Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to NeptuneMuse. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
NeptuneMuse, 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.
My most recent release “Heatwave” which premiered on December 2nd, 2022 was so special to me in it being my first fully hands-on project. The process began six months before the release in my sketchbook with my storyboards. I’ve had the song completed since the spring of 2021 but had been holding onto it because I had just finished my promotional period for “Jungle Flame” and decided to rest as I felt very burnt out from being in school. After graduating with my B.A I finally regained the energy and inspiration to put all my time into brainstorming the visuals I wanted with the Heatwave music video. While I always knew I wanted a summer-y feel to the music video and visuals of me emerging from a sunroof, it wasn’t until last summer that my vision came together. As the R&B track is about yearning for reciprocal love and navigating the trajectory of having a crush, I knew I wanted to make visual references to Portrait of a Lady on Fire directed by Céline Sciamma, so I played around with the styling for myself and my co-star (my lover) as well as flash references through visuals such as a reference to the movie poster and the closing scene. From storyboarding to fashion design, I also learned a bit about filmmaking, color grading, and editing the music video myself after learning premiere pro for a couple of weeks post-shoot. The filming process was all shot with friends behind the scenes and on set, so it was very warm and dear to my heart.
Of course, my debut single Jungle Flame will also always be so meaningful to me as it was the first song I ever produced and released to the world. I get excited thinking about all the growth from my first release to my last and am excited to continue immersing in my biophilic, magical visions for my music.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’ve always had a deep awareness of creative expression being deeply tied to my purpose. My first medium of art was painting and drawing and of course, I had a phase of wanting to become a ballerina as a little girl. But I’ve had an unwavering love and appreciation for music my whole life. One of my uncles collected cassette tapes and had a makeshift music studio in his home I’d be in awe of as a baby when I lived in Ecuador. I grew to become an avid music video fanatic, watching the Pepsi musica countdown weekly show, which was like the Hispanic MTV, and I knew very early on that I wanted to be a singer. It became very clear to my mom once she got called to come pick me up from the principal’s office in kindergarten for doing a rendition of Shakira’s La Tortura choreography which if you’ve ever watched…you can imagine why they’d call my mom as I was six years old.
Since then I’ve delved into a lot of my interests including belly dance, modeling, and even creative writing which I got a pretty bachelor’s degree in now (in poetry specifically)! Through it all, singing and songwriting have been my constant. From brief guitar lessons and jazz vocal training to years of open mics and covers I’ve always healed myself and connected to my body and the divine through my voice. Singing and making music is not just what I love to do but my compass in navigating life. It’s a privilege to feel others’ love for my music and my work, but even if no one was listening, this is truly such a deep source of joy I know will carry with me through time.
In addition to my work as an artist, I am also a community organizer and run a small business called NeptuneMuse Astrology, a consultation service business focused on QTBIPOC healing and guidance.
Ultimately, as an independent R&B/Soul artist I am dedicated to world-building my sonic and visual dreamscape through my music and music videos to uplift and represent the queer/Latinx/brown community but also touch anyone who is a fan of Soul, R&B, Latin Jazz, and Bossanova.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
There is so much reward that comes with indulging in creativity -real creativity detached from the capitalist framework of creativity as an extension of productivity culture- and making art for me. The big exhale and glow I feel radiate from within when I finish writing the melodic structure and lyrics of a song, the loving affirmations I’ll receive from friends, friends of friends, and people who encounter my music/writing, the feeling of culmination knowing my younger self would be so proud and think I’m so cool! It’s hard to detach myself, as I know it is for many artists, from the need for instant gratification for the work that I do, so it’s also a huge reward to recognize that aside from any goals we have as artists: we all simply deserve to leave our mark on this earth, even if ephemeral, decorating time and space with our truth and beauty alike. Being an artist is a gift we can all tap into because it’s beautiful and messy and human to feel, and that’s the real value behind making art: touching others, connecting, remembering, recalling, and feeling so so deeply together.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Algorithms work so hard against new and independent artists, especially black, indigenous, and creatives of color as a whole. Share our work if you admire and appreciate us! Recirculate and repost our work when we are censored and silenced. It is so discouraging to put in so much effort only for my reach to be stifled due to censorship. Uplift those around you rather than only trying to network upwards. Support your friends! I’ve seen ego and envy tarnish so many good possible collaborations and possibilities, I want us to not think of art with a scarcity mindset of worthiness and limitation but rather as an action of love where everyone can have a seat at the table. Lastly, don’t support AI art. If art shouldn’t be anything it should never be lifeless. Pay artists what we deserve!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gabrielletola.wixsite.com/mysite
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neptunemuse/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/neptunemuse
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-3vcjzHikAwp_w3QNPQK1Q/featured
- Other: bandcamp: https://neptunemuse.bandcamp.com/track/heatwave spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ydfmkwwXlxSYvULhroirm?si=WWc_dCZhT7G0T9x7PSvwiA soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/neptunemuse tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@neptunemuse?lang=en all links: https://snipfeed.co/neptunemuse
Image Credits
Chris Ashley Ava Aodha Khami Auerbach Yaemi Matias