on repeat 24/7) wait? Have you heard his music? He is so sick, probably one of the best in R&B right now! 

As an artist, what message or emotion do you hope to convey through your music?

Comfort. I want people not to feel like they are alone. I felt lonely all my life until recently, music saved me. I hope my stories can help others the same way. 

If your new single was a movie, who would star in it what would the movie genre be?

Drama. Teyana Taylor 

If you had to describe your music using three emojis, which ones would you choose and why?

I sing about all the feels, what you need and when you need it 

Artist Spotlight: Arlissa

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LA-based singer and model Arlissa (born in Germany but raised in South London), has risen to international stardom as a pop artist. Despite pressure from her previous label, she now embraces her independence to pursue her sound on her own terms. As a proud bisexual, Arlissa is an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and recently participated in Spotify's GLOW sessions, collaborating with various artists and speaking on a panel.

Arlissa has written and performed on “We Won’t Move” from the critically acclaimed movie 'The Hate U Give', BTS’s “Spring Day”, Zayne’s comeback hit “Flames”, and “Eyes Off You” for Ariana Grande’s soundtrack for Charlie’s Angels.  She’s previously collaborated with Homeschool, Duckworth, Bartees Strange, Kiana Ledé and Jonas Blue. She’s ready now for the world  to hear her at her most authentic and vulnerable debut album 'The Open Hearted'.

What’s the story behind your debut album, ‘The Open Hearted’?

It was originally called “The Broken-hearted”, but shortly after finishing it, I experienced two huge heartbreaks. The ending of my marriage and a relationship after. I had never been single and knew it was time for me to give my love to myself instead of so freely to others. I’ve never been afraid of loving others but never learnt to love myself. So I changed the title to The Open-Hearted, and it’s really about claiming and honoring myself and my feelings throughout heartbreak. I’ve always been so quick to put others before myself and invalidate my own experience to create as much safety for others. This album is about claiming my power as a human who has experienced hurt in a multitude of ways. And knowing love is never lost. When you find it in yourself again, it follows you everywhere you go.

If you had to pick one song from your new album to introduce someone to your new release, which one would it be and why? 

I would struggle with to pick one song because the album is completely eclectic and each song shows a different side to me which is what I love most about it.

If your new album was a movie, who would star in it, and what genre would it be?

Laura harrier because yes. And it would be a psychological thriller cat and mouse game. 

What’s the most unexpected place you've found inspiration for a song? 

You can literally find inspiration anywhere. Nowhere is unexpected because writing songs is really just channelling from source energy and transmuting it through your own lense and experience…hopefully that makes sense. 

What’s the most important lesson you've learned in your music career

To trust yourself no matter who tells you otherwise. You’re the only one who has to live with the choices you make. So make sure you’re making the best one that’s in alignment to what you’re trying to achieve.  If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

The power to not over think. I think we would be limitless without our own self imposed limiting beliefs. 

How do you stay grounded and focused on your music amidst all the attention and recognition? 

I just do what feels good to my body and what pleases me. If you focus and put too much emphasis on the good praise, you rely on that for your dopamine and the moment you reach a dry spell or not as much praise and you expected you’ll be unable yo make your own dopamine. That’s why I just chill and do whatever makes me feel good regardless of what attention comes my way. 

How do you balance expressing your personal experiences and emotions through your music while also connecting with a wider audience

- I just channel and write what helps me understand myself and my feelings, if people like it, that’s a bonus, but I do it for myself first. It’s the only way. Otherwise you’re chasing 10000s of different audiences because we are all so different, we’re not going to love everything so make sure you love what you’re doing first. 


3 values that guide your life 

- Choosing kindness

- Resting without guilt or shame 

- And trusting my intuition 

Tips for finding your creativity on a tough day 

Don’t force it just flow, make yourself a nice snack and do something that you enjoy. If you can’t find something creative to do, celebrate the fact that you are creation itself and love on yourself. The flow will come when it’s meant to. 

Favorite song/music to wake up to

At the moment it’s algo contigo by Rita payes and Elisabeth roma 

'The Open-Hearted' album will be released on June 23, 2023.

Elkka's DJ-Kicks Mix Takes Listeners on a Colorful Journey Through Dance Music

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Elkka is a Cardiff-born DJ and producer based in London. She has released music on labels such as Technicolour, Ninja Tune, and her own label and party femme culture. In 2021, Elkka was awarded BBC's Essential Mix of the Year, showcasing her blend of classic house, breakbeat, and experimental electronica.

Elkka's music is inspired by her deep intuition and communicates feelings that are difficult to put into words. She champions the LGBTQ+ community and women in her music and believes in self-acceptance and community building. She is the next curator of DJ-Kicks - a mix that takes listeners on an intoxicating journey through Chicago house, disco, leftfield techno, and UK bass. Her mix, out this Wednesday, April 26 via K7 records, is a celebration of everything she loves and is a brightly-hued universe for listeners to get lost in."

Watch our Q&A with Elkka across our socials or below for more insights into her music.

Celebrating Iranian Artistry

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At shesaid.so, we are committed to providing a platform for individuals of different cultures and backgrounds in music to share their stories, experiences, and perspectives and to inspire and encourage others. shesaid.so stands in solidarity with the Iranian people in their fight for freedom, justice, and equality and want to use our community to continue spreading awareness of the current revolution in Iran. We hope to do this by shining a light on Iranian talent from our community and by sharing resources via organizations that are actively working to support human rights in Iran.

Maryam Mirbagheri

Maryam Mirbagheri, aka “Maryama”, is an award-winning Iranian American composer/performer/music producer currently residing in Los Angeles, California.

In recent years, Maryama has worked with well-known figures such as Deborah Lavine and Michaell Skloff and has risen to prominence by scoring the music for the short dramatic thriller Forbidden and The Gift, directed by notable Iranian Director Farbod Ardebili.

Her work has earned her much recognition; Her 2014 single In Zendegist and 2017 single Sufi were both nominated for a Hollywood Music Media Award, and she has won the Jazz Downbeat Award with ARC vocal jazz ensemble. Her 2017 debut album, Where the Mermaids Are (mixed and mastered by GRAMMY award-winning producers Marc Urselli and Scott Hull), won the California Video Music Award in 2018.

Mirbagheri is working with Universal Music Group and is a proud member of shesaid.so and She Is The Music.

Visit her official website HERE to learn more and to listen to Maryam Mirbagheri's works.

