Tiana James

I was probably between the ages of two and five when I started to hum my first tune. I can vividly remember trips to my grandmother’s where we would be going somewhere in the car singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” and The Sound of Music’s “Do-Re-Mi” together. It was in her house that I wrote my first song, performed my first mini “concert” and gained my first “fans,” (even though they don’t really count because family is biased, but to this day they remain my biggest support system). She taught me how to harmonize, and how to hold a melody while another conflicting melody was being sung on top of it, scales, you name it— she taught me it. It would be hard to talk about my music without mentioning this important part of my life, as my grandmother helped to lay the foundation for the musician I was to become.

Fast forward about twenty years, at the age of twenty-two years old, I’m now on the verge of releasing a body of work that I can actually say that I am proud of. No longer singing nursery rhymes, the music I create today deals with more complex and mature content. While some of my music is based off of simply a mood that I am feeling, or a situation I am dealing with, not every song that I make comes from my own life experiences, and I tend to look towards others as inspiration for my work. Whether it be a predicament a friend is in, a moment I witnessed on a subway ride, whatever the scenario, I find ways to conceptualize everyday occurrences into the music that I create.