CYCLE TWENTY TWO

Life is about experiencing new moments and embracing the changes that are thrown our way. Flower in Bloom, Winston-Salem, NC Alt R&B singer and poet creates from a place of authenticity and transparency. Flower’s music has a free-verse style that effortlessly flows throughout the entirety of her projects. Listeners will find themselves floating on a cloud or the petal of a flower blown away in the wind and taken on a raw, emotional journey. The relaxing and warm tone of her voice is truly tantalizing.

I had a one-on-one with the floral queen herself via FaceTime. We chatted about open mic culture, the art of freestyling, and the ways in which motherhood and artistry intertwine.

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Who is Flower in Bloom?

Who am I? I am a new mom. I am a person who enjoys clothes, but mostly thrifted fashion. I am a person who likes being outdoors. I love nature. I like learning new hobbies. I don’t always stick with them, but I do like to learn new things. I would say I’m kind of witchy. I’m into crystals and astrology, oracle decks, stuff like that. I think that’s me.

The first time I ever discovered you was on Instagram. Someone reposted one of your songs from an EP where you were wearing these cute overalls and there was a song about Steven Universe. What was that EP called?

That one is called ‘Purple Sunflower’.

When did you start writing?

I used to write poetry a lot as a kid. I used to have a whole notebook for it and that was as much as I had ever written. I never thought about songwriting until 2019 and that’s when I wrote ‘The Watering’, which was my first song.

When was the switch from poetry to songwriting?

I would say 2019. I did this talent show at UNCG with a few of my friends in Steady Hyperactive. I sang a cover. I’m pretty sure it was John Legend’s ‘Ordinary People’. They were already making their own music and rapping and had been doing it for a while. They were like: “Do you write your own stuff?” I was like: “No, not really.” And they were just encouraging and saying I should. So then I just listened to the beat ‘Sometimes’ by Snoh Alegra and I don’t know, it kind of just happened. I just wrote the song to that. I wish it was a more elaborate story, but that’s just how it played out.

You mentioned Steady Hyperactive. Is that a collective you're a part of?

Yes. It’s really dope. They inspire me to do a lot of things. And it also helped that they were all extremely talented and creative themselves.

You performed at a talent show at UNCG at the start of your music journey and you’ve later come to perform at venues and festivals. How did live performing begin to develop in your life?

Dudes at Steady Hyperactive, OG Spliff, he was one of the people that performed and then he had a show at Southside Beer Garden here in Winston Salem. He was like: “Hey, if you wanna perform on my set you definitely can.” I was like: “Oh, oh my goodness! Of course I do.” And of course I only had the one song, but I performed on his set and then, I don’t know, that one song was enough to get more people to want to listen to me.

Then I was also doing this open mic in Greensboro. It was called Mood As Fuck. It’s no longer a thing which is kind of sad, because it was a really fun environment. Prototype was running it and he would have it every Monday or on a really random weekday. I would go out there and perform my one little song until I started making more songs. Then I kind of just networked with people in those smaller spaces, like the open mics, to be able to perform at some of the bigger places now.

What role would you say that the open mic culture and networking played in the collaborations you’ve had in the past? How’d you go about collaborating with others?

I think being in a collective helped me with that. So because I was always surrounded by a bunch of artists at one time it was really easy to be able to do collabs. We’d always be hanging out all the time and it just kind of happened really organically. I’d say I did the most collabs in 2020 when the pandemic hit, because obviously everybody was in the house. Although we should have been following the protocols, it was always hella people at my homies house. People would just listen to beats all day or make beats all day or just make music. There was literally nothing else to do.

Who are some people you’d love to collaborate with?

In Winston Salem alone, the talent here is crazy. There are so many talented people here. I want to work with Fresco from 34 just because I feel like that’s something that people would be interested in. We make two totally different types of music, but I really love him. He’s hilarious and his music is hard, top notch.

Tia Corine, I would love to work with her. We’re good friends and I always find it super weird to be like: “We should work on music!”. She’s like a superstar and I don’t wanna seem like… I’m hoping that will happen one day, organically.

Honestly, I’ve always wanted to work with you. I don’t know if you remember, but in 2019 or 2020 I was supposed to have a show, literally for women, and I wanted you, but then the world was like: “Sorry, no. We have this disease and we’re shutting everything down.” So that was a bummer for me. There’s a girl, well a woman, named KaeKae The Rapper. I want to work with her because I love the way she raps. It’s very boss bitch. Working with her would be nice. Sewray too, she is the singer or one of the singers in Housewife Band.

Royal. That man is talented and he’s so passionate. I just love a passionate artist. It just makes working so much easier when you know that they care about music just as much as you. It’s not just like: “I want you on a song because I know that you’re good or I want you on a song because you have this type of platform, so being on a song with you will help me.” I just love a genuine collaboration. With these people, I feel like it would be a very genuine collaboration.

Which do you prefer more? Collaborating or working alone?

