In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman chat (virtually) with Ruby Shabazz! Ruby is a singer, songwriter, and performer who writes, records, and performs her music solo and with a live band. In this episode, we talk about Ruby’s early musical inspirations (Mariah Carey!) and her evolution from pop and love songs about boys to music with more grit and her need to “get real”. We’ll chat about Spotify, performing live, and collaborating with her videographer, her live band, and even her husband! Ruby received the 2024 New England Music Award for Soul/R&B Artist of the Year AND won the 2024 New England Songwriters competition in Hip Hop and R&B for her song “Thank You”! If you want to learn more about Ruby, visit her Link Tree at linktr.ee/rubyshabazz and find her on Instagram at instagram.com/rubyshabazz. Listen to this episode wherever you listen to podcasts or on our website www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com. Be friends with us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/CreativeGutsPodcast and Instagram at www.Instagram.com/CreativeGutsPodcast. If you love listening, consider making a donation to Creative Guts! Our budget is tiny, so donations of any size make a big difference. Learn more about us and make a tax-deductible donation at www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com. Thank you to our friends at Art Up Front Street Studios and Gallery in Exeter, NH and the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts in Rochester, NH for their support of the show!
In this episode of Creative Guts, co-hosts Laura Harper Lake and Sarah Wrightsman chat (virtually) with Ruby Shabazz! Ruby is a singer, songwriter, and performer who writes, records, and performs her music solo and with a live band. In this episode, we talk about Ruby’s early musical inspirations (Mariah Carey!) and her evolution from pop and love songs about boys to music with more grit and her need to “get real”. We’ll chat about Spotify, performing live, and collaborating with her videographer, her live band, and even her husband!
Ruby received the 2024 New England Music Award for Soul/R&B Artist of the Year AND won the 2024 New England Songwriters competition in Hip Hop and R&B for her song “Thank You”!
If you want to learn more about Ruby, visit her Link Tree at linktr.ee/rubyshabazz and find her on Instagram at instagram.com/rubyshabazz.
Listen to this episode wherever you listen to podcasts or on our website www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com. Be friends with us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/CreativeGutsPodcast and Instagram at www.Instagram.com/CreativeGutsPodcast.
If you love listening, consider making a donation to Creative Guts! Our budget is tiny, so donations of any size make a big difference. Learn more about us and make a tax-deductible donation at www.CreativeGutsPodcast.com.
Thank you to our friends at Art Up Front Street Studios and Gallery in Exeter, NH and the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts in Rochester, NH for their support of the show!
[00:00:00] LH: I'm Laura Harper Lake.
[00:00:01] SW: And I'm Sarah Wrightsman. You’re listening to Creative Guts.
[00:00:02] LHL: You’re listening to Creative Guts.
[INTRO]
[00:00:17] SW: Hello, listeners. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Creative Guts. Happy New Year, and we are back.
[00:00:24] LHL: On today’s episode, we're interviewing Ruby Shabazz, a singer, songwriter, and performer. Some of her recent accomplishments include winning the 2024 New England Music Award for Soul and R&B Artist of the Year, the 2024 New England Songwriters Competition in Hip-hop and R&B for her song Thank You, and charted number one on Urban Influencer R&B and Soul Chart for her song Step Off.
[00:00:50] SW: Ruby was featured in our montage episode at the Concord Multicultural Festival, but we're super excited for an opportunity to have a longer conversation with Ruby. Before we jump into this episode, just a note that this episode was recorded virtually. With that, let's get right into this episode of Creative Guts with Ruby Shabazz.
[INTERVIEW]
[00:01:16] LHL: Ruby, thank you so much for being on the show. We're so excited to talk to you today.
[00:01:20] RS: I'm excited to be here, and I'm excited to talk to you guys, too.
[00:01:24] LHL: I think you're one of the first folks, maybe the second, I think the first folks whom we've had on a montage episode that we just happened to meet by chance. Now, we're doing a feature-length interview, so we got to chat with you incredibly briefly at the Concord Multicultural Festival. But now, we have the opportunity to really dive in and learn about you as a creative and all that you do. We've been able to look at some of your music and your music videos, and just get to know more about you. For the folks who may not be familiar with you, do you want to introduce yourself as a creative and how you express yourself, what you do for your creative passion?
[00:02:02] RS: Yes. My name is Ruby Shabazz. I'm a singer, songwriter, and performer from Nashua, New Hampshire. I grew up in Boston, Roxbury in the inner city. I love music. I love performing. I've wanted to do it since I was a little girl. In college, I started working with live musicians and bands playing in pubs and bars and stuff like that. I met my now husband who I record with, and I worked with him on some hip-hop and R&B tracks. I started working with more people in college and afterwards, like just doing hooks and backgrounds.