Obscenity State

Nilly Brook, known as Obscenity State, is an up-and-coming artist, musician, and producer who mesmerizes listeners with her innovative mix of electronica, grand sound design, melodious compositions, and entrancing dance beats. Born into a family fractured by the Iranian revolution, Nilly became highly conscious of the various forms of power abuse. In her quest for understanding, she studied art, global politics, animation, and music at Central Saint Martins, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and the London College of Music. This educational journey, combined with her own experiences, led to the creation of Obscenity State's captivating live audio-visual show, featuring abstract and subversive animations and the grandeur of light to engage and transport the audience into her unique world.

Nilly announced a brand new release with the arrival of her debut single 'Moke Lake', lifted from her debut EP due in January 2023.

"This is an energetic electronic dance track, explores self-discovery through the merging of sound and vision. The cascading melodic synthesis, expansive sound design and psychedelic, overlapping sequences hypnotically immerse you into my alternative world. Weaving throughout are the evocative chants of a Persian Avaz master, a female performer prohibited from singing in public since the revolution of ’79. Of Iranian heritage myself, stemming from a persecuted minority, I have built a digital world to reflect my sense of isolation and driving determination to confront revolutions past and present through the exploration of new identities."

Find out more about Obscenity State on her website.

Tania Atyabi

Photo credit: Graham Hudson.

Tania is a DJ, model and digital marketer. She’s a regular on the London club circuit, UK festivals, and radio shows and has plenty of future projects in the works, including creating original music in her home studio. Tania is proficient in Farsi and usually travels to Iran yearly, but the pandemic and consequent civil unrest have hindered her from doing so for a while. Still, she has kept in contact with her family in Iran, who have been informing her of the hardships they have to deal with on a daily basis.

"Throughout my life, I have seen the impact of oppression against women first-hand, as most of my family out there are women. The basic freedoms that we take for granted on a daily basis are little to none in their lives, and there are generations of people who have never experienced any difference, as it's been four decades since the regime has had control over the country.

I believe we may, at last, be on the cusp of a revolution which is exciting but also extremely worrying. I think it's a critically important time for people outside of Iran to unite and show our support for not only women but also the LGBTQ+ community in Iran, who continue to suffer at the hands of the patriarchal regime. One of my DJ mixes (Eggs of Asia on AAJA Radio) is a show dedicated to Iranian people; please check that out as the second half of the show presents a beautiful curation of music produced by Iranian women and non-binary people." Tania Atyabi

Find Tania on Soundcloud and Instagram

SHIVARASA

Iranian-American producer, DJ, and sound healer Shivarasa (formerly known as Shiva) has been bridging the underground to the mainstream effortlessly, establishing a solid presence in a male-dominated industry. She infuses elements of global bass, electronic, Middle Eastern music, hip hop and ambient soundscapes into her work. 

Shivarasa has performed alongside some of the biggest names in the music world, including CeeLo Green, Nas and Damien Marley, Cypress Hill, and Snoop Dogg as well as for spiritual teachers such as Abraham Hicks, Panache Desai, Michael Beckwith, The Agape International Spiritual Center, Kyle Cease, Peter Diamandis, and XPRIZE.

Inspired by her own wellness journey and passion for personal evolution, Shiva has given birth to RETURN TO SOUND, a meditative bass experience. Bringing meditation music into a new era with bass as a backbone, Shiva takes you on a fully immersive sonic journey that inspires deep relaxation, trance states, and an opportunity to observe within. You can find out more about her work HERE.

Iran: Critical Situation

At shesaid.so we believe it is essential to give a platform to marginalized communities and to those fighting for their rights. We want to use our community to continue spreading awareness of the current revolution in Iran. We hope to do this by shining a light on Iranian talent from our community and by sharing resources via organizations that are actively working to support human rights in Iran.

In September 2022, Mahsa Jina Amini, a Kurdish/Iranian woman, was arrested by Iran’s morality police for her alleged noncompliance with the country’s Islamic dress code. Three days later, she died in police custody. Amini’s death sparked widespread protests over the last few months.

Thousands have been detained throughout the country for joining peaceful protests. At least six people connected to the protests have been sentenced to death on charges of moharebeh or “waging war against God”, or efsad-e fel-arz or “corruption on earth”. At the same time, a growing number of people, including Iranian celebrities and sports people who have expressed support for the protests, have been summoned or arrested.

"The rising number of deaths from protests in Iran, including those of two children at the weekend, and the hardening of the response by security forces, underline the critical situation in the country. We urge the authorities to address people’s demands for equality, dignity and rights – instead of using unnecessary or disproportionate force to suppress the protests. The lack of accountability for gross human rights violations in Iran remains persistent and is contributing to the growing grievances."

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk

Source: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2022/11/iran-critical-situation

To support the people of Iran:

Donate to The Centre for Human Rights in Iran; an independent, not-for-profit organisation made up of researchers, activists and journalists: https://iranhumanrights.org/what_we_do/

Donate to The Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre for Human Rights in Iran, a platform for victims of human rights violations. Find out more:

https://www.iranrights.org/donate

Check more resources at https://mideastmatters.carrd.co/

Artist Spotlight: PortraitXO

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The shesaid.so Artist Spotlight is a monthly series where we highlight new artists from our global community that you should keep an eye on. If you’re interested in submitting yourself or your artist please contact us at hello@shesaid.so

Photo Credit Dan Gorelick

Rania, aka, PortraitXO, is a singer-songwriter, and visual artist, most known for her hybrid music and installation art. In December 2019, she was awarded the AI Mozart prize at Beats & Bits – the world’s first Artificial Intelligence music competition, and in March 2020 she had an artist residency with Sonar+D x Factory Berlin. This year she releases her debut AI album ‘Wire’ from NFT to vinyl on December 9th after premiering it at SXSW as an official artist. As well as all this, Portrait XO plays an active role in many communities, and is the creative director of SOUND OBSESSED, a hybrid arts community working at the intersection of art, sound, science and emerging technologies. We were lucky enough to have Portrait XO perform at our shesaid.so space (in partnership with ZORA) during Amsterdam Dance Event, and wanted to share some of her insights with you. 

shesaid.so: Tell us more about your artist journey and how your sound has developed to where it is today? 