I definitely enjoy making music alone. Just because I’m very self critical so I feel like if I’m in a space where I’m creating with other people, even if it is super fun and organic, I kind of feel this pressure to perform or make sure that what I’m doing is “good”. Sometimes I’m like: “Oh shoot, this person’s music is really good. Let me make sure I’m singing something fire or have a crazy melody.” So I do prefer working alone, because there’s no pressure, it’s just me.

Self-criticism is the artist’s biggest enemy and closest friend. In what ways do you show grace and patience with yourself when creating new art?

I think that is something that I am definitely working on. I feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself for everything that I make or put out to be extravagant. My very first song did extremely well for me to have never worked on music ever. There are people now, 3 years later, who are like: “I still listen to ‘The Watering’ like all the time.” So I’m just like woah. I have songs in the vault where I’m like: “This is so bad! Oh my gosh.” But I want to learn how to respect the process a lot more and just go with the flow. Everything doesn’t have to be whatever. Sometimes songs can just be fun and a way to let your creativity out.

What are your biggest challenges when you face that shadow, the part of you that doubts or overly critiques?

I think my biggest challenge is that I will just stop writing. That really blows me. I love music and I love making music, but whenever I let the pressure get to me I will just take a little break. Even right now I have so many beats that I wanna write to, but then I keep having that voice that’s like: “That better be good, because this is a really good beat.” I kind of psyche myself out.

Fal: I even find that taking breaks or that hiatus of writer’s block gives me time to live. And then I’m like oh well now I actually have something to write about. And maybe it’ll have some substance. You know what I mean? I respect that break even though it’s not solicited.

Seriously. It isn’t fun, but I can say I definitely took a break those first few months after having my son. The music I’ve been making recently in the past four or five months, I have been really enjoying it. Like you said, you have that time to experience stuff so you have something to write about. I feel like that’s the thing with me too.

I want my music to have substance. If I really wanted to, of course I could write a song every single day, but it wouldn’t be about anything. Like what the f***? What would it be about if I wrote a song every single day? I don’t know. I want my music to mean something. It stems back to the poetry part of it. When I would write poetry it would be about my feelings, about my life. So, I want the same thing for my music as well.

So you took a break after having your baby (congrats by the way). How do you think motherhood and the art of creative expression are interconnected? How has it weaved itself into your own artistic expression?

I would say it definitely helps me whenever I start to beat myself up or get down on myself if I haven’t written or recorded a song. I’ll often remind myself of how powerful I am to have had a whole human inside of me and then it become an earthside. Luckily I have been extremely blessed to be able to almost immerse my son in my creativity. He's been to shows with me. I want to say his first show, he was like six or seven weeks old. So he’s been outside.

Anytime I’m performing at venues or have day shows I try to bring him out, because he’s a very social baby. Some of the things I’ve recorded recently, I’ll play it in the car when we’re driving and sometimes a song will go off and he’ll start crying. Then I’ll play it and he stops crying. I’m like: “You like it?!” Honestly, it’s been really, really fun. A lot of the places where I record are mostly home studios, so I know the people. So if it ever came down to me ever having to bring him with me I can. It’s been nice.

I like seeing how they intermingle [being a mom and an artist]. They do have a very direct, indirect correlation. Whenever I am feeling extremely confident in being a mom, I find that I’m also extremely confident in creating. I just think that it shows in a lot of people. Like Adele and Cleo Sol. You can do it. It’s always these extremes with motherhood. They’re like: “Oh I had to stop doing what I love because I’m a mom.” I’m like: “You didn’t have to.” Granted, my baby is only 1, but all of my mommy friends are artists in some capacity and they’re doing a hell of a good job at being moms and artists.

You took a break and then came back and released a new two-track single ‘Seasonal Changes’. I read online that you freestyled it. Elaborate on that experience.

It was during the back half of 2020. Dave Hirsh, he basically came over, set his mic up in the closet, let the beat play and I was just going. I think he’s from Winston Salem but lives in Atlanta. He’s a really cool guy, really tapped in.

What were you channeling when you were writing ‘Eclipse’ specifically?

This might sound really corny. Why can’t I think of real words to use? I’ll stick with corny for now. I was listening to the beat and looking outside the window and it was Fall time. It was a gloomy day and leaves were falling down and I was just like: “You know what? I wanna talk about that.” And I’m also sure that I was a little bit sad at the time too. So I was just like: “Okay, let me talk about where I am right now and take this inspiration from looking outside my window and seeing the weather.”

I love the art of freestyling. It’s pure authenticity. Is it something you do often?

When I first started, yes. In 2020 and 2021 I was freestyling a lot. I don’t do it as much now, but I think it’s because now that I’m a mom, I have to set a time that I can record. I try to go in pretty prepared. If I want to freestyle I have to make sure I’ve set aside a decent amount of time, because I like to just really hang out with beats. I freestyle in the car all the time.

I noticed you have a good collection of music videos on your YouTube. I’m interested in your process when creating a visual for a song. Do you set an intention for the track to have a visual or do you just “feel it out”?

