Introduction
Luwa is a 17- year old singer-songwriter who plans on letting out music that best translates who she is, what she feels, and what she sees in the current moment. The budding artist sees music as an expressive tool and doesn’t confine herself to a single genre. Her desire to explore different sounds can be attributed to her upbringing in international communities within Nigeria and the United States, and her diverse sound is a reflection of what she saw growing up.
https://vault.streamlink.to/LuwaYou
1. What inspires you?
I see myself as a musical storyteller. My songs reflect the stories of others and myself. I’m doing everything because it’s my passion, and I have seen how my music makes people feel. I write about vulnerable topics that I typically won’t be comfortable just speaking about. Still, from my responses, I understand that many people resonate with my music and that my music gives them a voice. What inspires me is knowing that what I’m creating helps people feel more normal.
2. Are there any cultural elements to your music? If so, what?
I subconsciously pull from different cultures. I’ve spent a lot of my life in three different places: Nigeria, one year in Maryland, and two towns in Connecticut. Because of that, I never pull from just one culture in my music. It’s always a merge.
3. How do you hope to make an impact on the world with your music?
Music is a way to bring color and happiness to life, especially in tough times like right now. Art is a distraction and memorandum of the time before the pandemic. As a published songwriter, I feel like I’m contributing to that source of happiness. I write about things that people may not be comfortable saying, like “no, I wasn’t scared of losing you,” and “you unravel me, I unravel you too.” This song expresses love— experiencing and recognizing true love as accepting all your flaws but still loving you. That isn’t something people are always ready to express to one another. I feel like my music, in exploring emotions that people aren’t always comfortable expressing to one another, helps people understand.
4. Have there been a time where it was difficult to keep following your passion for music?
The chunk of time after school (Arts Con) gave me the time to write songs that I wouldn’t be able to create otherwise. It’s fascinating how the creative right side and analytical left side of my brain work when I’m making music. While I really do love being in school, it was sometimes tough balancing schoolwork with a passion for songwriting. When I spend 5 hours inside a practice room just writing some songs and getting ideas together, my right brain becomes strong. Then, I struggle with returning to my history reading and find myself repeatedly reading the same paragraph because I do not really understand it. It’s like the left brain will get a little bit weaker for the next few hours. It may just be something that happens to me because it doesn’t really make that much sense. I’d be so focused on my songwriting; other parts will be a little bit weaker. One thing I struggled with was being able to work equally as efficient in schoolwork and songwriting. Having time devoted to songwriting really helped.
5. Do you have any advice for young musicians?
My advice to young musicians is to keep on going. There are so many bumps on the road to success. You just have to maintain the same passion and desire you started with. Soon enough, your dreams would have become your reality.
The Big Duck 