9lives' Latest Single Pushes Sigilkore

So it seems like your songs tend to be open letters to people. Do you often use your music as a way to communicate your feelings in ways words can't?

I feel like music, for me, is the truest form of communication. Sometimes when you are trying to talk to people, the people you love, sometimes the words don't come out right or things may have been misconstrued. But, I feel like music gives me an even playing field to not only voice my true emotions but be able to convey a certain emotion and tone that normally I couldn't or wouldn't be able to translate.

How is that usually received?

When my mom read "Piano Song," she was like, "So you felt this way?" But I think that they understand, and it wasn't like a bad thing. It felt like I'm putting a time marker or a timestamp on where I was. And being able to accept the fact that because I chose my career, there are a lot of moments that I missed in my life that I can't take back. And I feel like stamping that or putting a time marker as a song serves as a way for her to live that memory. It's just not, "Hey man, my bad. I'm sorry." It's something that actually lives on, and other people can relate to it too.

How have you been sitting on feelings of "Some Day This Will All Make Sense" being out?

It feels very timely. Like when I made it, who would have known that the title of the project would be so aligned, relevant, and parallel to the state of the nation? I also feel like it has a lot of relatability factors. But now that it's out in the world, I feel like anything that you work on or give to people, it doesn't belong to you anymore. So, I mean, like I'm happy that it's out—something that was worked on diligently for a few years, and it's good to see people are receiving it. But I also think it's like medicine for the soul. People can form their own perceptions of your work, even if that perception differs from your intention. I'm sure that can make you feel some type of way. 

How do you handle it? Are you indulging in the reviews and the critiques, or do you give the music away and leave it at that?

I try to stay close to home with it; I'm not as into who's always writing about it. But I love to hear what the fans, my peers, and friends are saying about it and how it's relating to them. I check on the visibility part, but as far as checking the comments and looking at every intricate piece, I think that takes a little bit of the magic away from me. I feel like once I put it out, I've done my job. So from there, it's up to me to kind of just bring the community aspect to it by telling people who are listening to it, "Thank you for posting or re-blogging or retweeting or putting on your stories." I think that's it for me. That works because if it wasn't for the people listening to your music, nobody would really be knowing about it. So I feel like, that's where I kind of put my focus—connecting to my listeners and making sure that they felt appreciated too. 

What did the beginning stages of making your project look like? 

The beginning stages. So, it's very explorative and met with a lot of uncertainty. A lot of vulnerability, allowing yourself to go into the deepest depths of yourself, but also realizing that you're uncovering things about yourself in the process. And I think that's what I liked most about creating things. It's like going through the process of it and knowing the anatomy of how the different components that go into working on a project are, sonically and visually. You just go in there like, "All right, we're here to make something beautiful, to make something that's honest and true to you." But it's a lot of long hours. The creative process is a lot like foreplay to me, and putting the project out is like the climax of like when it's over. The process is very much of—it's very sensual. I don't know, making it is very parallel to sex for me. 

You seem like a very passionate person, it seems like your music comes from the soul. Do you ever have to stray away or take a step back from making some songs too honest to create a barrier between your personal life and your audience? 

I feel like you can try to put those separately, but I also feel like the more you become yourself in your art, it becomes one and the same. I think like in my earlier years, I tried to separate the two. But the more I unmasked and uncovered the persona of who Bosco is, I made it a little bit more relatable. It's an evolved, developed version of myself, but I wouldn't necessarily say that Brittany and Bosco are two different things at this point. It's kind of one evolved being that is continuously striving for better to advance all mediums of art, connectability and community. At the core of it, I think that's just who I am.

And when it comes to like the process of writing music or making music, what makes you feel most safe in order to have a successful and pride-worthy project? 

I won't put out anything if I don't feel 100 percent about it. But then again, I'm a Capricorn, so I'm extremely hard on myself in general. So pray for me. 

So throughout an album that is made, there are usually themes that run through the course of the album. What were some intentional themes that you placed throughout each song to make it a complete body of work, and what were some unintentional themes that you found after you ended up recording the project in full?

I think the common theme throughout the project is that I'm giving stories within the narrative of something that will make sense. But whether it's accepting the fact that you're an artist and you're missing time that you're away, you are accepting the fact that as long as I got my family and friends, and my bills are paid, that there will always be brighter days. "Attention" is kind of the same thing, where it's like you are a very independent woman, a boss in your own right. You don't ask for a lot, but when you need attention, that's what you need. It's kind of just scenarios within. It's a conference of like, "I'm doing all of these things, but at the end of it, everything will make sense. Everything in my life has led me to these defining moments, and I just have to trust the journey and the process that it took to get me there." I feel like a lot of people always try to calculate each move. But you know, the divine power in the universe already knows your steps before you make them. It's up to you to keep continuing through your journey and having that assurance within yourself. 

And you've talked about this journey, so at the end of it all, what does that journey look like for you? 

As long as I can continue to make a living off of what I do and have complete freedom to be a multidisciplinary artist, I think that's the ultimate goal for me. Yes, I would love to make millions and millions of dollars and you know, travel the world and do all of these things. But, I was watching Yonce's Homecoming, and she's, you know, the most successful person in this business. Success to me at this point in my life looks different. Like she has all these accolades and awards, but success to her right now is being able to like spend time with her family, her kids, her husband and also still have a career. Success to me right now looks like being creatively free to put out music on my own platform and giving visibility to other creatives that are like myself. That's what success looks like to me. Success looks like being able to replant my pot, you know, stress-free. You know, being able to take my family on vacation, that's what success to me looks like. It's kind of just getting out of that struggling artist phase and just really really putting all of my energy, all of my work, into the things that I believe in.