My musical journey started from a young age when I learned classical piano and violin from 4-15 years old playing in recitals,  orchestras, and conservatories in LA.  I decided to stop when my piano instructor wanted to start preparing me for Juilliard and increase classes & practice hours per week.  I never felt called to pursue a career as a classical pianist.  At around 6 yrs old I fell in love with jazz one day when I was with my mom walking past a restaurant and an old lady was playing jazz piano.  My mom never allowed me to learn what I wanted because she was so strict about me learning classical music.  Since then, my relationship with music has been complicated.  It took me a while to figure my own journey from learning how to write and produce my own music to eventually taking vocal lessons.  I consider myself a late bloomer with my artistic journey because I never felt fully satisfied just expressing through music.  In school, I excelled at creative writing, drawing, painting, and music.  Because I didn’t have any role models to guide me, I tried my best to use my intuition to guide my decisions of what I wanted to do in life. Bjork and Radiohead were such big inspirations for me and they set the bar so high in my head that I wished to one day be able to express myself as fully as they do.  I used to do behind the scenes work in the music industry to get a feel for how everything worked from being a session musician to teaching private piano lessons and co-producing and co-writing with other music producers and artists.  Now looking back, I was desperate to break free from form all throughout my youth.  I got jaded pretty quickly from the pop music industry in LA from the way I was treated back then and never felt connected as deeply to the music I was hearing and writing until I discovered trip hop in the 90’s.  I became obsessed with UK music and moved to London from 2006-2015.  It was the most expensive decision I ever made but was worth everything because it was such an eye-opener for me and I grew so much more in ways I never would’ve otherwise.  Not through school, not through my peers or other influences around me.  I grew not just artistically but I learned a lot more about myself and my identity crises I didn’t know I was having while deprogramming how I was socially conditioned that was toxic while perceiving my past from the other side of the world. 

PortraitXO

The dissonance and hardship I felt growing up in E. LA from the systemic racism to generational trauma that is so deeply rooted in the entertainment industry became crystal clear after I moved away.  It’s not to say that I didn’t like any of the music I heard growing up in LA, I just felt a deeper pull to the UK because I fell in love with electronic music production that moved me so deeply.  I became obsessed with hunting for sounds I’ve never heard. 

The darker and quirkier the sounds were, I felt parts of me releasing through sound – traumatic parts of my past that were trying to seek catharsis for healing.  I never knew music could do that.  And it’s such a paradox, how music can be so healing and powerful at the same time, the artistic journey can be so challenging sometimes.  Making music and sound is such an intricate journey for me.  The more complex my feelings are that I want to articulate, the longer I have to take sometimes to play with sounds until I feel they align with whatever it is I’m trying to express.  Whatever I can’t articulate with words or imagery, I turn to sound.  Music helps me communicate what can’t be spoken, written, or drawn, but felt only through sound.  

I hit a creative depression at some point because I wasn’t happy with anything I was creating while living back in LA between 2015-2018.  I was always into looking for new tools and instruments for inspiration to help me break out of ruts.  Around 2015, I met CJ Carr (½ of Dadabots) and since then my life has never been the same.  He was knee deep in his AI for music research and started talking to me about the future of AI and music.  It was so abstract to me at the time, I couldn’t imagine what anything AI generated could sound like.  I was in LA from 2015-2018 before I moved to Berlin and for 1 yr I decided to write as much as I could.  I wrote over 200 songs in a year and was happy with maybe 5% of it.  When CJ and I collaborated during our artist residency at Factory Berlin x Sonar+D from 2019-2020, we decided to use 1 hr of my recorded vocals as the training dataset for our first AI audio experiment.  I handpicked recordings of my singing from unreleased music I liked and whatever I had released up to that point.  In 2 ½ days, CJ trained this recording of my voice into his custom AI SampleRNN model and generated 10 hours of new audio for me to play with.  I had no idea what to expect and allowed myself to surrender completely to these strange outputs that led to discovering a process I fell in love we call ‘neural vocal duet’ – a co-creation of writing lyrics and melodies with my AI ‘other’ voice.  This is what gave birth to my AI audiovisual album ‘WIRE’ that is releasing this December.  It was originally supposed to release in 2020 but after the pandemic hit, I lost energy and decided to pause everything.  I got introduced to Thomas Haferlach who started pollinations.ai and ended up spending most of my lockdowns experimenting with these exciting new open source AI models that helped me create all the visuals I now perform live with, and music videos that will be releasing soon.  My obsession with human-machine collaboration that started from being a music gear junkie from instruments to plugins has grown even deeper with the unlimited potential of AI tools opening new forms of expression.  While I don’t feel like I need AI to be a better artist or producer, I always love discovering new tools that push my boundaries and enhance the way I craft my work.  It’s important that I keep evolving and continue trying new approaches to stay inspired and allow curiosity to lead me to new places I never imagined.  

shesaid.so: When did you start connecting visuals to your music?  

I’ve always been inspired by visuals in some way.  Sometimes while I write music, I write to a scene in my head, or a movie that has a soundtrack or theme I love.  And these scenes are based on personal stories of me and people I’ve encountered who left emotional experiences that trigger me to write about them.  My artist name is actually derived from finding my creative process similar to a portrait painter.  As painters use a canvas, paint, and brush to make a portrait of their subject, it’s the same way I approach songwriting and music making.  When I have finished pieces of music, I immediately need to have visuals that match the music to help complete the storytelling.  I’m also pretty introverted onstage as I am offstage and fell in and out of love with performing because I never enjoyed having bright spotlights on my face onstage.  Since I started performing with visuals, I’ve fallen back in love with performing again.  Visuals to me are just as important as the music.  And I really need the visuals to enhance the music, if they don’t match I don’t feel satisfied.  I want my art and music to be the focus of my performances and give people immersive concerts where they can experience what feels like a journey of many movements.  

shesaid.so: Why did you make the decision to move to Berlin, and how have you found living and creating from there?

I have a tendency to fall in love with people’s stories I admire.  I love David Bowie’s legacy as a creator who was so immersed in expressing himself in so many ways.  I remember falling even more in love with his artistic journey when I went to his exhibition at V&A in London.  The way he expressed himself through fashion, acting, and music was so inspiring.  His period living in Berlin was really intriguing.   I also loved the collaboration he did with Ty Roberts who created the software for Bowie to randomize new words called ‘Verbasizer’.  After I moved out of London, I was interested in Berlin and a small handful of my friends who already lived here convinced me to move.  It was an easy decision for me because 2015-2018 in LA was my second shot of testing myself to see if I can imagine living there again and I felt more drawn to Europe’s way of living and socializing that make me feel more connected.  I also need to be in places that help me feel creatively inspired.  I love that in Berlin no one cares who you are or what you’ve done or been in the past.  You can find the most avant-garde art experiments to higher end produced work and I love experiencing it all.  There’s no paparazzi culture in Europe that influences the way people create their art and music.  There’s way less focus on commercial success which I think is a crucial headspace to be in to create authentically.  I love the public discourse in Europe about art in general, how much is considered in the process of creating.  

AI Self-Portrait

shesaid.so: What do you think are some of the misconceptions people may have about Web3 and creativity? 