I think I definitely feel it out. Of course some songs I’ve made videos to because the people like them, but then there are some like ‘Eclipse’ where after listening to it, and realizing I was going to put it out, I was like: “Okay, I want to make a visual and I want it to be very special and I want it to be meaningful.” I remember that era of music videos where the videos had nothing to do with the songs. It was such a weird time.

I was still watching videos back then, but I just think that was so weird. I think that a lot of what a visual is for a song is painting the whole picture. I could listen to a song and have these feelings, but when I’m watching a song, do I still have those same feelings? So that’s pretty much my method to making music videos.

Which video of yours was the most fun to create?

Honestly, ‘Just Saying Shit’ was probably my favorite. That song was written after a period of idleness, which is literally why it’s called ‘Just Saying Shit’. I was like: “Damn, I need to make something.” I made that and I wanted to shoot a video for it, because the song is only a minute long, it was super easy. Just get in, get out. It was just me doing a bunch of random stuff with my friends so that was fun.

Where do you see yourself headed in the near future? Any goals that you’re looking to achieve?

I always take this question with caution, just because the spiritual part of me is like: “Oh, tomorrow’s never promised. You need to stay present.” But obviously I do see certain things for myself. Definitely traveling more and doing out-of-state shows, doing bigger shows, like festivals, maybe even opening for an artist.

I would like to be using music as a platform to do other things: having my music played on TV or fashion shows, having it played in the background for people to walk to, making jingles and stuff. I really do enjoy TV too. I was one of those kids who would look out the window when it was raining and pretend I was in the movie. I’m very dramatic and would love to pursue that as well in my music artistry. To be completely honest, letting creating be my full-time job is the goal.

One of my biggest goals is to be able to release a full-length project sometime next year.

Would you consider yourself an R&B artist or would you prefer no label at all?

For the sake of labels, I guess I’d say alternative R&B. I’m not singing your Sade type R&B, but like it’s not Pop or Indie.

Do you see yourself going into another bag or genre?

I want to make an EDM song so bad! I call them Powerpuff Girl type beats. I definitely have a few saved in my beat folder. Whenever I find the pocket to be able to write a song like this I really, really do. Even Bedroom Pop stuff, because I love Clairo. I think she’s so cute. Plus, just the type of music I listen to, I don’t even really listen to a lot of “R&B” music. I listen to more Indie and Pop. I call it white people music, because that’s the people that make it. When people hear my music versus what I listen to I know they’re probably like: How do you even write music like that if this is all you listen to?

I think it’s funny that the music you listen to is not a representation of the music you create, but I also think in some ways it is. Whatever we take in, we somehow put it out in a weird way. It’s always regurgitated or recycled back. If we were to make a Cycle Twenty Two playlist featuring Flower in Bloom, what would be the top 5 songs on it?

Delusional by Alexa Gates
Chanel by Frank Ocean
Split by Willow
Reincarnation by Shoko Kurai
Don’t Trust No Nigga by Khia

Let’s talk about the growth from your first released project to your last release. In what ways have you and your process changed since then?

I would say my first release was definitely more of me wanting to experiment and experience what it would be like to create my own music. Now I know I can do this. I know this is something that is meant for me and I have a gift and talent. Now I’m finding the balance and also wanting to make this passion a career.

Before, I was just creating for the sake of creating. Now, I’m still creating for the sake of creating, but I know this is something I want to do very much long term. I want it to be impactful. Not necessarily me doing it for other people, but that’s why I want it to be extremely genuine, so that way I know that this is impacting people in the way that I want it to, not the way that the world wants. I want it to reach the audience it’s supposed to. I might not have a million listeners, but let’s say the eleven people who do listen to my music everyday or several times a week, they really ride for me. I’d rather have that than a bunch of people listening to me anytime.

Is there any advice that you’d give to a budding musician who is shy or hesitant to release a project?

If you have it in your head that you know you’re good at something and want people to hear it, that’s got to outweigh the shyness and the perceptions of others. Luckily I went through a wonderful phase where I just stopped giving a fuck about people and what they had to say about me. It was good that I got to do that before I created music. You really just have to do it. You have to start and you have to do it in small places. Like open mics are a starter’s best friend. You could go out there and everybody is just starting out or everybody is just experimenting with sharing themselves.

As long as you have the foundation and the confidence in yourself. I’m still working on that sometimes. I watch people who throw themselves around on stage and jump up and down. I’m like: “Shoot I don’t even do that! I’m trying to get like you.” Just work on it one step at a time. Even I'm still working on certain levels of confidence in my artistry.

Any last words?

Follow me on social media to see what I'm into. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. Even though everything is not music related, it’s still content that I like to put out. That’s really what I’m focusing on for the rest of the year. I’m just putting out YouTube content and recording more so that next year I will have an album.

Flower in Bloom on Open Mic Culture, Freestyling, and the Link Between Motherhood and Artistry

Tesh on Collaborating with Others, Staying Inspired, and the Importance of Music Quality

KastleViolet on Songwriting, Creating from Emotion, and the art of Flow State