“I think you have to show homage to creators.” -Brendan Fraser
Growing up many African Americans grew up with grandparents who would play their old school music which is equivalent to our parents R&B. This all also depends on how old your parents are. Overall it's a culture thing and today’s artist Simexn understands that.
Simexn is an R&B artist from Oak Park, Illinois but grew up on the West side of Chicago. Not only is Simexn diverse in where he has lived but with where he is from too. Simexn is Puerto Rican and African American this mix has allowed him to be around various types of music. Many of these various forms of music consist of Jazz, Bachata, Merengue, House, Bop, and Drill but somehow Rhythm and Blues resonated with him more. As I learned more about Simexn I realized that being rooted in his family has helped him drastically with his music. He has influences like The Weekend, Michael Jackson, and Chris Brown but his biggest influence would be his mother. Simexn’s mother is a singer but was always shy to sing. Although his mother was shy, Simexn was able to be around her singing and understand her passion for music which helped him develop as an artist.
Being heavily influenced by his mother and other R&B artists Simexn has adapted to the ability to become vulnerable and share his story. Being vulnerable and sharing your story is extremely important in R&B because it is how you connect to the listener. Not only that but R&B is a sense of relief and a form of therapy for many people especially the artist. Simexn creates a safe place for himself with R&B. Although it is a safe place it has brought him out of his comfort zone. The second song on Simexn’s new EP Black Rose brought him out of his comfort zone the most. This song is called “New Religion.” “New Religion” allowed Simexn to compare sex and religion to each other even though he isn’t a religious person. He compared these two things to give people a chance to relate to this idea of a relationship. Though he tried to get people to see relationships in a different aspect with this song the most relatable one to me is “Rose.” This song is one of those songs that hit differently especially in the first few seconds of the song. From the cover art to the beat, to the lyrics Simexn just has a different aesthetic that I appreciate greatly. I may be biased because this was the first song I heard by him and if I didn’t find out that he was friends with my friend Jamal and he’s working on his artistry I really would’ve thought he was just another artist on this playlist Jamal made. No artist is just another artist but, I would’ve thought he was mainstream and I didn’t know about him yet.
Simexn is very talented and I encourage everyone to listen to his music especially if you like The Weekend. He recently put out a new EP entitled Black Rose and it is filled with songs that are must listen. His songs are on all streaming platforms and for more updates about his music, you can follow him on Instagram @simeon.x .
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