Over the years, I started developing my own ideas for what I wanted to do for a solo career. Now, I finally have gotten to that point where I'm comfortable and using my own voice to say the things that I want, knowing what I want to song write about, just finding my voice and putting out two EPs this past year.
[00:02:59] SW: Wow, that's super cool. It's always interesting to hear from people that sort of they've always known what they wanted to do. What was your introduction to music?
[00:03:08] RS: My introduction to music was listening to my parents' vinyls growing up, listening to Motown and Michael Jackson. I'm like, “These people sound so good. But how do they sound so good?” I was just enamored with it. Then seeing music videos, watching videos at my grandmother's house, VH1, I was just enamored with it. What really did it for me was being a teenager, being a preteen and seeing Mariah Carey sing for the first time. I was like, “Who is that? I want to sound like that.” That was my introduction to it.
Sade was another one who was just in the household, and the parents would play it all the time. It was like background music, but you didn't realize the influence it really had. I mean her voice is just – she also has a very sultry piercing voice that has an effect on you, and she's definitely one of my influences as well.
[00:04:08] LHL: You spoke a bit about your influences and who you've admired. I guess in relation to your style, who would you equate the way that you – how has your style evolved from being a teenager and being so impacted and starting music and then developing to now? How would you say it was evolving?
[00:04:27] RS: It evolves in a way that's kind of ironic because you grew up listening to pop stars like a Mariah, like a Whitney. I know I was like, "I want to do that. I want to do that." Then you're like, "Oh, I can't hit those notes. I can't hit those notes." So then you learn. You're like, "Okay. Well, what's my voice? What do I want to say?" I've learned that my style and the things that I want to sing about and the things that I've been through is more neo soul. It's more like India Arie, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, a Lauryn Hill. I love all those ladies. It's just the pop stars, obviously, is the first thing that maybe you're enamored with as a kid. Then you get into the grit of it, and you're like, “Yes, there's something here. I could get with that.” I found my own voice that way.
[00:05:18] LHL: When I heard your music, I thought of Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott, so it's awesome that you said that. Fun fact, Jill Scott was one of my first concert. She opened for Sting.
[00:05:30] RS: That is such a different combination as you wouldn't think would go together. But, yes, I could see that. Sting, I love Sting. Also, there was a time in my teenage years where I was really into rock, alternative rock. Maybe they're alternative rock because they are soft rock. But Sting, U2, I loved that rock edge soul. Then I had a period where I was into Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple.
[00:06:00] LHL: Oh, yes.
[00:06:01] RS: The ladies like that. Yes. I love me some Fiona Apple. Yes.
[00:06:05] LHL: So good. Yes. When you're writing music, I'm interested to know how your writing style has evolved as well. I guess what are some of the themes and subjects that you're writing about?
[00:06:20] RS: When I was first starting to write songs, it was love songs and boys. It's like, “Eh. Everybody can do that.” Now, it's evolved to – there's a good and a bad with the way it evolved, right? It's like I've been through some things. You lose loved ones. You lose people close to you, and you say, “I got to get real with this.” You got to get real with it, and I wanted to get real with it. It wasn't just like a fake thing. It was like I was just not feeling what I was doing at one point. I said I know why I'm not feeling it because I'm not being real. I'm not being truthful. I've gone through all this stuff, and I'm still trying to write these cutesy songs on – it's not working.
I pulled back some things. I had released some songs at one point, and I pulled them back because it just wasn't right at the time. I started writing differently. When I was writing, I took my time, and I said, "Ah, it's not quite there." I remember this one song I was writing. Actually, I haven't even released this one yet, but I was writing this one song. I was writing and writing, kept rewriting it. It was this one lyric it was bothering me because it was just kind of generic. I changed it to something more real, to something I was going through, and I started crying. I'm like, “Yes, that's it. That's the lyric.”
[00:07:39] LHL: That's when you know.
[00:07:40] RS: That's the lyric. Yes. The songs now, it's like it was a challenge that I was happy to do. It was more about being vulnerable, telling my truth, telling what I've been through, my struggles, my vices, things like that, that I felt better once I got it out. It was like I hope somebody can relate to it, and I think they will. But it's definitely therapy for me. Now, that that's out, maybe I do some love songs. I don't know. But, yes, I'm just like I would do this thing right now. I was like, “Ah, I don't want to try to write love songs. I can't do it.”
[00:08:20] SW: That's fantastic. How do you get your music out there? I imagine that that's a challenge. If you create something really great, cool. How do people listen to it, and how do you get in front of people and into their ears?
[00:08:33] RS: I mean, I post online. But then I've reached out to promotional groups. I reached out to DJ groups. My husband helped me a lot. He knew a lot of people, and he helped get me in front of people. That's like the hip-hop world because he's a hip-hop artist. They were open to it, and then I grew from there and learned different contacts to get in touch with for what I do. It started with hip-hop contacts, DJs, things like that, from things that I've done with other hip-hop artists years ago. I'm like, “Okay. Well, now I got my thing out. Do you want to listen?” They know who I am, so they would take a listen, gratefully.