I think a lot of people feel put off by ‘crypto bros’ and see NFTs and web 3.0 stuff as temporary hype that’s dying out.  Also because there’s a type of large scale generative art that happened in the first big wave of NFTs that made people associate NFTs not as ‘real art’ but more as visual symbols to be part of this crypto art movement and communities.  There’s still some negative feelings being thrown at people doing any kind of creative work on chain.  I mean, it’s all just software that functions differently to ‘web 2.0’ because the fundamental basis of the technology makes everything transparent, shared, and visible.  All these tools on chain open a lot of interesting questions which aren't really yes or no to do anything in Web 3.0, but in what context does it make sense to do things on chain that we can’t do in Web 2.0.  Like social media I think makes so much sense to be decentralised e.g. LensProtocol.  I love what arpeggi.io is doing - a DAW in Web 3.0 which opens an interesting new way to share stems, create, and share music.  I get triggered when anyone refers to me as a ‘NFT artist’ or ‘Web 3.0’ artist. 

Technology doesn’t define me, I use a lot of different tools for creation from piano, painting, to synths, 3D art, and AI.  It’s so weird that we even have this terminology ‘NFT artist’.  When we started transacting using paypal to buy and sell goods, if you were doing this with art, we never called ourselves ‘paypal artist’ so it’s weird to me.  Like if I was to make music primarily with synths, I’d never call myself a ‘synth artist’.  I’m an artist who makes music and art with a lot of different mediums.

As for Web 3.0, I’m enjoying experimenting and exploring what we can do with new tools that are opening up.  I love going to hackathons and having conversations with people in cryptography to better understand the limitations and possibilities of new technology.  I teamed up with someone new at ETHBerlin recently and won a little award from one of the sponsors - LensProtocol.  We’re about to kick off a little game there soon.  I love learning about emerging technologies as they happen, it’s inspiring to witness and be involved in early experiments because continuous experimentation is what keeps me inspired to create in new ways.  I never want to be pigeonholed or feel boxed into any set ways of creating.  I think it’s good to stay curious and keep our brains active.  

Portrait XO and Richie Hawtin at the ADE 2022 shesaid.so official space

As part of Refraction Festival DAO, SOUND OBSESSED received some grant funding to build a sonic innovation archive which I’m excited about.  We’ve been working with a developer and will be launching the first collection on November 18th using ZORA.  This archive will feature innovative works in and for sound featuring sound artists, musicians, scientists, and robotics engineers.  I’m really excited about creating a new space that will celebrate these exciting movements at this intersection of art, music, science, and technology.  What started as my personal collection of the most inspiring people I’ve met throughout my journey, I’m excited that there will be a home now where I hope will serve to be a way to celebrate the painful and inspiring process of innovation, and also involve more people to be part of the journey to learn about interesting alternative ways to create.  I hope this to be the beginning of what will eventually become a book and expand to involve more people I have yet to meet.  There will be 2 parts of this sonic innovation archive that celebrates the innovators who build new tools, and the validators who create with these new tools and/or integrate them with other tools/their workflow in interesting ways.  

shesaid.so: For musicians interested in collaborating with AI, whether for visuals or sound, are there some tools which you could recommend for them getting started, which are fairly accessible?

Yes, I have 2 published documents on my website https://portraitxo.space/AI-Song-Contest-2021 and https://portraitxo.space/EXPRESS-MINE that feature my workflow, links to tools, and audio examples people are free to download and use however they’d like.  I just ask people to share how they integrate any of my material cause I’m always curious if they do get used and how.  There’s also Dubler by Vochlea that has a smart AI calibration system that allows your voice to be calibrated to their software allowing you to compose from your voice straight to MIDI real-time that works really well.  There’s an amazing new real-time AI audio synthesis plugin for Ableton my friend Moisés Horta Valenzuela created that is releasing soon that’s been really fun.  I’m really into creating instruments from my own datasets so if anyone wants to try a similar approach, the 2 links I provided is how I first experimented creating my own instruments without knowing how to code and using google colab notebooks.  A few months ago, google released a DDSP-VST that now allows people to create their own instrument and do real-time tone transfer with a plugin: https://magenta.tensorflow.org/ddsp-vst.  Examples: https://sites.research.google/tonetransfer.  I haven’t played with a lot of the MIDI related AI stuff mainly because I love working with raw audio.  I love the glitches and morphing that happens.  

shesaid.so: Who are some of the creatives inspiring you at the moment?

Bjork continues to be an inspiration, the level of details that goes into everything she does from what she wears to how she writes and performs.  I just love how she builds entire worlds around her music.  I also love James Blake, FKA Twigs, Joy Orbison, Max Cooper, Floating Points, and have been listening to Jon Hopkins and Aphex Twin a lot again recently.  

shesaid.so: Your work really brings together the worlds of art and technology. Did you always have a brain that was drawn to science and creativity, or has one come more naturally to you?

Photo Credit Factory Berlin

I wasn’t good at all science classes, but somehow I excelled in physiology.  When it came to drawing internal and external human anatomy, I always created really detailed drawings and I was able to hold everything I learned because it was all so fascinating.  I couldn’t get my head around chemistry because it was just too abstract for me.  But the way our human bodies work is so interesting.  I think if I didn’t do music, I would’ve pursued physiology or neuroscience.  My music artist friend Simonne Jones who happens to have a scientific background phrased it once so elegantly, ‘science is art, and art is science’.  I wasn’t always so scientific as a music artist, but the more I became involved and interested in science, the better it helped me create sonically and visually.  I’ve found that the better I understand how things work (the science of how everything works), I can break everything down and get really granular.  I think I’ve become more detailed with how I work because understanding how scientists work with doubt has helped me approach doubt and my own processes in helpful ways that pull me out of getting into existential crises when I feel a creative block like most artists do.  I’m constantly on a search to discover where humanity lies between art and technology.  Scientific methods help me with my ongoing research in different fields of interest, art helps me translate new discoveries, and technology helps me create experiences that translate science into art.  Music is the glue that binds everything and translates emotions and unexplainable aspects of life.  And when you break everything down to its core, everything has a frequency - colors, sounds, flavors, smells, feelings, thoughts, energies, temperature, and even our memories - frequencies beyond sound.

shesaid.so: We’re nearing the end of 2022 which has been a busy year for you! What are you excited about bringing to life next year?

I’m excited about new projects for next year, a lot of new collaborations have been building and forming this year.  I’m looking forward to spending this winter creating new work inspired by everything I’ve soaked up from this year.  It’s been so intense to go from 0 to 1000 but I’ve loved it all so much.  It’s been such an isolating few years for me so connecting with people IRL has brought me back to life.  I can’t wait to release new work next year and would like to tour more.  New things I want to create keep getting added to my ever growing to do list, but I’m really excited I get to collaborate with some really amazing artists and scientists that will be releasing/launching next year.  

shesaid.so: shesaid.so is a community guided by intersectionality. In your opinion, how could the music industry do better in terms of inclusivity? 

