Making Blue Rhythms

By Iris Hernandez

The Process of Creating R&B Music

when the calm beat of R&B comes in, it can sooth nerves and help people become less stressed out by listening to something relatable. Ghanaian R&B creator Koyo Appiah, who performs as Koyo, said this is why he makes music.

“With me, music is a way of expressing my emotions, a way to breathe and be recognized by something that connects with you,” Koyo said.

The composition of songs is one of the many ways people are able to express themselves and be in touch with their feelings. R&B is a popular genre which the lyrics mainly consist of reflecting on past experiences to spread the message to everyone else that they are not alone in their situations. Through the diverse genre of R&B, the creation of songs to come to life does not follow a specific process and can take different forms for everyone. known as Alondra Marie has also long known she had a passion for music.

While some artists may get started in elementary or high school, Naomi Sutton, known by the stage name Nayome, is an R&B artist who got her start in Austin and began creating music in college.

¨It wasn’t until sophomore year in college when I actually started getting into music, writing music and performing in public,” Nayome said.

Koyo had a similar experience, being involved with fine arts activities during highschool such as creative writing, dancing, and singing, junior year established what he wanted to do.

“To write a song that’s like junior year I was like, let me put something here and see if I am feeling it and just getting everything from my head onto paper,” Koyo said.

“I was a band nerd for all of middle school and highschool so I always liked making music and playing instruments so it’s always been a part of my life,” Alondra Marie said.

However, to choose a genre, there must be a connection between the artist and the genre. Nayome had this connection with R&B from her experiences in Jersey.

¨I’ve always loved music,” Nayome said. “I was always around it growing up, also in Jersey where my grandfather had a soul food restaurant and would always have a lot of blues influences at the restaurant.¨

Alondra Marie decided to pursue R&B because when she was in America dealing with culture shock after coming from Puerto Rico, it was the genre that reminded her of what she grew up around.

“I would say that’s the genre that I connected with the most to when I was in America and dealing with culture shock,” said

Alondra Marie. “It felt the closest to the kind of music I would listen to in Puerto Rico so over the years I kinda just connected with it more and what I like about it is that I can express my emotions and vulnerability through it.”

To write the lyrics, inspiration can be found anywhere, and the process for the end product of the music is unbounded. Nayome explains music is all about expressing what’s inside of her and translating it into a song to bring those feelings out.

“It’s all about getting the feeling out. Whatever gets built up inside me, or if I want to think back on an experience, sometimes it just flows out,” Nayome said.

For some, the creation of a beat could initiate this process, it allows for the whole structure of the song to come together.

“The beat is what inspires the lyrics for me,” Nayome said. “It helps me paint a picture in my mind and helps me translate on the production”

Alondra Marie shares the same experience.

“Most of the time I hear a track or a sample that sounds good in the line play and then I just start mumbling gibberish and record gibberish” said Alondra Marie “I take that as the theme of the song and I write around that or I take previous poems I’ve written to create the song”

Although, the creation of a beat could need someone else’s ideas

“I collaborated with a friend to finish the beat because I couldn’t figure out how to do it and I didn’t want the idea to go away and that’s how it came to be, so it was completely external,” said Alondra Marie.

The beat is a crucial part to the song because it will dictate what the listener will feel like. It is import ant to have input from the fans to see what beats are the most likable.

“‘Dance Wit Me’ is a slightly faster up tempo beat, a song that makes you want to dance,” said Koyo.

When it comes to the lyrics, experiences that can be shared are the only component required for songwriting. Those experiences could range from wholesome childhood memories to tragedies.

“Most of my inspiration, I’m going to be real with you, is all going to come from my experience,” said Nayome.

That’s true for a lot of artists, Alondra Marie explained. She said her own life is the primary source for songwriting.

“Heartbreaks, disappointment, situationships, personal relationships or situations that I go through,” said Alondra Marie.

But all that matters is that the moment holds value towards the artist, which is why it is important to have enough exposure from life to learn and overcome.

“As an artist you really want to have enough experiences in life. Like you want to turn your passion into anything you see,” said Koyo.

To complete the song, there is no saying for how long it will take. With Koyo, recording a song can take three days.

“The fastest I wrote something, I want to say maybe 3 days tops,” said Koyo.

Alondra Marie says she can take from minutes up to months to finish a song.

“I can make it happen in 30 minutes, and the next song I’m about to release has been in the works since December,” said Alondra Marie

If she feels her music has a good foundation, writing lyrics and returning to the original plan whenever she feels more inspired is not out of the ordinary.

In order for an artist to rise to fame, it is no secret that a big social media platform is required in order to gain more attention.

That is why a song that is trending on TikTok is likely to be trending on all other music platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. This is the reason why Nayome has been leaning towards her social media

“I am really working on my social media because although I am not a big fan of it, I’m training myself to get more and more into it because really this is the way you are going to capture more listeners,’’ said Nayome.

Alondra Marie has also begun to see the effects of social media.

“I’m starting to see how if a lot of people get their hands on it will spread to more people then it will be good and then they will start listening to it,” said Alondra Marie. This helps with giving the artists more insight to what their listeners are feeling about their music, how the artist is able to improve and what is attractive about their music.

Even with enough insight from fans and being popular on social media, being an R&B singer is not easy. Just like any other career, the sense of giving up is unavoidable. It is important to keep in mind regularity and further expanding skills is the key to success in the music industry.

“I do have to remind myself that it’s a long game, it’s not a short game, it doesn’t happen overnight,” Nayome said. “Its consistency, constant consistency.”