Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Beau Shaniuk. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Beau, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I’ve been working on a lot of meaningful projects recently, and I’m excited to share that I’ll be releasing my first full-length album in January! However, I’d say the most meaningful project I’ve worked on thus far is my song ‘Message From My Family.’ This song was therapeutic for me, as it gave me the opportunity to call out- and respond to all the horrible, manipulative, transphobic things some of my biological family members said to me before I ultimately cut them out of my life. Essentially, I took a whole bunch of text messages I’ve received from many of my biological family members over the last few years and turned them into a song. Through this project, I really aimed to flip the script — calling out their hatred and then taking power back into my own hands by finally releasing the rage and anger they brought into my life.

Beau, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a pop-rap & RnB artist under the artist name, LadyBoy. Honestly, I’ve been in love with music for as long as I can remember! I’ve been playing piano for about 15 years, guitar for 10, and have been singing for nearly my whole life. A really big part of my identity (and something that inspires most of my artistry) is my queerness. I identify as a transmasculine person, and I’ve been out as my truest and most authentic self for a little over 5 years now!

While I’ve been a musician for a lot of my life, who I am as LadyBoy is much different from where I began. I used to be more of a singer-songwriter kind of artist, and I was told quite often that I had somewhat of a twang in my voice. As a kid, I always knew I wanted to do something special with music, and from the age of 15 through about 19, I auditioned for a variety of singing shows on a few different occasions — The Voice, American Idol, Rising Star, etc. But it felt like no matter how hard tried, nothing ever really “stuck.” Flash forward to about five years ago when I met my incredible partner, Lauren, who changed my entire life for the very best. Lauren was the first person I came out to as trans*, and she was genuinely the most supportive, affirming, and fiercest partner and protector I could have ever hoped for. I’ve been subjected to quite a bit of transphobia over the last 5 years, especially from some of my biological family members — in fact, I’ve actually cut about 95% of them out of my life. Coming out as trans* was a pivotal period of time through which I was finally able to open my eyes to the years of mental and emotional abuse they’d put me through for a lot of my life. At the end of the day, I wasn’t really removing them from my life for their transphobia alone; it was mostly because they just weren’t very good people. Anyway, in the earlier years of our relationship, Lauren introduced me to the wonders of rap, hip-hop, and RnB music. As I listened to more and more of this type of music (and primarily, women & AFAB rappers), I discovered a sense of growth and empowerment that I’d never really experienced before. I lost touch with my musicality for a couple years after starting hormone therapy because my voice changed quite a bit (deepening and vocal chord thickening). This was a really difficult period of time, as music had always been the one thing I’d continuously and unwaveringly felt passionate about. But once I felt ready to give music another try, I decided to completely uproot my previous singer-songwriter self and try something new. I decided I wanted to try performing the genre of music that I’d found so much healing and confidence in for the few years prior.

In October 2023, I opened back up the old recording software my mother gifted me years prior, watched a plethora of YouTube tutorial videos and talked with some friends who I knew made music, and I began producing my own music. Since then, I’ve released 2 EPs, 3 singles, 1 collab song with two other queer artists, and am currently working on my first full-length album!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think one of the biggest ideas driving my creative journey is the concept of limitless existence. Trans* and queer people have been targets of violence, discrimination, and widespread hatred for decades, and while things have definitely gotten better, it’s horrendous that we’re still facing so much physical, spatial, emotional, and legislative violence in 2024. As a trans* person who doesn’t really identify solely with either masculinity or femininity, I’ve increasingly grown tired of the human obsession with placing people into boxes. We are dynamic, learning, growing HUMANS — each and every one of us — and regardless of your gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, ability, or any other identifying factor, I believe we all have the right to exist freely. Furthermore, I believe we all have the right to change! I mean, who really wants to stay the same for their whole life?

With each of my releases, I come up with a tagline that represents the general vibe of the song/release; each one begins with the word “exist.” For example, the concepts of queer desirability and queer confidence are at the core of my very first EP, Kisses. Oftentimes, queer, gender diverse, and other minoritized and historically excluded populations are silenced, pushed to the margins, and forced into spaces of submission. Kisses was all about my journey of breaking out of my shell and expressing the true confidence, power, and vocal intensity that I’ve always had within me. For this release, I set the tagline as, “Exist Loudly,” because for what felt like the first time in my life, I wasn’t holding anything back. It’s through this small branding practice that I hope to help other marginalized individuals feel a little more seen, validated, and supported in being the loudest, most unapologetic versions of themselves — whatever that might look like at any given point in time.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think the most rewarding part of being an artist is the community I’ve been building with other creatives, as well as listeners. For me, music is all about connecting. I know this is SUPER cliché, but I really do believe that music is the universal language. In my opinion, music is one of few things in the world that has the ability to transcend time, space, culture, identities, and I truly do believe in the power that music has to connect people across lines of both similarity and difference. I think one of the most rewarding aspects of being an artist is getting to connect with others, learn from them, and build community under the reminder that at the end of the day, we are literally all just human beings who are trying our best to find happiness. Let’s be honest: it can be REALLY hard to even just exist sometimes. There’s something really beautiful to me about the idea of coexistence, though — the idea that we’re all going about our lives while still sharing in what it truly means to be human… to be vulnerable, to love, to lose, to want, to need, to learn, to grow, and to search for happiness. So in a roundabout way, I think being an artist helps me feel more connected to humanity.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladyboymusicofficial/
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3EyEQIrSwLWmL5WikGao8Q

  Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ladyboy/1732090669

Image Credits

Nicole Shaniuk