We recently connected with Shauna Moon and have shared our conversation below.

Shauna, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I think as children, we all want to become stars. We are naturally awed by talent, and as a child, I was no different. When I was three, my mom enrolled me in ballet lessons. I don’t remember much about the lesson only being picked up by my mother later. When my mom did well financially, she would enroll my sister and me in weekend activities. Such activities included swim, dance, and acting lessons. I enjoyed them, but I also felt very out of place since I was a plus-size child. People expect less from you physically when you’re larger. Performing was an escape. Dance would whisk away all my sadness and make me feel that life wasn’t as hard as it was. In the seventh grade, I got the lead role in our middle school play. I had auditioned and although I didn’t fit the description of the character, I got it. I almost couldn’t believe it because I had been bullied back then. Every time I was on a stage, I felt like I could become anyone, and I just wanted to put on a great show for the people watching. During summers I attended a performing arts camp for kids at Mercer County Community College. As children, creativity is rewarded and celebrated. And despite those being some of the roughest years in my developmental stage, I had never felt so true to myself. However, unlike Peter Pan, kids cannot stay children forever, so I had a reality check when I went to high school. Everyone says that being creative isn’t realistic. We all have heard about the “starving artist.” Parents and teachers chatter that for job security, performing arts is not “practical.” As a kid who came from a low-income or fluctuating household environment, the idea of security was dear to me. Struggling doesn’t take just a financial toll but also a mental one. Even so, I still took theater as an elective in high school and auditioned for plays and musicals. In college, I took dance and acting classes again even though I was a chemistry major and economics minor. I did dance performances with clubs and house organizations. I found ways to continuously express myself creatively because it brought me joy. I couldn’t run away from being a creative even if I wanted to because it always found me. Fast forward. When did I decide I wanted to do music professionally? Well, I didn’t. My friend, Ariel, suggested it when I would play around and release freestyles on Instagram and Facebook. I saw it as a fun challenge, but she told me that I should really put myself out there and that I should give myself more credit. With that boost of confidence, I made more freestyles and began creating visuals. In February 2020, I was reached out by an Oakland artist about wanting to collaborate on a song. I had posted a freestyle called “Beautiful Black Child,” which was reposted by the beat producer. I was nervous because I was making music for fun. I didn’t know anything about streaming, recording, or releasing music. I had only been faux-mixing tracks with Adobe Audition, which is used for podcast sound editing, not music. Anyways, Gatsby sent me his verse. I sent him what I had recorded before, and in June 2020, we released the track on Juneteenth on all streaming platforms. But before that, I had actually released my first single, “Candy”. I was trying to set up my profiles on streaming platforms, and I realized that you have to have a released song in order to do that, so I dropped the only completed song I had recorded. It was well received! The hook is very catchy. It was amazing to see people enjoying my music because it wasn’t something I ever imagined myself doing. I kind of just took a chance and rolled with it. From then on, I started to take my creative career seriously. I published my first EP in December 2021. In early 2022, I began doing live performances and focused on building my craft. As for 2023, I’m working on releasing my first mixtape, building out a team, and doing more performances and collaborations. It’s exciting and something I can’t wait to share.

Shauna, 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 Shauna Moon, and I’m a musical artist from Trenton, NJ. I like to experiment with my sound. I started making music from freestyles I posted on Instagram and SoundCloud. I have been making music officially since June 2020. I’m most proud of my growth. I hold a lot of love for my first single, “Candy” and my first EP, “Static” I would love for others to know that I’m working on improving with every project, and I hope that my work reflects my growth and ever-changing style. My inspirations include Young Money, Foxy Brown, and Eve. My musical styles are predominantly trap, conscious hip-hop, and pop rap. I may also mix in some ragga, lo-fi, and trap soul. My artist name is based on my middle name, Shauna. My first name is Jessica, just in case anyone gets confused. The “Moon” in my artist name comes from Sailor Moon. I am a big anime fan and overall nerd. My dream collaborations include Young Money’s Big 3, Drake, Lil’ Wayne, and Nicki Minaj. I would also love to collab with Doja Cat, Spice, Dean (Korean R&B artist), and Jhene Aiko.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being creative is having the freedom to create whatever I please. I love seeing things grow from a concept into a finished product. I also love not being bound by what others want me to be but instead creating imagery and sounds that I enjoy and feel most connected to. When I’m in the grocery store, sitting in the parking lot, or just laying in bed, ideas come to me. I sometimes pull out a notebook or open the voice recorder app on my phone. “That’s something I can use,” I tell myself. Nowadays, I try to organize my projects in Notion since there’s so many moving parts. I enjoy the process. I enjoy creating from scraps. I think it’s the dedication of seeing what I can produce that keeps me growing. And even if the project is a failure, it’s a learning lesson. I take from it, and I create something larger and greater than before. That’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative for me. It’s either without thought or the excitement of solving a million-piece puzzle.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

When I first started making music, I had no clue what I was doing. It wasn’t something I had planned to do, so I was learning on the fly. I didn’t know what software to use, what to call things, or what controls were for what, so I played around with what I already owned. I made numerous mistakes like spending hundreds of dollars and hours going to Brooklyn, New York to get music mixed that wasn’t good. I didn’t know what a good engineer was supposed to sound like, but I could tell that there was a gap between how my music sounded and the music on the Billboard Hits. Finding a good engineer is like finding a good therapist. You can’t work with everybody or you can, but you got to work within their limitations. I think the same applies to collaborations, but essentially, you’re trying to bring the best out of what you have. Working with my engineer, Ksenia, I’ve gotten a better idea of how I want my sound to be mixed. Neko taught me bout ins and outs, hiding stacked vocals, and vocal effects. I still have so much to learn, and I hope that there’ll be time to do so when working with others. I’m extremely grateful to have found Rec Philly, which was introduced to me by someone I met at my friend’s single release party in Brooklyn, NY. Rec Philly has connected me to other creatives and provided a studio where I can record on my own with professional equipment. I love other studios but creating on my own time has been so relaxing. I wish I knew about Rec when I first started making music. Separately, there are many resources like Pro Tools, Distrokid, Canva, and Squarespace that have great tools for creatives.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shaunamoon.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/shaunamoonbby
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/shaunamoonbby
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shaunamoon

Image Credits
Jessica Innis Shamell Mason WavyBoogz FlixbyMarc Av Visuals