Mindfulness and staying curious instead of assuming would be a great place to start all conversations.  Educating each other about the challenges of being part of the industry and helping each other grow in ways that’s emotionally supportive is something I wish I had when I was figuring things out.  I have my own set of traumas from the industry and I stepped away from the music industry for a while to heal and build myself up again.  Having open spaces that allow hardships to be expressed and feel heard and supported is a really great thing to have.  I hope these types of activations continue to be present at events and festivals to be openly talked about.  Having public discourse about really difficult topics is a great way to let people know that they aren’t alone. 

shesaid.so: How have communities played a role in your development as an artist?

While I never felt like I was part of any big community, I have a small pool of people that are like family to me.  I don’t know where I’d be without them and they are my community.  I have ADHD and am constantly working nonstop.  Sometimes I don’t know when or how to stop taking on new work, especially if they’re really exciting and fun.  Because I take on a lot of work, I don’t have a lot of time to spend with a large amount of people on a regular basis.  I divide my time working alone intensely, collaborating with other artists/producers, or on the road at events/festivals.  I have a small community of artists, mentors, and friends who are my backbone to get through really difficult times.  I try my best to give back to communities in whatever ways I can when I have time for it because I think accessibility to new tools is important, especially to groups of communities that would even know about how to access new tools when they emerge.    

shesaid.so: what do you think are the successful ingredients to build a strong community? 

Being able to hold space for each other in times of need.  Being able to feel seen, heard, and supported.  Having shared values.  Manifesto and code of conduct that everyone respects e.g. no homophobia, no sexism, etc.  

Portrait XO at SXSW 2022

shesaid.so: And finally, could you share a few bullet-point top tips for artists just starting out? What would you have loved to hear?

You don’t need the validation of everyone.  Find someone who can be your mentor to guide parts of your journey.  Not everyone will look after your best interest so build a strong community even if it’s just a small number of like-minded friends who are also aiming for similar goals and support each other.  Create goals not plans because plans will always change and learn how to reward every effort instead of seeking gratification from awards, prizes, fame, and anything that’s out of your control.  Filter out opinions because everyone has an opinion.  Be selective with who you ask for constructive feedback when you need it, and ask for it from the right people that are relevant to what you feel will help you.  Getting constructive feedback is very different to asking a random person if they like your work or not.  It’s more valuable to get feedback that’s helpful from someone who is more experienced at what you want to achieve to understand what you can improve/better, and what you’re doing really well in.  But even more experienced people are often times changing and evolving.  It’s a long journey, so staying focused on processes that keep you excited is crucial. 

Journal every part of your journey and celebrate every time you grow and expand and make growth your prime way to feel fulfilled.  If you don’t feel like you’re growing, ask why, and get really granular with understanding what you need help with to move forward.  Journaling is not only the best form of therapy, but it’ll help keep track of your own progress so you can mentally reward your efforts. 

When you do what you love consistently and keep sharing, things do happen over time.  But when the time to go happens, I don’t think anything can really prepare you for the extreme propelling movements that can be really overwhelming.  So having supportive people and mental work like meditating and journaling can help feel grounded when things feel shaky.  The higher the exciting times can lead to feeling really ungrounded after with massive comedowns.  Sit in testing times to feel the ground and breathe, stay in the mental state of gratitude for all the challenges and ask what are the lessons from them.  Accept that what works for you now will and most likely change; continuously evolving and changing is exciting.  And the timeline of when and how things take shape is unpredictable, so learning how to be patient is also vital.  When there are moments of frustration because something isn’t working out the way you thought you wanted, surrender your thoughts into writing and let it all go.  There are always new opportunities and life does support your dreams, just not the way you ever imagined or expect them to happen.  

Check out Portrait XO’s NFT to Vinyl campaign here:

https://marketplace.twlvxtwlv.com/campaign/PortraitXO

Official promo video for Portrait XO’s NFT to Vinyl campaign

Stay up to date with PortraitXO through her social handles, bandcamp and via the following discord channels:

www.portraitxo.space

instagram.com/portraitxo

twitter.com/portraitxo

Artist Spotlight: Sisters of Sound

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The shesaid.so Artist Spotlight is a monthly series where we highlight new artists from our global community that you should keep an eye on. If you’re interested in submtting yourself or your artist please contact us at hello@shesaid.so

LA-based duo Maddy and Tottie, aka ‘Sisters of Sound’ are both artists and champions of other artists. Having met in 2018, following independent moves to LA from London and Barcelona, the pair connected over a love of music and saw opportunities to highlight the international influences within the underground electronic scene. What began as a radio show on DUBLAB and Worldwide FM quickly expanded into a record label and through the curation of that sound, also inspired their own productions. Here they share their journey with shesaid.so and how they’re prepping for their upcoming show at Primavera Sound LA. 

Sisters of Sound

shesaid.so: Tell us more about your artist journey and how your sound has developed to where it is today? 

We both met in 2018 having  moved to Los Angeles from London and Barcelona respectively, and instantly bonded over a shared love of esoteric music having originally come from similar circles – raving in parallel for many years but never meeting. We started to play together for pleasure as we were both still exploring the LA underground music scene and getting to know the city. Regular DJ sets evolved into our DUBLAB & Worldwide FM shows, where the emphasis originally was highlighting the international influence of the Los Angeles underground scene. In 2020 we started the label - SOS Music - focused on championing female and gender minority electronic talent. 

DUBLAB really gave us space to share our love of music, online radio was and still is a very important beginning for SOS Music. We will forever be grateful to the station for having us grace the airwaves and bringing us into the community. An important reason for us starting SOS Music was that we wanted to see and hear more from artists like us – just starting out, navigating what was and still is a heavily unbalanced industry. 

shesaid.so: How do your individual tastes compliment and play off each other when you’re collaborating?

Both of us love to dig, so we often introduce each other to new and undiscovered gems, from all corners of the globe. Our day jobs also heavily influence us musically, both being embedded in dance music - (Tottie is at Resident Advisor and Maddy is A&R for Ninja Tune), so A&R inevitably plays a large part as we are constantly looking for new talent to sign to the label and to feature on our radio shows. Our tastes are constantly evolving, but generally what led to our friendship was a shared love of diverse, electronic music - mostly from new and underground talent. As the label has a strong focus on championing emerging female and gender minority electronic talent, so a lot of our sets lean towards that naturally as we’re surrounded by so many great artists. 

We like to straddle genres, something our Worldwide FM residency has really encouraged, but generally always bring it back to more of a dance floor focus.

shesaid.so: Sisters of Sound begun as a radio show and event series. What was the inspiration behind releasing your first bandcamp compilation?