It’s getting family and friends to listen. It's getting anyone that's involved with any part of the art. It could be the photographer, the videographer. Getting them to share it and you sharing their work and vice versa. It's like networking and sharing the love with other creatives no matter what it is that they do; music, art, video. You create a network.
[00:09:34] SW: Yes, absolutely. I see you're on Spotify, too. What has your experience been with that?
[00:09:39] RS: I mean, I'm just there for the numbers, to be honest with you. It would be nice to get paid, but it's just for the numbers to look good, I mean. Yes. I know what it is. But right now, I'm in that early artist stage, I guess. I'm like, “Ooh, 8,000 streams.” It’s like I can't buy anything with that, but it just looks good. Yes. But my headspace now is like, “Okay, how can I turn this into money? How can I turn this into more shows? How can I –” That's where I'm starting to think, but it started with just being happy that the numbers are there.
[00:10:19] LHL: Yes. Yes. That's really – I mean, I think for some of that must be proof of concept, right? Like, “Here it is.” Yes, there's an audience.
[00:10:26] RS: Right, exactly. Exactly. Yes. I remember last year dreading seeing my – what do you call it? The –
[00:10:34] LHL: Spotify Wrapped.
[00:10:36] RS: Yes, thank you.
[00:10:36] LHL: Yes.
[00:10:38] RS: I would look at it, and I'd try to be grateful, and I'd be like, “Ugh, not cutesy, not demure.” Not demure. But I would still post and be grateful about it. But this year, I was happy to post. People would say, “Oh, don't post that. That's just so like passé now. People aren't doing that, and we protest Spotify.” I was like, “Listen, I don't care. I got these numbers, and I'm, yes, I’m posting it.”
[00:11:10] LHL: Well, you're putting so much of your heart out there. You're putting so much of your work, your love of what you're doing out there. There's that whole debate as far as likes on social media and why you're creating. But you're creating it to get seen, to have a connection with someone else, so you see that.
[00:11:28] RS: You are. There's a page that I follow on IG that is so great. I forget the lady's name or the page name, but it's like, “Even if you don't get a like, it's worth creating the art.” It was something to that effect that she always says. Yes. Or even if it's old, it's new to somebody else. Your art is worth creating no matter how many people like it. I liked reminding myself of those things.
[00:11:52] LHL: That is so true. But it is lovely when you get to have a Spotify Wrapped that feels like such a – I mean, it's such an accomplishment. There are so many folks that don't get there. I think it's an accomplishment in itself just to put yourself out there because 90% of our questions relate to the creativity of what you're doing. But we also like to talk about the guts of what you're doing. I think I have this idea in my head of it's easier to have the guts to do a painting and put it out there than to sing, to write a song, and sing it, and put it out there.
To me, just in my own personal head, it feels way more vulnerable. It feels like you're just slicing a piece of your soul, and putting it out there, and people are judging it in even more tremendous ways than visual art. Maybe people will disagree with that, but that's just how it feels like, and so I really admire that. I think that's just so powerful and to especially evolve past love and relationships and that sort of stuff, to focus on these harder things and these things that you're experiencing. You're really – it’s your diary, your journal that you're putting out there and saying, "This is my heart and what it's experienced in all facets of life. Here, enjoy. Judge.” It’s just amazing.
[00:13:06] RS: Absolutely. I was a little bit worried about judgment. It's actually much more I have to say and much more that I have to put out on the table and be vulnerable. I did it enough with the songs I already have out that I'm not scared to go further now. There was a little bit of hesitation, but I found that I was judging myself more when I wasn't being real. I was like, "Nah, that's flat. That's corny. That's not it. Eh, you copped out there." I had pulled stuff back because of that. I'm like, "Nah, this is not it. It's not it." I'm very happy with what I put out. I'm very happy with what I share. Like I said, it's therapy for me. I had to get it out.
[00:13:48] LHL: Again, I applaud you. I just think it's not easy for everybody to do, to be brave enough to do that, so it's amazing.
[00:13:55] SW: Absolutely.
[00:13:56] RS: I talk about grief and loss. I talk about depression. I talk about – I have a song actually I'm going to put out about anxiety. I mean, I talk about vices and being a victim of overconsumption and stuff like that. I had to get it out and be real with myself. I was putting all these other vulnerable experiences out and just something felt incomplete with not getting to the core of what was going on with me. Whether it was from a result of grief and loss and pain and trying to fill voids, that's what my song Thank You is about. That's another piece of that. It was like complete when I wrote that, and I was like, "Yes, that's everything. There you go," so yes.
