Zine 47: Emmpowerr

“Welcome to the Heartbreak Heaux Tales. You’re in for a wild, wild ride,” sings Emmpowerr as she introduces her album of the same name. Mainstream culture is only just allowing the nuanced idea that bad bitches have bad days. Megan Thee Stallion touched on something so many feel but don’t get to see. In a world of oversaturated content, we’re drowning in reboots of the same archetypes. Especially for Black women who are still relegated to a binary representation of best friend or intimidating hottie. Emmpowerr is here to represent that unseen vulnerability and prove that it doesn’t negate her power. Her music is for you to hold on to as a reminder - even when you’re crying, you’re still doing it better than the people trying to drag you down.

Baby Ballou: what was the first song you remember hitting you like “woah, I felt that”? Mine was lost in the supermarket by the clash in elementary school, I was like woah these old men wrote a song just for me lol

Emmpowerr:  Hmmm that’s just the way we roll by the Jonas Brothers. A lot of Disney songs made me feel seen but that song was very much my I played it over and over and over and over because it was a song about weirdos and I’m a weirdo

BB: I love that! Growing up, what made you feel like a weirdo?

Emmpowerr: Everyone even my family sometimes made me feel like a weirdo. In school just because I like different things than the other kids especially since I went to a Christian school they tend to think the way that I thought was weird.

BB: I’m sorry, people say “kids are cruel” without realizing how that cruelty really does have a long and intense impact on everyone involved. I was deemed a weirdo too and narratives really STICK lol what was they way you thought? when you say the school didn’t like it

Emmpowerr: I was a big advocate on letting people do whatever they wanted to do and I still am. They would often say stuff about gay people and I just wouldn’t agree or I would be into rock music or punk rock music and they would call that the Devil music and I never got it because I was like what is your reasoning behind calling this music this and they never had a good explanation

BB: Ugh hate to report that even public schools in California move like that 😬 not with the music bit though, we had the opposite where people were real music snobs and used classic rock as a way to invalidate pop music fans. (I was one of those people, been atoning ever since lolol) when did you start exploring with music, not as a listener but as a creator?

Emmpowerr: I started doing music in 2018 after being an interviewer for musicians for about a year and a half I had a show called the craving, I decided that if they could do it I could do it too so I started making music and I made a song called spell it out

BB: I love that trajectory. I’m very much the opposite. I got into music journalism because I loved consuming music so much that was my way to create/interact within it. Was there a specific moment that it clicked or did it just dawn slowly on you as you did your show?

Emmpowerr: I believe it was when all the artist had the same answers for all the questions. I realize my fear of making music was all in my head and that I could do it and I could do it better than all the people I was interviewing lol. I started to realize that I was a star and if I was to apply myself I could be even better than any of the artist that were out at the time

BB: So how did you go about figuring out your sound and style?

Emmpowerr: I figured out my sound by testing out multiple ones. I tried out alternative music at first because that’s what everyone around me was doing but I realized I was a pop girly so I started to dabble and pop but with a dab of wrap. But then I really realize that I can wrap too so I’m kind of in a field of pop rap with a slash of Dancehall. I Make music to make people feel confident to feel the emotions so a HEAUX (what I call my fans) will feel their emotions through my songs and feel confident enough to stand strong in those emotions

BB: I love this because music is often seen as something that is in someone always. Like on tv shows they’ll always say they’ve been singing since they were a baby. But music, like anything, can be picked up and explored at any stage in life. Has anyone ever made you feel like your journey to musicianhood wasn’t valid? I’m just thinking back to the music snobs I mentioned at my school (again probably would’ve unfortunately been one to a degree) who would find any reason to throw invalidation at a female musician.

Emmpowerr: I feel like at one point my own family made me feel like I couldn’t do music especially my mom. She wasn’t a big fan of me dabbling into the music business, but now she’s a little bit more supportive now that I’ve been doing this for almost 4 years. My music work partners to say the least were not very supportive either my transition into music they saw it as a joke at first. I would like to say that they probably thought it was a joke because I didn’t take it seriously and then once I started taking it seriously it seemed that the taste of it being a joke to them never seemed to go away

I have my brand and I’ve been sticking to it for about 2 to 3 years and I feel like I’ve never really gotten support from the same people that I supported for many years

BB: Oof that always cuts to be fan and cheerleader to people in your life’s and then have them not return the hype when you’re on the field. What kept you motivated even when people and obstacles were against you

Emmpowerr: My best friends Haze and Honey they definitely kept me on my toes and made sure I knew that I was talented and I could be more talented if I put my  mind to it. I prayed and I kept working hard so that way I could be the best

BB: Haze & honey need to start a joint project or something because their names sound so dope together lol once you’d kinda locked on your style, what did your creative process start or look like?

Emmpowerr: I write based off my experiences and then I go to the studio and I tell the producer to make the sounds that come out my mouth lol I like different sounds and making fun music

BB: Okay so let me clarify that I do not think the following point but I’m asking it because I know some wonder it. Confidence and vanity are often treated as interchangeable and especially for confident Black women in music, it’s immediately written off as being vain or selfish. The ability to discuss and treat yourself as the best is not mutually exclusive to striving to inspire confidence in others like you said. What would you say to critics who think rapping about being superior inherently means being negative to everyone else?

Emmpowerr: I would tell critics to kiss my ass. They’re just mad that they don’t have the ability to get close enough to me to kiss my ass. They’re mad that they don’t have what I have which is the confidence of 1 billion sons. And that confidence is also knowing that sometimes you’ll have bad days and that’s okay but I am not dwelling in my bad days and that’s the difference between me and them

BB: would you say your aim is for your music to help other people gain that confidence and help them not to dwell on their bad days?

Emmpowerr: No! I feel like in order to be a HEAUX you realize that you are going to have bad days you’re going to have good days you’re going to have mid days you’re going to have fantastic days. You’re going to feel great and sometimes you’re going to feel really bad and it’s OK to feel those emotions as long as you are conscious enough to know that at the end of the day you are the main character of your story and that’s all that matters in life is what you do with your self and how you treat yourself and how you think of yourself

BB: So it’s to soundtrack the survival and thriving within that rollercoaster of life?

Emmpowerr: Yes exactly!!!

BB: And that’s something people struggle with at all ages. How did you come to that embracing of life’s ups and downs?

Emmpowerr: I just realized that life is way too short to focus on the downs every day. I’m still working every single day to keep my spirits up but I know that I can do it

BB: As you’re setting to release new music, what are you focusing on that’s keeping you up?

Emmpowerr: Every day is a new day to get better. I am focusing on breathing and taking it one hour at a time.