SOS was originally started as a means to give back to the community during the pandemic - we wanted to support the community we’ve grown up in and showcase in a time when so many artists’ livelihoods were impacted by the lack of live. But it’s also about curation - SOS is, in some ways, a rebellion to an artform increasingly dictated by algorithms and playlists – a return to curation in its purest form. We give our artists absolute creative freedom when they deliver music to us. Both our careers have been narrated by an acute awareness of so many external factors in music, and it felt good to strip it back. We really want this platform to be a go-to place for discovery, highlighting the unknown and ultimately surprising listeners.

shesaid.so: You’re British born, but L.A. based. How have you found your location has influenced you creatively (if at all!)?

The LA underground electronic scene is very different to that which we grew up in musically, so we think in some way it inspired both of us to be more proactive creatively as we felt there was room for musicians and curators like us here, doing something different. We wanted to bring something new to a relatively small scene and became inspired by the DIY nature of clubbing in this city. LA’s scene Is very unique and has made us very aware of the difficulties promoters face here. We love being part of the nightlife ecosystem and supporting it. 

shesaid.so: Was it an easy decision for you to focus on female and gender minority art, in your curation?

It felt necessary - something we were always destined to play a part in. Our whole careers have been narrated by an acute awareness of male dominance, honestly. The label and community we are building is being developed as a long standing counter to that – we aren’t trying to do anything zeitgeisty here – it’s important to us that what we’re building isn’t a flash in the pan moment surrounding inequality. SOS Music is here to release music from the artists we love, but we also try to offer our artists support, connections, resources, whatever we can within our means.

We were both members of shesaid.so before we met, and saw how Andreea Magdalina had founded this incredible platform for women and gender minorities working in all different facets of the music industry and it was just so inspiring to see people wanting to help and support one another. Contagious in fact – and both of us wanted to put that into our own practise. Both of us through our work, were seeing so many amazing female producers both here in the US and internationally go totally unnoticed and we wanted to change that.

shesaid.so: Do you feel constantly inspired, or do you have certain practices you use to inspire yourselves? 

One of the beautiful things about SOS, is that it I (Maddy) have been inspired to make music again. I’ve been focused on other artists’ careers for so long through my work in A&R, mainly making edits and producing in my bedroom on days off; this project flipped that, making me want to contribute to the incredible projects we’re curating.’

For me (Lottie) it’s definitely about making time to go out, and absorbing different dance floor experiences, seeing others play and how they take dancers on journeys that's a really important part of my practise as an artist and helps me continue to be inspired. I also listen to A LOT of music, mixes, promos and of course getting out there in the records stores and digging.

Sisters of Sound

shesaid.so: You’re playing Primavera sound LA! How are you approaching your set? 

We generally both have points or tracks we want to get to in the set, and we have been sharing music and ideas for the past 5 weeks. We are opening the last day of the festival - which is not only an honor but also a particular mood - its day 3, people might be tired - we want to make sure its not too hard but also flows well into the next artists we are setting up the stage for.  We have been playing together for a good few years, and generally we’re aware of each other’s flows and can improvise quite easily as we know each other’s record collections so well, but we also love surprising each other.  It’s generally always fun and high energy during our sets - having fun on the dance floor is something that we both feel strongly about and try to bring to any gig regardless of where it is. 

shesaid.so: What else are you working on which you’re excited about at the moment? 

We’re signing more longer-term projects from some phenomenal new artists, so excited to (slowly) expand the SOS catalogue. 

shesaid.so: shesaid.so is a community guided by intersectionality. In your opinion, how could the music industry do better in terms of inclusivity? 

I (Maddy) do just want to take a moment to celebrate the change in narrative that’s taken place since 2020, and how intersectionality and inclusivity has permeated through so many institutions; media, the work place, releases. I’ve been working in dance music since 2008 and I never thought I would see such a disparity in culture and shift in conversation in my career. It’s obviously incredibly important to focus on the work that needs to be done (everything from more diverse festival line ups to closing the gender wage gap in DJ fees and music execs, and everything in between ), but so often it’s easy to forget that this is a process that is going to be imperfect and take a long time. Obviously this is coming through a lens of indie music who are at the forefront of chance and exclusivity, but I do get a sense that a dialogue is present now in so many areas that it just wasn’t before.

It has been incredibly important for us in developing the narrative of SOS Music, as this project was about elevation and celebration - we are not looking to criticize or call anyone out with the label for doing things imperfectly, or alienate anyone. More just providing a platform for discovery of amazing new art, whilst hopefully doing something to amplify voices of women and gender minority artists in the process.

shesaid.so: And finally, could you share three bullet-point top tips for artists just starting out? What would you have loved to hear?

  • Learning to say no. 

  • Not comparing yourself to anyone, stay in your lane. 

  • Organizing your time to develop yourself. 

  • Reaching out for help, and offer your help in return 

Artist Spotlight: Zanillya

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The shesaid.so Artist Spotlight is a monthly series where we highlight new artists from our global community that you should keep an eye on. If you’re interested in submtting yourself or your artist please contact us at hello@shesaid.so

Amsterdam-based rapper, singer-songwriter and producer Zanillya has been creating since she was walking: “When I create, I let go of any expectations, goals, boundaries and really connect with an inner truth”, she says.

From her recent release: ‘We Are Free’ to writing for other artists, Zanillya talks to shesaid.so about how she finds therapy in creativity and the inner strength of women.

shesaid.so: Tell us more about your artist journey and how your sound has developed to where it is today. 

I’ve been creating for as far as I can remember as I was raised in a musical, creative household. I have always been in love with mixing up genres as I was raised on so many various styles of music. It came naturally to me to switch from one genre to the next. I started really taking my career seriously when my dad passed. At that time, I met Humphrey Dennis, my now long-time partner in music and in life. 

In 2015 I signed my first publishing deal and started to do more collaborations with international producers like Branko (Buraka Som Sistema), Riva Starr, and Leo Justi, among others. The one with Leo landed us a dope sync with the UEFA for their first women's football campaign. This was the start of a lot of dope syncs as well as some ghostwriting/production for other artists and DJs. This is really where I got to develop my voice and craft the sound that you hear today.

Over the years, Humphrey Dennis and I have always created with no set rules. This is how we feel we have come closer to the sound that we envision, which is our own blend of Hip-hop, Dancehall, and RnB but all with a Caribbean touch. We don’t shy away from any genre except metal! And this year, we got more releases coming that will reveal a side of me the world hasn’t heard yet.

shesaid.so: Your debut EP ‘Choose Life’ came out nearly a year ago today. Has your perspective or ambitions changed at all since that moment?