[00:14:45] LHL: I think that's so amazing because many of those things you just listed are such universal human experiences. Yet, when we're all experiencing them, we usually feel really alone with grief or with anxiety or a lot of these things that you mentioned. You feel like, “It's me against the world, and I'm dealing with this stuff.” A lot of times, people turn to music and art to feel that connection, to feel better, to feel closeness to somebody. Then they feel less alone.
[00:15:14] RS: Absolutely, and is less shame also.
[00:15:16] LHL: Yes, yes.
[00:15:17] RS: Yes, yes.
[00:15:18] SW: Absolutely, absolutely.
[00:15:19] RS: Absolutely.
[00:15:20] SW: Yes. Speaking of things that are really scary and hard, do you do a lot of live performance?
[00:15:27] RS: Mm-hmm, yes. Maybe not as much as a lot of full-time musicians that I know but, yes, I've done a lot of festivals. I do a lot of shows like in Lowell at Warp and Weft. This is one main place that we go, festivals down there. I pick and choose my spots, but I do it enough live. I want to get down to Boston, too. That used to scare me. I feel more comfortable now. It’s a thing of like, yes, you got to get out there and do it. But you got to practice also. I am in a routine now to practice for my live shows. I don't just – yes. When I was younger, I just thought I could just show up, but yes. It’s a thing of being disciplined, practicing, getting a band together practicing, practicing on my own. To what key am I singing, what's my note, how am I singing my note, how do I get the sound right, all that stuff. Now, I take my time and get that stuff right. Then I’m more comfortable because I practice a lot.
[00:16:28] SW: That's awesome.
[00:16:29] RS: Yes. It’s not for nothing.
[00:16:32] SW: Yes, yes. Absolutely. Yes.
[00:16:36] LHL: Stage fright is one of the – I definitely suffer from that, and I think a lot of folks do. It’s just, I think, the more that you prep and plan, you can help combat that and have that. But when you're performing, are you – some folks have anxiety. But then once they get on stage, they're kind of like in it and on. When you're in that performing role, do you kind of – are you constantly thinking like, “Okay, okay, okay. We got to get through this”? Or are you just like feeling it and really just happy to be there, and you're not feeling that anymore, any nerves, I guess?
[00:17:06] RS: That's happening now. That's happening in the last few years. Yes. There’s still some angst. I don't know if it's just nervousness or if it's actually anxiety because there's definitely thoughts in my head. What if this? What if that? What if this? What if that? Do you know that song? Do you remember that song? Are you going to forget the words? I know you went over it a million times, but you know how you do sometimes. I'm just go, “Shut up, shut up, shut up.” There is that.
Then, yes, recently in the past couple of years, it's like I'll get on stage and, yes, just a flip switch. Then if something catches me off guard and I get out in the moment and I forget something, I just make fun of myself and I start laughing. The crowd laughs with me, and I'm like, “Hold on. Hold on, y 'all.” But now, I can laugh at myself.
[00:17:54] SW: I love that.
[00:17:56] RS: Yes. I know I'm prepared. Something might just throw me off, and I'll get back on it, but yes.
[00:18:03] LHL: That's awesome. We wanted to say congratulations on winning the 2024 New England Music Award for Soul and R&B Artist of the Year and the 2024 –
[00:18:15] RS: Hold on a second. I'm trying to point at my award. Hold on. Look at what this says. This is not – it says, “Girlfriends are just therapists who you can drink with.” You weren't supposed to see that.
[00:18:33] LHL: There it is. That's awesome.
[00:18:36] RS: I have all my little trinkets up there.
[00:18:42] LHL: Didn't you get a second one as well, the New England Songwriters Award as well?
[00:18:45] RS: I did earlier this year. That was just a recognition. Yes.
[00:18:50] LHL: Tell us about what it's like to get awards now. That's pretty awesome.
[00:18:55] RS: It feels awesome. It feels awesome, and I'm grateful for them. I know I put in a lot of work. It mainly feels good to know people have listened and appreciated it. The song Thank You is the one that won the award. Was it? Oh, yes. It was Thank You. Yes. That was the song that I got so vulnerable with, and I was like, “Oh, that worked. I got to do that more.” But I was surprised because I'm like, “I am talking about some things. Okay.” Yes. It feels good the recognition and to know that people are listening. Yes.
[00:19:36] SW: Yes. Yes. Very validating. Yes. Yes.
[00:19:40] RS: Yes. Yes. It makes you feel, “Oh, I didn't just put myself out there for nothing.” I mean, even if I didn't win the award, people have told me that they really like the song. So, yes, that still feels good.
[00:19:53] LHL: I also wanted to mention I really love the music video for Thank You. The cinematography of Thank You, the music video, and the integration of the visual arts within it, the dancing, the street art, even the color grading of it, the whole tonality of it, I just really enjoyed it. Can you talk a bit about what it's like collaborating with folks on recording, on making music videos, like what that experience is when you're working with others?
