Using music, or any art, as a way of living is not an easy feat, especially when you’re just starting out. Publicly, it doesn’t make sense until you’ve “made it”, whatever that means. Success is subjective, and means different things to different people. To up and coming Soul Singer and lyricist, Akeylah Simone, success is about embracing who you are. And not just some of it, but all of who you are.
Akeylah has been on an incredible run over the past year and a half. She debuted her first single in 2020, which was a hit in the Soul Music community. She then followed up with 2 more, including her politically charged anthem, “Black Is Beautiful”. Now she adds in more of who she is on the hip hop infused track, “Nonchalant Vibes”, and the result is inspiring.
Listen to “Nonchalant Vibes” now:
Stream Nonchalant Vibes https://open.spotify.com/album/7jl9J3xaaDtHM7tFvYOchx?si=z0Y6fODGQeeZI94yhIqdcQ&dl_branch=1
The new song marks a kind of a ‘coming out’ for Akeylah Simone. Anyone that has ever had to hide their true selves, or just a significant part of their being and soul, in order to fit into a more traditional way of living, will be able to relate to this track. This is her statement that she’s not hiding anymore.
Talking about adding hip hop to her repertoire, Akeylah says, “I’ve always had trouble with getting thoughts and ideas in my head down on paper. So songwriting is not an easy task for me. One thing I do to help is writing in different genres. I’ve started to dabble in beat making and the first track I made was a more neo soul version of Nonchalant Vibes.”
She brought the song to her producer, Johnny Terrell, and they created a new version that gave it a trap feel, and the new single was born. Asked if we will hear more hip hop from future releases, Akeylah adds, “I think this is definitely a direction I will have to keep venturing into. It’s very important to me that my catalogue of music jumps a bit, genre wise.”
Stay tuned for more new music and videos coming soon from Akeylah.
For more on Akeylah, visit her site and socials:
https://www.facebook.com/AkeylahSimone
https://x.com/AkeylahSimone