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

Hi Mactaivious, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

When I was little, I was always invested in the music I heard. From hip hop, R&B, soul, and even rock and pop music. When my dad had the radio on in the car, I’d be so invested that I forgot where I was at times. In 3rd grade-5th grade, I’d make random songs in my head, but I didn’t really think I’d ever record. I did find out that my dad had his own music background, which made me a little more invested in the thought of making music. I wrote my first song in 7th grade, that to this day, I remember word for word, but have not ever recorded. It was when my big brother started making music that I really wanted to at least give recording a try. I wrote another song called “I’m Not OK”, which ended up being the first one I recorded. I love that song so much, but what I didn’t realize until later on in my journey, was the style of music I was doing. I was more trying to fit in and make others happy instead of making what I really liked and make myself happy.

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.

My name is Mactaivious Jones and my stage name is Phantom Senoj! I am on a journey as a music recording artist! I really wanted to do music because it has been apart of my life for as long as I can remember. It fuels me in my everyday life and makes me want to keep going in every aspect of it when I feel like the going gets tough and I want to give up. I also just want to share something relatable to the world in an entertaining way that shows people that they aren’t alone emotionally. That there is always someone out there willing to say what others are afraid to admit. In the beginning, it was hard trying to fit in with what other people where doing instead of what I liked. It was when I started to incorporate singing into my music, that I knew it was time to change things up. I’ve been in love with singing since I was little, so it was only a matter of time till it became my full style in the different genres I do. R&B, pop, even a bit of hyperpop, I made sure to stick to my way of things and made sure that even if no one listened to me, I’d always love what I did. One thing stayed consistent throughout my whole journey. Whatever I wrote, no matter how it sounded, the message was love. I’m just a lover boy and wanted to convey that. I would probably never say the things I say in my music to a girl I liked, but that’s kinda the point. Expressing my love, and saying it with passion because I’d be to afraid to say it in person. I’m so proud of the progression and support I get from people I don’t know who tell me how they connect with my music and it helps them with what they are going through or how it even connects with their lives at that time. That is all I really wanted. To be entertaining and relatable to my generation, because we’re all human, we all have emotion, and we all have things on our chests. It only takes one person to speak for everyone else to open up.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist to me is easily being able to connect with different people around the world on an emotional level. It makes everything I do feel like I’m not alone. I’ve had people tell me about their romantic struggles or how they feel things aren’t getting better for them mentally.And yet listening to my music calms those thoughts and gives them a shred of hope for things to come. I mean, how is anyone going to not be happy when they hear that.It’s the fact that out there somewhere, it’s helping someone that makes fuels me and makes me elated. All I’ve wanted was to make the people around me happy, and it feels like I’m succeeding.

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

Finding my sound and my style was the hardest part of this whole journey. When I first stared recording, the dude I recorded with wanted me to do things a certain way because he thought it’d sound better. It made me feel like I had no control over self. I was, and still am, a shy quiet person so I didn’t really know to speak up about things. Even when I started recording and mixing songs by myself, I had no idea what I was doing or even what I wanted to record. So I felt like I had no choice but to keep working with that guy at least till I figured out how to do it myself. Even when I figured things out myself, my style was still similar to his for awhile. I didn’t really like rapping. It always sounds off to me and I just didn’t like my voice when I did. Singing just always felt right to me. It took me maybe 2 years or so to even realize that mentally, I didn’t even like my music as much as I depicted it. But since other people did, of course I kept going with it. It was when I met my two friends in high school , Diego and Jaedon, that things took a turn for me. Their styles were completely different, and I really liked it. Doing music with them felt free. Even if I was just copying their styles, it felt better than before. Like I was slowly becoming who I am while working with them. I work became completely different from theirs, but we all still worked on projects together despite the differences, It was amazing, and I could never thank them enough for their friendship and forming me into the artist I am today.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phantomsenoj/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mactaivious.jones.79/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7OL1_ZOSdaGS44RghjqCeQ
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4BSXnFxD68QRL58dXfiJj6