We were lucky to catch up with LuvLi recently and have shared our conversation below.
LuvLi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?
What is funny about this… is that I LITERALLY just asked myself this question a week.. week and a half ago. The irony is.. I still have a “9-5”, so the question I had thought about was more like: What would my life currently look like/be like IF I did not write the single that put me basically on the map!?! I was driving, as I do, because the Sun finally broke and it reached the 50’s (you know any flash of heat… will have us outside talking about ..summer is almost here Ha!) But I’m driving, reflecting on life, my life just thankful about every waking thing good bad and in between that has transpired from then to now. Thinking about my spoken word, the short stories that I have written, the songs that I have recorded and then I thought about the ONE song that landed me on the billboards overseas. I pulled up to a park just to sit further and reflect next to the water.. I stopped and shook my head because in that moment, I am like.. damn! I really am an artist, a well paid artist that wrote a song in 45 minutes… recorded it in an hour and have been streaming ever since. Now the twist to this as to why I have a job is because of then, lack of knowledge, lack of a team that actually supported me and wanted me to succeed, & lack of a manager amongst other things but I am sure you get my drift. Bottom line is, even though the song was and stellar and still is going strong, I then did not have ANY keen knowledge on what I needed to do to keep my name relevant so it looked like I was going to be a one hit wonder kind of person. Still getting paid from ASCAP and Music Reports, I did not understand they totality OR caliber of what I dealing with so temp jobs found me and I am steady blowing my royalty checks (young, dumb, naïve) because it was right now money and it did what I needed it to do at the time. Oh but BABY…now!? is a WHOLE different story, I will just say If I did not write the single that mapped me… I would not be where I am today. I am not “A-Class celeb rich, but I am eating and doing well for myself. So YES, I am extremely elated that I was blessed to be amongst the creative clan. I have many fans DM me stating how lyrics to my song have helped them and or changed their lives, uplifted them and just make them feel good in general. THAT is what I live for and I would not have it any other way. I love helping in any capacity I can but to help by words from my heart through music which is a whole movement and entity on it’s own… makes me proud and ready to serve at any cost
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
To answer this, I have a couple of things going on! Musically, as cliché/typica as it sounds, I was small lol. I knew e.v.e.r.y damn song on the radio and had my own twist to things. As I grew, I was writing vivid and I mean vibrant stories at a young age and small what I did not realize was poetry pieces at the time. I would just write what I felt, saw, or heard around me and moved on from it. It was not until I got older when I had done some “closet” recordings LOL you know the make-shift studios that people have basically gone back to since covid to avoid paying 900/hr for sessions LOL. Anyway, did some recordings and thought nothing of it. Teen and early 20s had me spilling my soul at spoken word sets in my hometown and all over Chicago. It was in 2002 when I was introduced to the producer of the track that would change my life because I had not idea I would be writing a song that would be heard by the masses. To this day I still wonder how I was brought over there, and how dude and I met, but we did lol. He presented a house/dance track that I would NEVER write to as I was a “neo soul” person then and what he presented did not fit my mold at the time. I still wrote it. He liked it. It was placed on a label 2 weeks later and now Vinyl records are being made, Im being flown to London, I’m on the stage in the West Coast opening for Chaka Khan, Lady GaGa, Boy George and so forth. It did not dawn on me what was going on until I received my retro ASCAP payment and I just about died. I then knew what I had done and that LuvLi was an artist and “some” of my dream had come true. The question asked about discipline. Like I stated prior, I was too young to know anything about discipline for this industry and what was needed to stay “alive” Without saying too too much, I will just say I had learned quickly that the industry was bogus as hell and people are only out for themselves but with educating myself and surrounding myself with other creatives in and out of the music industry, I filled myself with determination to keep going and that is why I am here where I am today because I refused to die basically and not be heard without trying.
I am proud because I did not give up. Through anger, confusion, not being paid properly for gigs and just in general.. I let karma do her thing for those that wrong me but it also keeps me modest and humble in my approach to things looking back and even now. You would not have told me in a month of Sundays that I would be where I am now, that I was going to be an international recording artist, that I would be producing my own videos, that I would even have my own business!!! So Yes, I am proud because being constantly in an uncomfortable place in life made me resilience and persistence to get the hell out of it.. and never go back. This is why I always say that life is So LuvLi~ because it is. That saying “life is what you make it” and I stand on that. If you don’t get up and do shit, you will continue to do the same things everyday for the rest of your life and that is not cool. So LuvLi does not need to mean financially well, Life is So LuvLi, because I have overcome anxiety, overcome an abusive relationship, overcome obesity, overcome stage fright, overcome shyness, overcome whatever is keeping you from being great… turn it around and make it LuvLi and walk in it
On the flip side,I am proud because I have ventured on faith and started the steps to open my own business. This will be something that is not offered too tough anywhere which is a natural hair/extension take down service. We will offer add-on services of head massages for ultimate relaxation. This will also be a full service spa with all esthetic services offered from wax, facials, back facials, chemical peels, hand and foot scrubs, lashes and more. All of this with a store front to make it a one stop shop! HeadBar 365 is underway and will be in your neck of the woods soon as we plan to open in multiple states.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
Yes. financial consulting. Literally that is it. But to briefly elaborate, our native community (brown/black whatever you call yourself) lacks financial literacy. Life insurance, Money markets, IRA’s, 401K rollovers, CD’s to name a few but ,hell saving in general. Bring financial structure to your child when they are young. If you do not have the knowledge, PLEASE sought out someone that does to help the child and possibly the parent so that the family will be on top and not living check to check and to definitely NOT allow government assistance, be an option
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The mission is simple, work for yourself. Do not spend all these hours making an employer rich and forget about your own goals and dreams. They are only paying you 13-20% of what they feel you should have and not what you are worth. My goal is to drive my own network so that I can have a mini empire to pass along to my kid but also so she will have the knowledge and drive to keep me going when I pass along with her own empire and not have to be enslaved to anyone elses dream but her own.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.soluvli.com
- Instagram: LuvLi_7
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/SheSoLuvLi
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/mwlite/shalyn-luvli-walker
- Twitter: Luvli7
- Youtube: SoLuvLi
- Yelp: n/a
- Other: www.headbar365.com (under construction, coming soon!)
Image Credits
Worthashot films Strickflix