‘Choose life' was a very personal project that I had to make for myself. After my dad passed, a lot of old traumas came bubbling to the surface, and I had to let it out. I was in therapy while making the record, and my only way of understanding myself is through creating. In hindsight, I think it was good to make this record then before moving into the music space I always dreamt of being in. The goal is to still make great music with sensitive subjects and a message but with a more genre-bending pop sound.   

shesaid.so: Are there any particular songs you’ve released that you feel a special attachment to? 

 “Alive” is the last single off my EP “Choose Life ‘and has a very special place in my heart. It speaks on my journey through depression and the suicidal thoughts I suffered from my whole life. We shot the video in Aruba and it was such a healing experience to make the video on the island where my dad was born, which has become my safe space.

“We Are Free” as this song has such a strong message, and I am all about that. Women are the backbone and the heart of this society, and they need to get a lot more credit and respect in the world. I aim to be part of this change in any way that I can. I feel proud that I made a song that can start more conversations regarding women’s rights as we have a long way to go for women to receive equal pay, equal rights, and exclusive control of one’s own body. 

shesaid.so: ‘We Are Free’ is an important statement about women’s response to adversity and injustice. How did you process your emotions to write that song and create something powerful?

When I create, I let go of any expectations, goals, boundaries and really connect with an inner truth. Most of my songs I created first for myself but ‘We Are Free’ was different as I felt I needed to speak on the inequality I saw women facing on the daily. I wanted to create something to uplift girls and women everywhere. Remind them of their strength, grit and ability to persevere in any situation. Women have an incredible inner strength that I think men consciously or unconsciously fear. Not all men but a great deal of them do and therefore try to control us. By remembering this we can take back our power and stand in our beauty and truth. 

shesaid.so: Do you feel constantly inspired, or do you have certain practices you use to inspire yourself? 

To be honest, I’m blessed to have inspiration and creativity overflowing, maybe sometimes to my own detriment. I am a workaholic, and I love what I do so much that I sacrifice other parts of my life to get my ideas out. I try to even that out with my rituals, which have become my medicine. These include working out, journaling and meditating. It’s these practices and rituals that allow me to stay mentally healthy, inspired and loyal to my creativity.

shesaidso: As well as music, what else inspires and energises you? 

I think what energizes me on a deep level is my desire to make my life matter. I come from parents who are first generation immigrants. My dad left Aruba with nothing and came to Europe on a boat when he was just 15 years old. He managed to achieve his dreams and give us a better financial life. I feel deeply inspired by that and feel the obligation to do better. 

Growing up, I didn’t have an easy childhood and was naturally drawn to books and personal development. I have a deep love for learning as that has been my way to empower myself to overcome the challenges I was facing. The need to empower inspires me so much that it trickles down into everything I create. I believe that we can achieve anything when we put our mind to it, and that knowing gives me purpose to create something that can uplift others.

Lastly, a huge part of my energy comes from my workout regime. It's also a huge part of my inspiration as it helps me heal. The body keeps score, and all of us carry our past and traumas stored in us. By working out, I get in touch with myself and get to heal parts of myself as well as building the mental strength I need to grow into my potential. To me, working out is a huge metaphor for life. You can’t fake building muscle; no one can do it for you, it requires focus, hard work and patience, and I believe life is the same. When I can win in the gym, I know I can win in life!

Zanillya

shesaid.so: shesaid.so is a community guided by intersectionality. In your opinion, how could the music industry do better in terms of inclusivity? 

I believe we need more women in power. Also, the industry needs to stop focusing so much on numbers and more on artist development. I think execs need to trust that good music will always prevail and look for artists who have something to say and not only for artists who do well on TikTok.

shesaid.so: Has community played a role in your evolution as a creative?

Definitely. All I have managed to achieve has come from my community. Be it the first programmers that gave me a stage, to all the producers who I’ve worked with in Amsterdam when I started out, to my movement coach who has been with me for years, all the way up to the amazing team, choreographers and dancers that worked with me on my debut video. I am so grateful to have met people who believed in me enough to give me their time and energy, for free at times. Without them, I couldn’t have grown and developed myself. Also, my latest single ‘We Are free’ is released on ‘Curators’ a community-fueled label. 

I am always working so, to be honest I have less of a social community as I haven't invested in one that much. This makes me feel alone at times in my journey and struggles. I deal with mental health issues and do believe that having a social community where you can share and feel safe plays an important role in life. This is something I am working on and know that it takes time and investing.

shesaid.so: And finally, could you share three bullet-point top tips for artists just starting out? What would you have loved to hear?

Take care of your mental health: When we’re young, we tend to run behind every opportunity in fear of missing out, but this can make you burn out. You need to prioritize your self-care and your health and trust that what is for you will come to you at the right time. This mindset will help you be confident in the face of adversity and rejection. Which, in the long run, will benefit your trajectory as an artist as you will be able to differentiate what is for you and what isn’t.  

 Focus on developing your craft: If you don’t know how, ask, collaborate, research, take classes but never give up because you think you can’t be better. No matter your come up, background or age. Becoming great at something takes time, but when you invest and focus on your skills, it will help you have a long-lasting satisfying career.

Stay patient as life is a journey and not a race: This industry is complex, and we humans are complex. Get to know yourself in and out instead of only chasing a dream. When you truly know what you need and love, you will make better decisions. We tend to think we know exactly how our career is supposed to unfold, but sometimes there is another path for you that you’re not seeing because you have blinders on. So remain open and enjoy the ride.

More from Zanillya:

Latest Single

Zanillya on Instagram

https://www.zanillya.com/

 

Artist Spotlight #9: Lau.ra

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Alternative Power List winner, Lau.ra is one of the rising stars of house music. Based in the UK, her dominant basslines and infectious melodies saw her awarded ‘Self Producing Artist of The Year’ by the UK MPG last month (an accolade previously won by Four Tet and Jon Hopkins). Growing up in a small town in the midlands she talks to shesaid.so about finding a home in dance music, juggling parenting, support from the BBC and putting in the graft.

shesaid.so: Tell us more about your artist journey and how your sound has developed to where it is today?

Lau.ra: I’ve been a self-producing artist from day 1 but I entered the music industry making pop music as growing up in a small town in the midlands the only successful women I’d ever seen in the music industry were pop stars so I naturally gravitated towards that world. I was in my mid-twenties before I met other women producers and women in technical roles in the industry. I remember that Mandy Parnell, the mastering engineer in fact, was the first woman I worked with who was successfully dominating and taking up a lot of space in her field. I found that very inspiring. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve realised my home is in dance and electronic music. Feeling supported and celebrated as a self-producing artist in this scene has been a game changer for me. I’m no longer met with confusing looks when I tell people in the industry that it’s me producing all the tunes, instead people are impressed and excited by it. I feel believed, finally! Thank fuck.

shesaid.so: 2022 has been such an exciting year for you so far! What have been your personal highlights?

