We recently connected with Serrin Joy and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Serrin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?
I feel like any artist, if not every artist has felt misunderstood at one point or another. This not only pertains to others “not seeing the artists vision,” but also just an overall understanding of why artists do the things they do. As if one’s artistic passion has to have an explanation as to why they do it… which to me is insane in itself. I’ll say for myself, I have always felt misunderstood by the majority of people around me, simply because people don’t see what they can’t see (read that again). I remember growing up, having the dream of being an artist but not always feeling like I could do it even though I was raised in a house full of musicians. In middle school, there were teachers who didn’t cast me in school choirs or musicals because they didn’t want me to come in and “run things,” and I auditioned for everything! In high school, I didn’t really feel like everyone around me fully understood where I saw myself going in life. I had a teacher who’s advice to me was “focus on the we not the me,” because I had began focusing on my own career and that showed in my approach to classes. I had a guy in one of my classes tell me in front of the entire class, “you won’t make it out of Akron, you’ll be right here just like everybody else,” I’ve even had distant family members who would repeatedly ask me about “my plan B” as if my dream wasn’t realistic. A lot of the performance opportunities I did in my hometown, took place outside of my school where nobody knew me that well. I experienced the fact that when people don’t know you and see you doing well, they tend to be less intimidated by you, and support you more… which is disappointing.
Even now as I’m working on new music, I can play things for peers and every so often I will hear the phrase “this doesn’t sound like you” or “don’t lose yourself”.. where in my head I’m like, I’m not going to sound the same way I did 3-4 years ago. As an artist, I’m constantly evolving and growing, so I’m always going to be changing things around. People hear one song from you, and want that same song every time. From the artists perspective, it’s like let me GROW! Stop trying to box me! I’m not limited to one genre, one flow, one topic, etc. I want my hand in all genres, so I can reach everyone, not just one specific crowd. People can be very small minded and opinionated when it comes to not only themselves, but other people’s work. I’ve learned that a lot of attempting to box one in, has to do with self projection on their end.
Serrin, 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?
My name is Serrin, and I’m an artist originally from Akron, Ohio. I grew up as the oldest of five in a very musical household. My parents (Joy and Walter Scrutchings), instilled an appreciation for music in my siblings and I (Walter, Lynette, Lydia, and Sophia), since we were babies. We all started in the church choirs (Our parents were the ministers of music), and ever since I can remember, music has always played a huge role in my life.
I started off singing/ playing the piano at different churches, which grew into me singing in school choirs and musicals. Overtime, I broke into my own performances/ gigs! I put out my first song on YouTube at the age of sixteen, it was called “The Real You”. After seeing the positive reactions of those in my city from that song, I decided to continue to create demos and just work on my songwriting in general. That summer, I began really pushing myself, I featured in my first gig on a web series, I was one of “Ramona’s Kids” with Cleveland 19 News, and I also had my first TV auditions that summer in Atlanta. Everything was so new and I was really nervous.. but I was having so much fun at the same time!
In 2019, I moved to New York City, to study Musical Theatre at The American Musical & Dramatic Academy. I was attending school during the day and would perform in Open Mics around the city at night. Through networking around the city, I got the opportunity to perform alongside Melba Moore with The Women Of Color On Broadway, which was so amazing!
In 2020, I released my first ever song on all streaming platforms called, “Pull Up”! I was very nervous to put the song out, being that it was a more risqué piece of music, and coming from a Gospel/ Jazz/ Classical/ Musical Theatre background, I didn’t know how everyone would take to the new R&B sound… After only the first four months of releasing my music, I had over 6,000 listeners a month on Spotify! I had set no expectation for the song, other than the fact that I loved it myself, so I had my fingers crossed that someone else would too. That was with no promotion, no label and a song I wrote all by myself. That year I also was inducted into my city’s history vault, as the first person ever from Akron, Ohio to make it on American Idol. I was 18 years old.
As of late, I have relocated to Atlanta and I’ve just been working my way around different recording studios, (Compound & M-Track Studios), and I’ve also gotten into the film industry as well. I’ve worked in the studio alongside Ne-Yo, Zae France, Layton Greene and Kiya Juliet, writing, recording demos, laying backgrounds, and creating. As for film, most recently I’ve worked alongside Kelly Rowland, Marsai Martin, Oprah, Halle Bailey, H.E.R., Fantasia, Taraji P. Henson, Tamela Mann, and Omari Hardwick to name a few. I recently just signed to my first label! Which I am very excited about! I’m 21 years old now, and I’m about to headline my first tour! I’m so excited to see what all is coming for me.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
When it comes to social media for me, it’s not really about building a huge number of followers (although I’m not opposed), it’s more so about building engagements and consistency between online relationships. I say this because I’ve seen people with hundreds of thousands of followers who only receive maybe less than 5% of likes on their posts. At the same time, I’ve seen people with hundreds of followers and every follower, if not at least 85% of the followers are engaged in their posts. I feel like when it comes to my social media, I’ve always made sure that it’s about my business. Of course, I have a “spam account”, where things tend to be a little more personal, although my content has remained consistent on my main page for the most part.
Majority of my posts have had to do with my music and or performance promotion. I’ve gone live and taken song requests playing piano and singing for my viewers, I’ve created songs in my room and posted myself dancing to them on my page, I’ve covered artists music that I’ve met on social media, etc. I just like to make sure that my viewers always feel involved in my content. That way it never feels like I’m posting at someone, but so that everyone feels that they are on my journey with me.
This has been my approach to social media and it’s been working pretty well for me so far! @SerrinJoyMusic on all platforms
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I’d say for myself, the most rewarding aspect is just knowing that someone has been impacted by my performance. Growing up in the church, I was raised on the power of prayer. Before every performance, I thank God for my gifts and I ask that he allows others to see his goodness through me. I ask that someone always be empowered by my wins and loses. I love when my siblings come to me for advice or show me support in what I do. My younger siblings, I’ve seen have been working on music of their own! Even most recently when I was asked to come back to my middle school in Akron, I was touched by students telling me I inspire them, this has always been my goal. To impact those around me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://zez.am/serrinjoymusic?fbclid=IwAR3vvrqzfJR_X5deBejx_RCFke5zDHjnibvYG_HiF4v_2-6LD8b1qpjXDlg
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serrinjoymusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/serrinjoymusic?paipv=0&eav=Afb6qivAtwgFl0xgnItJZqryVarcoRSTjdFKN-SxUpcFkboqsa6Cq-viU9gd5S7GjgM&_rdr
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/serrinjoymusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS1P-FFv4tPM-xO_HnSyJrg
Image Credits
@Nicedidit