[00:20:22] RS: Yes. That's thanks to my videographer that I work with, Myster DL, and ILL Mannered Films. Shout out to him. I didn't know what I was doing when I was doing videos. I just know what I wanted to see. But to learn to create, what do you call it, a storyboard or just to give him an idea and say, “I at least want two scenes. One depicted this and one depicted that. I think I want to shoot here for one scene and shoot there for one scene. I know I want to dancer.” It’s like I don't really know what I'm doing, but I guess I shouldn't say that. I just don't know the formalities of it. I just know, “Oh, I want to shoot at this cool mural, and I want a dancer. And I think I want another scene here doing this, and I want to depict this,” and he helps me put it together. Yes.
Thank You was in a thrift shop. I wanted a scene there playing around with the clothes in there. We did a changing booth scene. But then I wanted one with all of my crap around me and then a scene with it where it all gone and just talking about being grateful and being thankful. Then the actual video that I think you're talking about with the dancers and then the mural and then the different effects is Loving You.
[00:21:39] LHL: Oh, I'm sorry.
[00:21:40] RS: No, no. It's okay. It’s okay. But that is also about the same guy, same videographer.
[00:21:45] LHL: Okay, cool. Very cool.
[00:21:50] RS: I said I want some shots at the festival. But then there were things around the festival that we kind of found. He helped me because sometimes I'll just have two basic ideas. He'll say, “Okay. Well, we can also do this and also do that.” I'm like, “Okay, all right. That'll work. That'll work.” Yes. We did the basketball court. I'm like yes. The whole idea was to make it a nineties feel. I knew I wanted a dancer, and I knew I wanted a mural. I'm like, “I have to get a dancer.” I mean, I could shake my [inaudible 00:22:19], but I can't. It's like – I'm sorry. I can shake it and move it, but choreography is a different thing. It's on a whole another level. I know I wanted that to capture that nineties vibe. I had ideas, and then he helped me weave some other ideas into it to make it just a smooth look. Yes. I liked the basketball court, too. That was very nineties on the fence. I was like, “Yes, let's do this.”
[00:22:49] SW: Yes. The nineties vibe comes across really, really well. The fashion, it was great.
[00:22:55] RS: Thank you. Thank you. Yes. That was super fun. That was super fun. That was one that came out exactly how I wanted it. I love that one. Yes.
[00:23:04] LHL: Well, it's great that you have a filmmaker that you've worked with multiple times and had that collaboration. It sounds like it's a really good creative bond there.
[00:23:11] RS: Yes, yes. He helps me put it together. Yes. He had some great ideas that I was like, “I don't know.” But I've learned to not say no and just say, “Okay, we'll see. Let's try it.” Yes. Then if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Yes, yes.
[00:23:28] SW: That’s great. What about collaborating with a live band? Is that sort of its own fun challenge?
[00:23:36] RS: Yes. The band that I work with, the evolutionists and the musicians that I work with, they're great. It’s another thing, though, to take your music you've done in the studio and translate it with the live band. That's my next step that I'm working on. Yes. That's the next challenge because it doesn't sound the same. It's like I have to tune my ear to it better. That's the next thing. But the songs we have figured out have worked out great. Or I'll just do some Motown and cover songs or some nineties R&B or make it fun. It'd be something like everybody knows. Then I do want to – the next thing for next year would be to work in more of my original music and have the band learn that.
[00:24:22] SW: That's cool. Wicked.
[00:24:24] RS: Yes. Yes. I can't wait for that. That will be its own challenge, but it's – I can't wait to get with the band and practice with them and get it, the sound together and everything, and just get a groove. I'm looking forward to that because I would love to perform more of my original music with the live band. Yes.
[00:24:42] LHL: Oh, so awesome.
[00:24:43] RS: Yes. That's going to be fun. That's going to be good.
[00:24:46] SW: Did you mention your husband is a musician as well?
[00:24:49] RS: Yes, he's Fee the Evolutionist. He goes by that name.
[00:24:53] SW: Oh, okay. Cool.
[00:24:54] RS: Yes, and he's a rapper. He rhymes. He's put out songs online, too. He performs with me with the live band.
[00:25:01] LHL: Nice. Have you guys – have you written a song together ever? Has that ever come up?
[00:25:06] RS: I mean, usually, yes. Does it like – yes, yes. We did a song. What was it? Ain't No Love. It's usually like he'll have an idea, and he's like, “Babe, I need a hook for this.” I'm like, “Okay.” We used to get in the studio and write an idea together. But I find it works better if he has an idea and then he asked me to write to it and I'm like, “Okay.” Or if I have an idea and he's like, “Oh, you're going to let me rap on this, right?” I'm like, “Yes, yes, yes.” So, yes, but we complement each other really well with what we do for each other. It usually turns out really dope. So, yes, in a sense, we do write together. Yes.
