We were lucky to catch up with Janelle Sy’mone recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Janelle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I learned from watching and listening to amazing entertainers do what they do. I knew I wanted to sing when I heard Anita Baker or Whitney Houston’s voice, and I knew I wanted to electrify the way that Micheal and Janet did. I became a sponge of sorts—soaking it all in. I follow the saying, “You can make a fast nickel or a slow dime.”
Anyone would want success immediately or faster than expected, but this has given me a true lifelong syllabus in what it takes to actually do this and I don’t regret having to figure it out, learn, try, fail and retry again. Time is the greatest of all the teachers and patience and being receptive to learn are becoming my most beneficial skill in the classroom of time.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Well I’m Janelle…I hail from the great city of Atlanta, Ga and I’m a singer, songwriter and creative. I started singing super young and it was always something that I wanted to do, but never something I thought was actually tangible. Being on stage was something I used to daydream about incessantly now it quite amazing to know that those daydreams lead to real opportunities coming true. Strangely enough, I got into the industry by posting a Craigslist ad to start signing with a band. It was all cover songs at first but eventually we started to write our own things and one thing lead to another and as I evolved so did my music and artistic Persona.
I think what sets me apart is just my own individuality and I think that’s the beauty of diversity in the musical landscape that we can be whoever, however .
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
There’s so many things that I had to unlearn, but the most important is not allowing outside validation to become the center of WHY I do what I do. Don’t get me wrong, outward validation feels great and can be encouraging, but I had to unlearn that being overly concerned and overly committed to the opinions and ideas of others will trap you into a passion that will feel like a job,
As I’m creating new music and new ways to express myself the voices that tell you, “This is not good!”, “No one wants to hear that!” , “You should quit!”, those voices get louder and louder and it’s tempting to seek the validation, but I’ve learned to sit there with the voices and turn them into fuel instead of the paralyzing fear.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Yes, of course. I love music so much that I’d love to live in it—to wake up and have all hands, feet, thoughts, and motion dedicated to creating more of it is my goal. Do I also want the money? Yes. Would I love to retire my mother? Yes. Would I love to reinvest in my community? Yes. These are so goals of mine, but affording the luxury of being a creative full time is my goal.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.janellesymone.com
Image Credits
Robert Christopher
Kween Bee