"Selfish: A Conversation with Benita

Interview by Imani Dominique Busby

Photography by Jordan Bailey (@jxrdnbailey) and Rod Doost (@roddoost)

We sat down with Benita, a rising R&B artist whose journey began in high school musicals and has since grown into a powerful and soulful career. Fresh off her performance at Some Kinda R&B Festival she opened up about her creative process, the inspiration behind her single “Selfish”, and the emotions she hopes listeners take away from her music.

Can you please tell us a bit about yourself and your introduction to making music?

I've been making music since I was in high school. Honestly, I started off performing a lot in high school. I was in musicals and stuff like that. Then I started releasing music when I was 24. But anyways, it's been a great journey. Honestly, the growth has been just... I'm so grateful for all these events that come my way.

How did you feel about performing at Some Kinda R&B Festival today?

I feel really good. Honestly, I've never been first in a festival, so it felt really cool to start the vibe, test the waters a little, and everyone was really responsive and laughing at my little one-two jokes. It was cool. It feels really nice because I get to be around amazing R&B artists from Canada and people who I look up to and am fans of.

Yeah, you're so incredible and your voice is just phenomenal. If a listener could only hear one song from your catalog, what would you recommend and why?

Oh my God, that's a good one because I feel like my music is everywhere. There's like “Dance Up,” "R&B" pops up. I'll say “Selfish.” I'm feeling selfish because we're going into that fall and the whole season, and it's like, me in your feels.

Is there anything that you can share about the writing behind “Selfish” or the creative process and what inspired the song?

“Selfish” was inspired by being at a party and then someone that you have ties with shows up. You are in this low-key relationship and no one really knows, so you're avoiding each other. But there's that tension. It's really relatable. A situationship type thing. So that's what that was inspired by. It was more like being in a scene or being at a party. Yeah. Tension.

Are there any upcoming drops, projects, anything that you're working on that you can share a bit about or that we should keep an eye out for?

I'm actually in the midst of figuring out which lane I want to go into because I have so many songs right now, and I'm just trying to figure out what is the next era, what's the next vibe. So definitely singles. And I want to do a small and short music.

No, for sure. That's very exciting. I feel like that's a great place to be in, too, trying to narrow it down. But I think there's something also really beautiful in being able to speak to different sounds and genres and things.

I really want to do something ethereal.

What message do you hope to share through your music?

I just want people to feel all their emotions and not hold it in. You're going to cry, listen to something, be by yourself. I'm an only child, so I spent a lot of time by myself. I'm not trying to make this a sob story, but just be in tune with your emotions. It's okay to be happy, it's okay to be sad also. Just be yourself. I'm trying to tell myself it's okay to be different.

Where can we find you and your music?

Spotify, Apple Music, everything - @sheisbenita

Awesome. Thank you so much.

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