[00:25:48] LHL: I love that. I love it when creative couples work together. I just think that's just – it just enhances the relationship, and it must be just so fun to share that passion together.
[00:25:59] RS: Yes. When it comes out really dope, it's just really good. Then he won an award last year. He won a musical award last year, the New England Musical Award last year. When we came home, I was like, “Babe, look at this household. We are award winners.”
[00:26:16] SW: You guys are just taking over.
[00:26:18] RS: Yes. I was like, “This household got it going on.” We’re really proud of each other and proud of ourselves. It's a lot of fun.
[00:26:28] LHL: Well, congratulations to him. Again, congratulations to you. It’s just so exciting, and it's great to see folks recognized for their hard work and artistry.
[00:26:37] RS: Thank you so much. Yes. I appreciate it. I do. Yes. I definitely appreciate it.
[00:26:42] LHL: That must help a bit when you go through tougher times. Do you experience writer's block or musician's block ever?
[00:26:52] RS: Yes, yes. Whenever that happens, I feel like it might be because I'm forcing an idea. It has to just flow out, so I'll just – if I'm feeling that way, if I think I want to write about something and I can't, it won't come out. I just put it down, and I come back. Or I might have to abandon the idea. I'm like, “All right. Maybe that was too conceptual of an idea. Maybe it's too forced. Just put it down and come back to it.” I did. It just has to come out and come to me and just like yes and just come out. If that happens, I just let it go. I just put it down, and then I trust myself that I will be able to write something cool but just not right now.
[00:27:35] SW: Yes. What's your preferred way of getting your songs written? Is it like a notes app on your phone or like a bunch of notebooks or like random napkins and scraps of paper?
[00:27:47] RS: It's note app and it's notebooks. Now, it's note app. But from the past, I have notebooks and notebooks full of songs and ideas. All those love songs I was telling you about when I'm like, "Oh. No, I can't. I can't. I can’t do it. I can't do it with this right now."
[00:28:05] SW: Do you ever go back to them just to see if there's anything salvageable in there?
[00:28:09] RS: I did. I did it one time and when I was embarrassed with myself. It’s like, “Oh, God.” I did. I did. I'm trying to think. Oh, so there was a song. It wasn't a love song, but it was an old song that I did revamp. It was an old song I wrote in college. I can't remember what I named it at the time. But now, I renamed it like Inner Peace. It was such a vague way that I said it. I even revamped the words and got more specific. I kept the melody, kept the cadence. Now, I call it Inner Peace, and it's talking about just – it’s like feeling lost and having struggles and then kind of coming back to yourself.
I mean, I couldn't tell you that's what the song was about back then. I have no idea what I was even writing. But it came together because I did. I looked it up again, and I revamped it. I was like, "Oh, I remember this. It's like the first song I wrote. I should –" Then it just started reformulating in itself and turning to something else, and I love it now. Actually, I can't wait to record that. That'll be next year.
[00:29:20] LHL: Talk about a time capsule of your past self-writing, creating this art, and then reconstructing it into something new. That's like you're collaborating with your past self.
[00:29:31] RS: Ooh, I like that. That's so cool. Yes. Yes, yes. It is like that. You see how much you've grown. That’s something cool to recognize as well.
[00:29:45] LHL: What does success look like to you as an artist?
[00:29:48] RS: Success looks like being happy with what I put out. It looks like being satisfied and happy with the content that I put out.
[00:29:56] LHL: Love it.
[00:29:57] RS: Plain and simple. Yes.
[00:29:59] LHL: That's really where it's at, the true depth of what you're doing. It's for you and yes.
[00:30:05] SW: I can't think of a single time that we've ever asked that question and gotten like, “I want to be a full-time artist, and I want to make a lot of money.”
[00:30:11] LHL: “I want millions.”
[00:30:12] SW: “I want to be famous.” Nobody ever says that. It's always like, “I want to be happy with what I'm doing.” Yes. It’s cool.
[00:30:18] RS: Yes. That's what it is. It's like, yes, when you're younger, you want to be famous. It's like, “I don't know, man.”
[00:30:24] LHL: Yes. I don't want to be famous. That's scary.
[00:30:32] RS: Yes. I get it. I get it now. Just being into the art itself because I am into the art itself. It’s funny. When I went to my gig Friday, people were saying to me, “Oh.” What did the owners say? We got in cool with the owner at Warp and Weft in Lowell. He said something to me I didn't even catch because I was just like, “What, what?” He was like, “Oh, look at you. You do it. I see you [inaudible 00:30:58].” “Wait, what?” My brain didn't even register. You know what I mean? But he was talking about, “I see you all over the place now. You're getting awards and doing this and doing that.” I was like, “Huh, what?”
