Get to Know: The Arti$t

The Arti$t makes music that lives in vulnerability. The Newark, New Jersey–born R&B singer is building a world shaped by honesty, reflection, and emotional transparency, a space where feelings translate into melody and personal experiences become songs listeners can recognise themselves in. 

For her, music isn’t about performance as much as it is about processing. Writing and recording serve as a way to work through emotions in real time, turning moments of self-reflection into something shared. 

“I would describe myself as a very vulnerable person,” she says, speaking to New Wave Magazine. “The world that I’m building is about honesty, reflection, and acceptance. A lot of what I’m doing through my music is accepting things and working through them. It’s therapeutic for me and hopefully for other people too.” 

When asked how she would introduce herself to someone discovering her music for the first time, she keeps the answer simple: honesty. 

“I’m building a world where people can reflect, accept themselves, and feel understood. That’s really what the music is about,” she explains. 

That openness sits at the centre of her artistry. Since stepping into the studio for the first time in 2018, The Arti$t has steadily carved out her own space within contemporary R&B, turning personal experiences into deeply felt records that resonate with listeners across the internet and beyond. 

Long before music became her path, however, Newark shaped the person and artist she would eventually become. Raised in the city, she credits its creative energy with influencing both her personality and artistic instincts. Growing up surrounded by creativity made self-expression feel natural. 

“It’s real cultural,” she says. “A lot of artists are born from there. Not just music but painting, fashion, everything. Despite anything negative you might hear about the city, it always felt like home. It felt like love.” 

Before music entered the picture, The Arti$t had a completely different focus. Basketball was once her primary ambition, and the competitive mindset she developed on the court still informs the way she approaches her career today. 

“I keep going,” she says, when asked what lessons she has picked up from the sport. “There’s no such thing as failure. It’s always a lesson and always a way to get better. That’s the same mindset I had in basketball.” 

Ironically, music was never something she initially planned for. Friends encouraged her to step into the studio after hearing her sing, and those early sessions quickly revealed a natural instinct for melody and storytelling. In 2020 she released her debut project Arti$t: Take One, beginning the process of building an audience online as snippets and songs circulated across social media. 

Much of her music begins not with lyrics but with feeling.  “Most of the time it starts with the melody,” she explains. “I just say whatever words come to my head and follow the emotion.” Rather than writing songs beforehand, she prefers to let the music develop naturally in the studio. 

“I like to be present,” she says. “If I write somewhere else and try to recreate the feeling later it’s different. I would rather just be in that moment.” 

The emotional honesty that defines her work today was something she had to grow into over time. 

“I had to grow into being vulnerable,” she admits. “But once I saw how people connected with it, especially with songs like ‘Sober’ (embed music/video link here), it encouraged me to keep leaning into it.” 

When the song began gaining traction online, the response confirmed that listeners were connecting with the authenticity she was putting into her music. 

“I couldn’t believe it,” she recalls. “It was beautiful. Knowing the song touched people the way it did, that’s really all I want to do. Spread love and make people feel something.” 

Now The Arti$t is preparing to enter a new chapter with an upcoming EP titled DND, a project she describes as the most honest body of work she has created so far. 

“I got a feeling about this one,” she says with a smile. “The music came so easy because it’s the most honest I’ve ever been. It’s really telling a story from the top to the bottom.” 

The project contains twelve tracks in total, including seven new songs, two previously released records, and several voice notes woven throughout the listening experience. Designed to be heard from beginning to end, the EP follows a deeply personal emotional journey. 

“This project made me look in the mirror,” she says. “It forced me to be honest with myself before trying to be honest with the world.” 

Unlike many contemporary releases, the project features no collaborations. The decision was intentional and allows the focus to remain entirely on her voice and perspective. 

“People need to receive me, accept me, and respect what I’m capable of doing,” she explains. “This project is just me.”  Sonically, the EP blends contemporary R&B with nostalgic influences, drawing from textures reminiscent of earlier eras. “It’s like mixing the past with the present,” she says. “The guitars, the drums, the way the pianos feel. It has those 90s and early 2000s vibes in there.” 

Visually, this era is defined by the colour purple, which serves as a symbolic thread running throughout the project’s aesthetic. The shade appears across the visuals and artwork surrounding the release, reflecting the emotional depth that runs through the music itself. 

She also references the iris flower as part of that symbolism, a flower traditionally associated with wisdom, hope, and emotional clarity.  Explaining further , “I wanted to show people that love isn’t just red or pink. Love can be purple too.” 

For her, the colour purple represents a broader understanding of love, one that goes beyond romance and explores emotional growth, self-acceptance, and the complicated ways people care for one another.

“It can be deeper and more complex,” she continues. “It’s not always about romance. Sometimes love is shown through actions.”

That idea mirrors the emotional themes across the project, where love is explored not just as a feeling between people, but also as something that exists within personal healing, reflection, and learning to understand yourself.

As her audience continues to grow, The Arti$t has also begun bringing her music to stages around the world, performing for crowds of thousands across international shows in London and South Africa.

“It made me realise I can actually do this,” she says. “Some shows had eight thousand people, five thousand people. Hearing them sing the songs back to me is crazy.”

Seeing audiences in completely different parts of the world connect with her music has been one of the most surreal experiences of her career.

“It just feels like I’m really walking in my purpose,” she reflects. “None of my family had ever been out of the country before. So to be across the world performing and people are singing my songs back to me, it’s like wow. Look how far we’ve come.”

Despite the momentum building around her career, The Arti$t remains focused on the deeper reason she began making music in the first place.

“I just want people to take away that I’m here,” she says. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

Looking ahead, she hopes listeners will one day look back on her journey and feel proud that they supported her from the beginning.

“I want people to say they knew I was going to blow like that.”

Through honesty, emotion, and an unwavering commitment to authenticity, The Arti$t is proving that vulnerability can be one of the most powerful instruments an artist has. As her music continues to travel further across the world, the message at its core remains simple: feel deeply, love openly, and never be afraid to tell your truth.

Listen here