LA Music Review | Art, stories and advice
Smooth and truly powerful!
Hi ShakoyahD, welcome to LA Music Review! Tell us a little bit about you and your music.
ShakoyahD is a singer-songwriter based in Atlanta, GA…
who is looking to change the world with her music. With a multi-genre background in R&B, Gospel, Classical, and Jazz, she is more than your average vocalist.
Through her lyrics and melodic sounds, she is here to remind you of how deep R&B can really take you. She is the latest artist to be signed to Vybbes, an up-and-coming music licensing company.
Start streaming “Is This Love?” here:
Congrats on the release! What was your inspiration when you were writing this project?
Released on September 17, 2022. ShakoyahD. got introspective for us. She recalls that a year ago she was asked a tough question: who is she, really? She had a major realization when someone asked her a simple but oddly equally complex question: “who are you?”
ShakoyahD. started to look beyond her goals for that answer. She remembers well that, “until it was brought to my attention, I had no idea that my answer strayed away from the true question at hand. It was so normal for me to define myself by my accomplishments and aspirations.” And many of us do, but ShakoyahD. was all in on the challenge to look deeper.
What is your vision for this song?
ShakoyahD. realizes, “This was simply how society taught us to introduce ourselves. You lead with your name and follow with your occupation or goal. That moment taught me that the truth of who I am is what is most important.” The Love Game EP is an answer to that question. ShakoyahD. put forth pure art, rife with meaning for her, and will let success naturally follow. She would like other people to get out of the headspace of just beating the level and also make their art just for them.
What is your favorite part of this body of work?
Really, it is the creative expression — still goal-oriented, but with redefined goals. ShakoyahD. hunkered down and created something she could really stand behind, finally understanding that if the goal is to create something with all of you, the finished product will be beautiful. The finished product IS all of ShakoyahD. — the good, bad, beautiful, ugly, lovely, stark, and revealed.
Anything else we should know about it?
ShakoyahD. credits her college days for growing her into a more confident ShakoyahD. Teaching her practical things, like how to record in-studio. ShakoyahD. thrived in a learning environment, especially since she loves to improve, but she had some fears to face post-college, “Unfortunately, I still felt like I wasn’t truly ready to share my gift with the world. I still didn’t feel like I was good enough, but also dreaded the idea of being stuck in a mundane job making the bare minimum for the rest of my life.
In 2019, I quit my job and released my first single, ‘Shakespeare.’” ShakoyahD. had high hopes, which like for many artists didn’t end up matching with reality: “I thought that this release would go viral and catapult me into stardom, but honestly I still wasn’t ready. I wanted to work on my sound, my vocal technique, stamina, and strength.” So, it was back to improvement for ShakoyahD., a process she never really breaks from: “I used this year to travel, figure out what I really wanted in life, started a business, started voice acting, and worked on myself and my mindset.”
