00:00Whatever it is you're presenting to the world, it has to be true.
00:04If you're trying to fabricate something, it's going to fall flat because the intention is lost.
00:10Let's strip away all of these bells and whistles and like what is the center?
00:14I think that the moments that you experience my music or a live show or the art, the design around
00:21the album are reflections of that core and that to me is like so exciting.
00:27My name is Halima. I am a recording artist, songwriter and producer for a living.
00:43I'm working on my debut album called Sweet Tooth. The first single came out. It's called Coco Body and
00:49we're having a release party event for the single in Brooklyn tonight. So just getting ready for that
00:54today. I've never done a show like this before, but I think it's going to be incredible.
01:11Music had been a huge part of my childhood. I grew up in Lagos. It was such a sonically colorful
01:16city.
01:17My uncle used to sing Nigerian gospel songs and he'd play the piano. I'd sit right by him plonking
01:24down on the keys and my grandmother would sit in the corner and just listen to us. I'm the only
01:28person in my family pursuing this career, but their appreciation of music has been the inspiration.
01:37I mainly grew up in London and I hated it actually, for the beginning. Don't come for me. I love
01:42London.
01:42I rep London. But moving from Lagos was really traumatic. As a kid, you're going from sunshine
01:49and being with your grandparents, this kind of euphoria, to this cold rainy city where not as
01:56many people look like you. I remember like having one interaction with a kid and they asked me like
02:02why I spoke the way I spoke and I had a thick Nigerian accent. I was a very outspoken kid
02:06and then
02:07I became really shy when I moved to London. And so honestly, like music was the way that I could
02:12express those feelings. And then when I was nine, there was this summer stage performance. I wrote
02:20this song and I got my friend to sing backing vocals and I got my other friend to play trumpet.
02:25We
02:26performed this original song. After that moment, I was like, okay, I want this feeling all the time.
02:31And it was the fact that we had created something together and then we showcased it and we were
02:38celebrating the whole process that had gone into creating. And so I think that I always have that
02:44feeling celebrating the culmination of the process. There's nothing like it.
02:52I started playing guitar when I was nine. My mum put me in piano lessons, but I was playing all
02:58of these,
02:59you know, traditional like compositions. I was like, I just don't want to play these like old white men
03:03songs. Like, I want to play my music. And I was like, can you get me a guitar? And she
03:08was like,
03:08no, because I got you a keyboard. I saved up all my pocket money and bought myself a very cheap
03:15classical guitar. I was just like playing around and messing around and like, oh, what happens if I
03:20put my finger here? What happens if I put all my fingers down here? Songwriting has always just been
03:25that way for me to process my emotions because I have a lot of thought. There's this channel that
03:31exists, which is like the creative flow state. And you can turn yourself from this like anxious person
03:38to like this vessel and just be releasing. And that is something that I'm so grateful to have always
03:46known since I was a kid. I knew then as a kid, something is speaking. I don't know. I'm tapping
03:52into
03:52this thing. Just letting it come through. People will describe it as a muscle and it's a skill,
03:57but I think it's actually a relationship to that source. And the more that you're in conversation,
04:04the easier it is.
04:06I definitely have a favorite part of the process. Being in the studio, it's like a playground. I love
04:13to pick up a shaker. I love to get the guitar, get the keyboard out and just start messing around
04:19and
04:19figuring out what makes me feel something. What doesn't sound good, but I'm glad that I went there.
04:25I really enjoy the process of draft, scratch, draft, scratch. Ooh, this is something. And now I'm like
04:34locked into the flow. But I had to usher in the state by making something that wasn't that great,
04:40but not being afraid to do that. So I could then allow myself to hear the thing that needs to
04:45be
04:45communicated. That is my favorite part. It really is.
04:51I like to say that my music is genre-full. It's overflowing with genre because I love
04:57so many different styles of music, so much different expression. Music is just the language
05:02of our feeling and our emotion. So whatever translates that is what you should make.
05:10The most challenging thing about being a musician is money. That is not a reason to be a musician.
05:15If you want to make a lot of bank, pick something else. Not to say that you can't, that it's
05:20not
05:20possible. It absolutely is. But you have to want something much deeper than that. And you also have
05:26to be in love with the process. I teach music production. As an adjunct professor, that's about 30k a year.
05:34Last year I played about 12 to 15 shows and made roughly 300 to 700 per show. There's a lot
05:43of passive
05:44income. Some years it's really high and some years it's a bit lower. Anything from like syncs. So that's
05:50like getting the music in film and TV or any ads, your royalties, PRO company. So when you perform,
05:56you also get paid. And that's roughly around 15k a year.
06:02It's actually quite spiritual advocating for yourself in this music industry. As a queer black woman,
06:09I think it requires being very discerning. A lot of willpower and the reminder that you're not even
06:17just doing this for yourself. It's going to reflect on other people who come later who look like you
06:24and can get this opportunity easier than you did. I think it's important to keep one foot in and one
06:31foot out in the industry. And the one foot out is going to be in community. And that keeps you
06:36grounded. That keeps you away from getting swept up in something that really isn't the reason why you're
06:43even here. The project I'm working on right now is called Sweet Tooth. It's my debut album, which is
06:49crazy to think about. It means a lot to me. It means taking up space and evolution into a vision
06:56of
06:57myself. I think I've had, but I've had to let go of the habits that were preventing me from being
07:01that
07:02person. That's what this album really and truly is about. I don't know if there's something that I
07:10want people to know about me specifically. I think that I want people to know me genuinely.
07:18And I don't know how much control I have over that. But what I do have control over is just
07:25being
07:25myself and the rest, you know, comes when it comes. I want people to know my music is honest
07:34and I treat it with a lot of care and I'm very grateful for the people who do the same.
07:41I've been thinking a lot about branding and it's not this marketing hack that you're trying to, you
07:46know, beat the algorithm and you're trying to whatever. It just feels like little breadcrumbs to me.
07:52It's fun and it's playful and that's how it should be. It's just, you know, rooted in you.
08:01So, some career aspirations might look like selling out a world tour. Oh my God.
08:08Performing at Glastonbury. Releasing several critically acclaimed albums. Setting up an
08:15education centre in Lagos. One of my goals is to keep pushing beyond what I think that I can achieve.
08:25Even some of the goals that I've shared. What's a crazier ambition? I think that for a while I
08:31steered away from being ambitious because I thought it was a product of capitalism, which
08:36I'm okay. But I've learned that I like to challenge myself. It's encouraging because it reinforces that
08:43power within yourself that we all have that and we can exercise it and demonstrate how remarkable we can be.
08:51And so, that's a goal that I have for myself. Just keep pushing beyond the limitations that I think exist.
09:01I want to have a unique experience of this life and I think that this path is not written.
09:09Even though it can be terrifying, I feel alive every day. I wake up and I'm grateful that I can
09:14be here
09:15and I can be making this art with the people that I love. So that's what I really like about
09:20being a musician.
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