We recently connected with ADREANA and have shared our conversation below.
ADREANA , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
I have to say, there was a moment in my journey where I stated out loud, “I’m completely done with music & I do not want to sing. I only want to write & deal with production.” I knew very much so that was a deflection from not being able to handle the hardships & rejections that came with chasing the dream of music. In reality, I’m much happier, blindly chasing a dream out of pure faith, than I’d ever be resting in the safety of the outcome of never trying. My regular 9-5 job is even attached to my passion for writing & being able to connect through literature. I’ve been a 7th grade ELA teacher for 8 years now. It’s another extremely tedious but fulfilling & rewarding career for me. Since law school seems like completely starting life over, teaching is literally the only other career I’d spend my life doing, outside of entertainment. I’ve inevitably found many ways to mix the two entities. With social media being a huge factor in my music career, & my middle schoolers having so much access to those platforms, moments have definitely been generated for us to bond & connect over the fact that “their teacher is a real-life singer!” It’s a good spot to be in. However, with having two of my own small daughters, it’s important to me to be good representation. Not just for girls, or my particular race, but for whomever is a viewer.
So, with all the many jobs I have; being a mother & wife, a teacher, a singer, they all somehow weld perfectly together to create the artist in me, first. I don’t really look at any of the things I do as a job. Because they’re things I’d simply do, for free, for the rest of my life.
ADREANA , 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?
R&B Pop Artist Adreana, a Shreveport, Louisiana native raised in Mooretown, is a C.E. Byrd High School graduate and Vocal Performance major from Wiley University-Home of the Great Debaters. A proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.’s Alpha lota Chapter, she is a devoted wife, mother of two daughters, and a powerhouse vocalist with an extraordinary range.
DOMINATING THE SOUTHERN REGION WITH HER 2022 EP LUCKY 4 YOU, ADREANA SUCCESSFULLY
TRANSITIONED FROM A RENOWNED COVER ARTIST INTO A SOLIDIFIED R&B SENSATION. KNOWN FOR HER HEARTFELT SONGWRITING,
OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS, ADREANA HAS GRACED STAGES ACROSS THE U.S., BEEN FEATURED IN BLOGS AND MAGAZINES, APPEARED ON BILLBOARDS IN ATLANTA AND LOS ANGELES, AND PARTICIPATED IN NUMEROUS MEDIA INTERVIEWS. HER MUSIC IS AVAILABLE ON ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson I had to unlearn was really two things… One being that “Talent is enough to get me there.” As I started to really work the grooves of trying to be an artist, a solidified industry artist, I got to see firsthand just how much weight talent held in this field. In today’s time, it’s easy to notice talent & who’s good at what & on what level. It’s also been extremely hard to witness the fact that you don’t really need the best talent to be considered the best. Or even be recognized as good or apart of the industry. I saw quickly that I was going about it all wrong. You don’t need talent here, you need a better work ethic & a way better strategy. I had to get in the game. Which brings me to the second unlearning, the idea that, “You don’t need people.” HA! That statement alone is such an empowering fallacy. A lot of my circumstances & situations really directed me to believe I didn’t need, nor want, as much help & support as this dream I have requires. But, all great creatives know & understand the truth behind that. To some capacity, I’ve needed people during my artistry process for almost every single part of it. It’s been because of some really great people, that I’ve gotten even this far with my music. My literal bestfriend, J. Poole, has been curated almost every music aspect anyone has ever seen of me. All music cover edits, directed all video concepts, stage production, wardrobe. It’s those connections & support that help aspiring artist rise. These are by far, the best life lessons I could’ve experienced.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Oh God, YES!! There are so many resources I knew about earlier in my artistry. The resource is always PEOPLE!!! If you can find great people, & I mean people who are excellent at what they do because they are just willing to work, & they work off of passion, then you’ll have everything you need. For me, it’s was having the right people that became the best avenue for elevation in my career. I mentioned that early on I felt like I didn’t need people. Well, as I got more embedded in my craft, I realized there wasn’t a thing I couldn’t do without people in this industry. People are the resource from management, to public relations & networking, to studio & production, to show performances & bookings, to video content & visuals, to wardrobe & glam squads. Then there’s the whole team needed to push that entire first level to the next. From music liaisons that reach out to radio execs, to middle men who speak on my behalf in rooms I can get in without their mentioning of me, to my media & marketing team that helps generate to & for my following, the fans even … the Adre Army, are most certainly a huge resource. They keep my music streaming & my sound floating the amongst the world, & my name exposed to new listeners, & they support me out of hope for my dreams, while I aspire higher platforms behind the scene. They are such a huge resource. Now, all the other stuff I could’ve named, objectively, would automatically require one of the above mentioned entities.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adreana__?igsh=MWFlNXBjbGZ6cjN3Zg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/15K5MwZ71P/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/Adreanamusiq?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=51f147e8-6be9-4e5e-b07b-893121fe94d9
- Twitter: https://www.threads.net/@adreana__?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC3ZkeFSE4O_bnz8eHJk5_WQ/playlists
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/24w2ydlAA7xDu4WCpPG1oZ?si=RUX0RaquRwWQYiygjLPhhw
Image Credits
Antwoin Gilbert Zuri Stanback Joi Stokes (Getty Images) Monica Brown Tony Reames Antoinne Duane Jones