[00:31:11] LHL: “Me?”
[00:31:13] RS: I was just into getting ready for the show that night. You know what I mean?
[00:31:16] LHL: Yes, yes.
[00:31:18] RS: Yes. Certain things will throw me off. I mean, it's obviously cool to be recognized, but my headspace is just like, “Okay. Oh, yes. I got this project. I got that project. Oh, I forgot about that song. I want to release that song. What ever happened to that?” That's my headspace. I'm just into the art. I want to work on the art all the time. “Oh, yes. What am I singing tonight? Do I remember that song? Oh, yes. These are the words. Okay, just relax. You got it.” That’s my headspace all the time.
[00:31:45] SW: That's great. Any other big questions before we get to rapid fire?
[00:31:52] RS: Oh, shoot.
[00:31:53] SW: Rapid fire.
[00:31:54] LHL: Rapid fire is coming. All right. What other artist has influenced you the most?
[00:32:00] RS: Oh, my God. Rapid fire? Oh, Kelly Lee out of UK. She's a dance vocal artist.
[00:32:07] LHL: Awesome. I'm going to check them out. That's so cool.
[00:32:11] RS: She's an amazing vocalist.
[00:32:13] LHL: Cool.
[00:32:13] SW: If you could have lunch with one musician dead or alive, who would it be?
[00:32:17] RS: Prince. Just for the shade and the tea, honey, like all day. Yes. Yes. The shade and the tea, I'm here for it.
[00:32:27] LHL: Love that. Favorite color?
[00:32:30] RS: Red.
[00:32:31] SW: Favorite scent.
[00:32:32] RS: Lavender.
[00:32:33] LHL: Favorite sound.
[00:32:37] RS: You know what I'm going to – it's going to be like opposite of what you think. It's silence. It's silence.
[00:32:48] LHL: Oh, love that.
[00:32:53] LHL: What's your favorite texture to touch?
[00:32:55] RS: Skin, darling. No, I’m just kidding. My favorite texture, silk or satin.
[00:33:03] LHL: Nice.
[00:33:04] RS: Oh, no, no, no. I lied. I lied. You know what? I like velvety like fur velvety type. Yes, that's what I like. Yes.
[00:33:14] LHL: What's the most inspiring location you've traveled to?
[00:33:18] RS: Barcelona, Tossa de Mar. It was my first time a couple weeks ago. I want to live there. I want to live there.
[00:33:26] SW: Very cool.
[00:33:27] RS: It was a seacoast called Tossa de Mar. I went through – there's like this fort castle thing on the water. There's a village in there. I turn this one corner, and it just opened up, and it was like this levels of like gardens and doors. I was like, “Where am I? I want to live here.”
[00:33:49] SW: That's super cool.
[00:33:50] RS: It was inspiring because I saw the statue of Eva. Is it Eva Gardner? No. Yes. Was it Eva Gardner? No. It was a fifties singer. Who am I thinking of? I can't think of – it was a statue there, and I can't think of it right now, a fifties singer that Frank Sinatra was married to. I can't think of it right now. Anyway, she was a singer and she lived there. I was like, “How can I do that?” Oh, she was an actress and a singer. But anyways, I have a statue over there, and I have to find a way to get a statue of myself in this island.
[00:34:24] LHL: Oh, man. Well, if you move there, we're coming and visiting.
[00:34:27] RS: Okay, that's great.
[00:34:28] LHL: We'll do a follow-up interview, and it'll be our excuse to go to Barcelona.
[00:34:31] SW: Ava Gardner. You were really close. I just Googled. I Google Frank Sinatra wives and that –
[00:34:37] RS: Yes. That's who it was. Yes. Thank you.
[00:34:41] SW: What is the last new thing you've learned?
[00:34:44] RS: Oh, I don't know.
[00:34:45] LHL: I know this is the question that's –
[00:34:46] RS: Oh, I guess Catalan, the language of Catalan. Yes. It's what they speak in Barcelona. It's like actually not Spanish.
[00:34:55] LHL: Oh, wow. Okay.
[00:34:56] RS: It's like closer to French, but it's called Catalan. Catalan, yes.
[00:35:01] LHL: That's amazing. I never knew that.
[00:35:04] RS: I learned some words to try to get around there.
[00:35:08] LHL: Very cool.
[00:35:09] RS: Yes. It was interesting.
[00:35:12] LHL: Well, this is our clincher question. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?
[00:35:18] RS: Oh, honey. Stay away from him. Stay away. Stay away from him. Stay away from him, although he is the reason why I wrote that good song, Loving You. Yes. It was a nineties throwback, so it was about nineties heartbreak. But, yes, I would definitely say stay away.
