We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Samantha June. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Samantha below.

Samantha, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

As a woman in the music industry, people often try to define your brand for you, oftentimes using black or white generalizations to attempt to understand the way you and your art exist in the world. You can either be a sex symbol or a songbird, a hopeless romantic or an eager primadonna. It is harder, in my experience, for a woman to center herself as a multi-faceted person and artist. I got a taste of this when I was working on my debut EP “Hotel June,” a metaphorical concept project about people checking “in and out” of your life and the fears and avoidance that comes with that. Much of the EP centers around a man as the main love interest, comparing the first meeting and infatuation of two people to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. One song on the EP, however, “Jones,” chronicles what I imagine falling in love with a girl for the first time to feel like. It is an innocent and honest, “Ring of Keys” esque inquiry into this magical world I have always wanted to explore. I was told when marketing the EP that I should market it is a “gay” album entirely, branding myself as a lesbian singer with unbridled yearning for women. Although this is not untrue (trust me), it does not begin to cover the whole truth of who I am as an artist and a person: a bisexual woman who loves different people (and genders) in different ways. This suggestion to market the album as a one-size-fits-all all experience seemed to neglect the nuances of the album and also betray my lived experience. Since then, I have tried to lean as much as possible into the authenticity I know and to be loud about the many things I hold at once – in my life and my art. I am romantic, I am nostalgic, I am sexual, I am pure, I am unbridled, I am cautious, I am whole.

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.

I have always believed that I am Hannah Montana. Growing up, I would watch Miley Cyrus wave her blonde wig in the air and could not decipher a single difference between her and the future that was laid out for me. I wasn’t born a nepo baby, but I was born deluded. This delusion carried me to Los Angeles where I attended college and then became serious about the life I wanted to lead – a life where art pulled me forward by the heartstrings and dropped me off (sometimes bruised, always broke) at the intersection of risk and reward. I

My favorite color has always been gold, and this has been both my biggest asset and my greatest downfall. A nostalgic from birth (at age 7 I wished I was 5 again), I have always over-romanticized the tiniest moments, images, smells, and feelings, while also exhibiting a yearning for the past that my friends call poetic and my therapist calls unhealthy. I knew from a young age that this is where my best art would stem from. I wanted to prove to people that evne though nothing gold can stay, it can still be your favorite. You can still love with the certainty of things ending.

I started recording my songs in 2022 and working with a woman producer (named Sam Montana – talk about kismet) where I began to hone my artistry, one step at a time. Above all else, I have always been a writer, and the process of combining the poetry that I had sat on for years and the melodies Sam and I were creating was one of the most rewarding times in my creative journey so far. Out of this time came “Hotel June,” my biggest and most expansive project yet. Perhaps my favorite song on the EP is the title track, a desperate plea to stay checked in and invested in the life I have shared with you. “Don’t check out too soon/And leave my ghost to wait on me” echoes throughout the track, a reminder that “Don’t check out too soon / And leave my ghost to wait on me” loops throughout the song—a reminder that even if endings are inevitable, love is still worth having.

For this track, I finally put my film production degree to good use, creating a music video with some of my best friends. We built a motel room from scratch, a liminal space where my past lingered like a haunted house. In the video, my three ghosts take the form of three lovers (two female, one male), each a piece of my history that I must let go of. but not just yet. If I had to put an overall theme to my art, that would be it – everything gold can stay, if just for one, precious moment. I call it quiet defiance.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My dad is the most important person in my life. A Pisces like myself, I am fully convinced he is an angel on this Earth. He has gotten the Home Depot cashier to spill his entire life story and the front desk receptionist to re-discover her worth. He brings light and love everywhere he goes. I aspire to be like that.

He is also 74 and still working a full time job in healthcare to help support my musical journey. It is my greatest desire of this life to be able to retire him and give back to him the same investment and sacrifice he has poured into me. I currently work three jobs (one full time, two part-time) to support my creative dreams and keep myself afloat while I relentlessly chase what I know is mine.

I am overwhelmed, but I am even more blessed. Blessed to have parents who unapologetically support me in my deepest yearnings, and blessed to have a support system (back home and in LA) of friends turned family who want nothing more than to see me succeed. I find peace by romanticizing the little moments – writing poetry on my laptop, waitressing a particularly nice table, driving during LA rush hour. I will never lose sight of how lucky I am to even have the opportunity to fail at something as fragile and beautiful as this.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had realized sooner the power of cultivating a creative community—one where everyone benefits, everyone learns, and everyone grows together. Last year, I put together an event I called June Jam, a backyard concert, craft fair, and mingling party all wrapped into one. I gathered artists and creatives from across LA, bringing together friends who sold homemade jewelry and vegan pastries, others who ran the makeshift “bar” (a glorified shed out back), and musicians who poured their souls out on stage.

That night, something clicked. I met so many people I might never have crossed paths with otherwise—singer-songwriters who later became collaborators, filmmakers who inspired new ideas, strangers who quickly turned into friends. June Jam showed me what was possible when artists create space for each other in collaboration rather than competition. It showed me that I don’t have to wait for doors to open—I can build my own. And in doing so, I can bring others along with me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6UT8B3iiFSvDbV9YiiUDOD?si=yBLY9uSFRiiJuj4ShmXSXg
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthajunemusic/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthaproctor2
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG2VjRKyP0k
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthajunemusic

Image Credits

Sophie Weil, Lauren Belida, Joshua Andrew Belida