Music is one of the most important aspects of my life, and this has been true for as long as I can remember.
Music is always there to help me heal, to guide me through life, and give me ample space to grow along the way. Music means a lot to me for many reasons. But throughout the past year, my relationship to music has shifted.
Just before the global pandemic began, I’d committed my entire life to music.
I was attending at least one live music event a week, most often two or three by the time I moved to DC in January, and my dream job was all about music discovery. I had the opportunity to write about and promote artists I believed in and was helping to organize a multi-city summer tour that would highlight several of these up-and-coming artists live.
Then everything changed in an instant and I felt completely lost without live music and an understanding of my place in the industry. Though I’ve always appreciated music in all its forms, my relationship to music transformed drastically in the following months. So did the types of music and mediums I give more of my attention to.
Since music provides endless opportunities to travel through space and time, I’ve been to worlds far beyond my own while I sit at home not having left the same space physically for about a year now. Some of my favorite artists now are based in places I may never visit, and they may never perform where I live. Nonetheless, my roster of musical interests has grown immensely.
As the role music plays in my life continues to change, I look forward to the ways in which this relationship will evolve as time goes on. I’m all about authentic artistry and I’m willing to go wherever to find what my soul needs.
I’m no longer able to define my music preferences by one or some specific genre, and many of the artists I’m sharing here blur the lines as well between hip hop, jazz, soul, funk, R&B, and much more.
I love all kinds of music and I’d like to share some of my favorite finds over the past year with you. I hope the songs below may help you heal as they have done for me, or allow you to press reset at any time.
These songs continuously motivate and inspire me to keep moving forward too. Because that’s all we really can do.
