A Music Publicist's Musings on L-O-V-E

I was interviewing my client songwriter Cri$tyle in preparation for writing her biography, when she told me that growing up music was her "drug of choice". I immediately scribbled a star next to that sentiment, knowing that would be one of the quotes I used in her biography to showcase how much music was a part of her basic development from a girl into a young woman. Later as I typed out her bio I realized how true that statement must be for so many of us.

It amazes me that I have "grown up" to be an entertainment publicist. It seems my adult life has culminated around the very things that sustained me as a child. Writing and music. It feels like yesterday that I was a ten year old lying across a flowered bedspread listening to New Editions "Count Me Out" writing a story about falling in love with bandmember Ronnie DeVoe. If writing was my gift, music was the fuel that inspired the talent.

Writing has always been cathartic for me. I had to be in grammar school when I learned that I could write my way out of anything that was wrong in my life. I truly believe pain and/or trials and tribulation breed creativity in the best sense and its evident when I listen to an Al Green, a Jill Scott or even a Kanye West. Their passion is certainly based on more than speculation alone.

I quickly learned I could capture the emotion behind a song in my stories and often I'd put one song on repeat for hours as I wrote about a specific character. I'd listen to Janet Jackson's Rythmn Nation preparing for cheer try-outs, Whitney Houston or Paula Abdul while getting "pretty" for a game or even a group date. From being a fast pre-teen listening to Ready for the Word's "Girl Tonight", growing into my own via The Bangles "Eternal Flame", celebrating the close relationship I had with my baby brother to Brandy's "Best Friend", experiencing the butterflies of a first crush to The Jets "Crush on You," to experiencing my first break-up ala' Mint Condition's "Pretty Brown Eyes"..... music was the constant throughout my journey. While I knew what music did for me, I soon realized it does the same thing for all of us in different ways. I can remember picking up my best friend, the fiercest linebacker in our district and laughing while he prepped for the game with X-Clan and Public Enemy.

Today when I prepare to media train a client, or write a bio on an artist or even industry executive, I will play their music or their favorite music and its then that I'm able to tap into their soul. Writing about Chilli is easy for me because TLC was such a big part of my own transition to womanhood, writing articles on artists like Chris Brown are enjoyable because I am able to feel his love and passion for his music in his voice, through his melodies. It translates so much more than words alone.

We are all in love with music, it sets our moods, dries our tears, soothes our heartache, gives us the will to go on and acts as an unrivaled aphrodisiac. And though I may not have the direct relationship with music that my client Cri$tyle has as she pens the records that create the soundtracks to our lives, I have my own affair. Music has never let me down. Music has never broken my heart. Music has never made me feel less than beautiful, powerful and inspired. It is for those reasons that I will always and forever be still in love with music.