Lau.ra: Playing Radio 1’s Big Weekend recently was a real buzz and in fact all the BBC radio support that DJs have shown my music this year has been unreal. I started the year DJing at Circoloco at DC-10, Ibiza on New Years Day — the absolute best way to kick off the year. I think that lit a rocket up my ass for the rest of the year ahead. And then just recently I won a UK MPG award for ‘Self Producing Artist of The Year’ — an accolade previously won by Four Tet and Jon Hopkins. To win that award knowing it’s voted for by peers and alongside the absolute best in the UK music industry feels very validating.

shesaid.so: On your Reprezent takeover you spoke about the barriers you faced getting into music production. Could you share how you’ve overcome some of those?

Lau.ra: I’ve just quietly kept on going. Actually not even that quietly most of the time. The beats have gotten bigger and better and I’ve just grafted away. Mastered my craft but still learning all the time. I’ve just put the hours in and surrounded myself with people who absolutely know my truth and story and will speak up if they hear anyone twisting that or making assumptions that aren’t true.

shesaid.so: We have a brilliant, active, parenthood committee. As a parent, are there ways you’d like the music industry to evolve to support parents more?

Lau.ra: Visibility is important and goes a long way to making people feel supported. It’s been refreshing seeing some other women in the scene share their parenting journeys and open up a little more about the challenges that come with young children and a career in music. It’s only very recently (post pandemic?) that I feel people have been talking about this. Up until the past few years it’s still been very taboo or just not done. Or maybe I just wasn’t looking for it? Not sure.

Following Annie Mac, Anna Lunoe, Logic1000 and Jamz Supernova have been very inspiring to me and made me believe that I could do this. More support for self-employed parents in the industry would be great.

One thing that’s become apparent since becoming a mum is that blocks of creative time are going to be very hard to come by during these early years. I barely manage to record an hour’s live mix without being interrupted! Perhaps a fund where parents could use the money to cover childcare costs and book themselves into a residential studio for a week? That would be dreamy. When your babies are small you don’t want to be seperated from them but equally there is a pull to ‘get back to it’ and a need to be creative and keep those juices flowing so you don’t touch out and lose yourself completely. A fund or support that might enable parents to do both these things alongside each other in those early days would be brilliant.

shesaid.so: shesaid.so is a community guided by intersectionality. In your opinion, how could the music industry do better in terms of inclusivity?

Lau.ra: I’m seeing more women and gender minorities coming through and rising the ranks but still very few black people taking up the space they deserve. Both on the artist side but particularly on the technical side and executive roles in the industry. I don’t think I’ve ever had a label or publishing meeting with a black woman sitting on the other side of the table, which is absurd when dance music is black music. House/Techno/Garage/DnB, all of it comes from black culture and creators, we owe everything to the black and queer scenes that the sounds evolved from.

shesaid.so: Has community played a role in your evolution as a creative?

Lau.ra: To some extent. I produce and create most of my music alone or remotely from the artists that I work with and my studio is at my house so I don’t get to experience community in my work environment but it plays a big role in everything else. Artist communities like The FAC and PRSFoundation have been so important to me as I’ve been navigating my way through and carving a career for myself in music. Also Instagram! I have some fans that have followed me from day one, from project to project and grown up with me. Even though we aren’t close IRL there’s a sense of community that’s very supportive knowing some people have chosen to take an interest and stick with you as you’ve been developing and evolving as an artist over the years.

shesaid.so: And finally, could you share three bullet-point top tips for artists just starting out? What would you have loved to hear?

Lau.ra:

“Keep going. If you can afford to ride out the lows and it’s still bringing you joy. Keep going.”

Trust your gut, if it feels too good to be true it usually is. Don’t be afraid to ask stupid questions. A lot of people in the music industry rely on artists not asking the obvious questions. Transparency is everything. A few awkward moments may save you a lot of money/sanity.

Don’t over-promise and under-deliver. It’s frustrating for everyone. Better to be the person that says they’ll have something done in a couple of weeks and deliver it in one rather than be the person everyone needs to chase. This is not always easy or possible, as I’ve discovered since becoming a parent. But it’s always something to aim for!

Keep up to date with Lau.ra via her website and Instagram.

Click here for more information about how to become a shesaid.so member or ally.

Artist Spotlight #8: Miso Extra

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For this month’s artist spotlight, we caught up with English-Japanese artist, Miso Extra off the back of her performance at Brighton, UK’s ‘Great Escape’ festival.

Having released her first single in 2021, Miso Extra has generated lots of buzz around her explorative sound. Following up with the release of her EP ‘Great Taste’ in 2022, she continued to give listeners a reason to believe and go with her into the Misoverse. Here she talks to shesaid.so about her evolution, and things she would have loved to hear when starting out.

shesaidso: Tell us more about your artist journey and how your sound has developed to where it is today?

Miso Extra: It has taken me a long while to give myself permission to embrace my creativity.

Miso Extra has helped me to better channel the thoughts I don’t always have the courage to voice in my day to day life. I personally feel ideas always sound that much better in song.

shesaidso: You showcased your vocal creativity on your Debut EP ‘Great Taste’. Were you always confident using your voice?

Miso Extra: My confidence has ebbed and flowed over the years but with the loving support of friends and family I’ve been finding my feet.

I’m embracing my own unique vocal style and champion that it is my instrument of choice.

shesaidso: You released Great Taste in March? How did that moment feel for you as an artist?

Miso Extra: It was a huge sigh of relief and felt like a step in the right direction for me creatively as I had never originally intended to release the project. Thank goodness I did!

shesaidso: How do you identify collaborators to work with?

Miso Extra: I try to let it happen organically but from the outset I tend to gravitate towards people who seem to have a good vibe about them and that reply to my DM’s aha

shesaid.so: shesaid.so is a community guided by intersectionality. In your opinion, how could the music industry do better in terms of inclusivity?

Miso Extra: There is always progress to be made as that is an infinite process. By trying to make the next day better than the last in any small or big way is always a good start.

shesaid.so: Has community played a role in your evolution as a creative?

Miso Extra: Totally crucial! No one person is responsible for raising me. The good, bad and the divine are what made me who I am today and will continue to help evolve me.

shesaid.so: And finally, could you share three bullet-point top tips for artists just starting out? What would you have loved to hear?

1. No better time than the present

2. Own being you

3. Help is out there you’ve just got to keep seeking the right people

Keep up to date with Miso Extra here and on Instagram

Find out more about how to become a shesaid.so member or Ally.