[00:35:39] LHL: Still get that amazing inspiration and art from that, but somehow not the experience of that.
[00:35:45] RS: Yes, you're right. Right. Yes.
[00:35:48] LHL: That's the tough, tough part about great art is usually it can often come from a lot of heartache and tough [shit 00:35:55].
[00:35:56] RS: Yes, yes. Oh, [inaudible 00:35:57] yourself. Beep, beep.
[00:36:03] SW: Thank you so much, Ruby. This was really great.
[00:36:06] RS: Yes. I had a lot of fun. Thanks for having me.
[00:36:09] LHL: Oh, so fantastic to – the montage episodes where we just get little snippets of people is super nice, but we also just sort of like surprise you while you're working. We just really get to dive in and hear about all the background of all the amazing stuff you do, so it really is a pleasure for us to get to chat like this. Thank you so much.
[00:36:29] RS: You're welcome, and thanks for having me. This was a lot of fun.
[00:36:33] LHL: Yes. Thank you again, Ruby. With that, show us your creative guts.
[00:36:37] SW: Show us your creative guts.
[00:36:37] RS: Show us your creative guts.
[OUTRO]
[00:36:44] SW: Another huge thank you to Ruby for joining us on Creative Guts again.
[00:36:50] LHL: Ruby, you're just amazing.
[00:36:52] SW: I know. What a wonderful positive and really vulnerable and honest human.
[00:36:59] LHL: All around just a fantastic guest. After the interview, we were talking about just how much her cheeks hurt from smiling because she's so positive. She's so real and authentic. It was just a simple joy to talk with her. I think it was such an honor because I just have this really strong feeling she's going to be – her listener numbers are going to keep going up and up and up. She's going to accomplish amazing things.
[00:37:23] SW: Yes. I know we didn't even really get a chance to talk about this, but her web presence, her music video, she comes off as very polished. She's a professional artist, and you talk to her, and she's so down to earth that it's almost like she's manifesting this less presence for herself, and it's so amazing.
But I feel like our listeners will appreciate that before we started recording, we went over our usual housekeeping checklist of like, “Hey, you're on a podcast.” We're like, “Do you have any questions for us?” Her question was have we finished our Christmas shopping yet. It was so charming and disarming, and I love it. It was just so lovely because I don't think a guest has ever done that. They'll ask questions about the podcast, when it's being released or, “Nope, all good. Let's go.” She was just like, “What's up, guys? Let's chat.” It was just so great because I'm like, “Oh, we're friends already. I love it.”
It was amazing. It was such a – I'm glad that I wasn't there at the Multicultural Festival, so I didn't meet her then. It was so good to get the chance to meet her and talk to her. It was amazing.
[00:38:27] LHL: I know, and I think I mentioned it in the episode, but we totally kind of interrupted her. She was doing stuff. She had a mission. She was occupied, and we were just like, "Hey, do you want to be on a quick episode of a montage [inaudible 00:38:38]? Here.” And you stick a mic in someone's face after they say yes. It’s like a quick just what are the bare bones what are you about. Yes. It is amazing to be able to dive back in. She is all that I expected and more. She really just was so lovely. I think what you said about being so down to earth is really true. When you think of really accomplished creatives like this, you never know. It was just – I'm gushing, yes, because I really, really enjoyed her. Yes, just wonderful.
[00:39:13] SW: For a virtual episode which we do so infrequently because it is so much harder to connect and feel engaged. That was just not a problem with her whatsoever. I feel like we're friends, even though we only met on Zoom.
[00:39:25] LHL: I know. Yes. I know. Yes. It feels like we've known her for a few years at this point. Ruby, thank you again. I don't think we can thank you enough for joining us, but also for your authenticity as a creative, as a musician. You really are representing your true self out there with your art, and that is just no small feat.
[00:39:44] SW: Yes, absolutely.
[00:39:46] LHL: If you're not familiar with Ruby, you should definitely check out her work. We're going to point you towards her Linktree. That's linktree/rubyshabazz. You can follow her on Instagram where her handle is her name, @rubyshabazz, and that's with two Zs. As always, you can find those links and more in the episode description and on our website, creativegutspodcast.com. You will find us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn where our handle is @creativegutspodcast.
[00:40:13] SW: This episode is sponsored in part by the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts. Thank you to our friends in Rochester for their support of the show.
[00:40:20] LHL: Though we're not recording there today, where we typically do at Art Up Front Street, we still want to give them a big shout out for being such a big supporter of the show and providing space for Creative Guts.
[00:40:30] SW: If you love listening and you want to support Creative Guts, you can make a donation, leave us a review, interact with our content on social media, purchase a merch. Whatever you're able to do, we appreciate you.
[00:40:40] LHL: Thank you for tuning in. We'll be back next Wednesday with another episode of Creative Guts.
[END]