A Conversation With Kelly Moonstone

Neo-soul singer-songwriter, rapper and producer Kelly Moonstone, hailing from Queens, New York, is an  artist whose music utterly embodies versatility and authenticity, fusing various genres to deliver novel,  colorful sounds. Kelly invites listeners to slow down, indulge in a sense of calm and enter the  soundscape she masterfully crafts with warm and soulful melodies, unapologetically raw lyrics, and  stirring beats. Her emotions and life experiences are displayed throughout every track, this vulnerability  being the essence that connects her with her audience. 

Formerly known as Afr0dite, she released her debut full-length project as Kelly Moonstone, “I Digress...”  in May of 2023, considered by many to be an Album of the Year contender, and features production  from Navy Blue, Budgie, Da-P, and the artist herself. Her ascent over the years had garnered recognition  and co-signs from many peers in the underground and beyond, from opening for Navy Blue on his 2023  Ways of Knowing tour, to performing at Noname’s Sundial Block Party in Chicago last August. 

In a recent visit to New York, I linked up with Kelly in Brooklyn, and we sat down to discuss her influences, her artistic journey, notably her LP “I Digress...”, and what’s next to come in the musician’s  evolution as she shoots for the moon (pun intended). 

modrNation: Growing up in Queens, do you feel like that shaped the way you express yourself in your  music? Do you have any influences that you’d say affect your artistry to this day? 

Kelly: I want to say yes and no. The area that I live in is southeast Queens, so it's very secluded from the  rest of the city. Like, the last train stop on the J is probably 30 to 40 minutes from where I live, so it's  definitely a heavily suburban area and it's very homey. It kind of inspired me to want to see what's out  there, explore, and have new experiences. It's like the type of place where you raise a family, and that is  the antithesis of me. I want to say it had a huge part because it just pushed me to want to figure out  new things for myself. But also, I've always had base influences for my music. I always say Erykah Badu  and Jill Scott are like my two, and those are the people that I get compared to the most. I think people  can definitely hear them in my music. Even though I'm trying to make my own lane and have my own  individual sound, I can't deny that they've had a huge influence on me. 

modrNation: Remaining on the topic of influences, having a Pentecostal Christian background, do you  think that growing up in church shaped the way you started getting into music? Was music just  something that was always present, or how did that come to be? 

Kelly: Yeah, the church definitely played a big role. I was always in children's choirs at church, and I was  always engaging with some type of music. My mom loves to sing, and I think that she and my sister were  my first introductions to different types of music. My mom listens to a lot of gospel. She's an older  Jamaican woman, and she's very rigid; her thing is gospel music. Although, she also listens to a lot of  blues, and a lot of country music. There were a lot of songs I used to listen to and know by heart as a kid,

and I didn't know who made them until I was an adult. For instance, there was Otis Redding’s “Pain in  My Heart”. I can sing that song word for word, but I never knew Otis Redding made it until I was a lot  older. My sister was probably my only resource for pop culture at the time because she's 11 years older  than me, so she was already a formed teenager. 

modrNation: She was well-versed. 

Kelly: Yeah, so everything she was listening to, I was listening to. Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Amy  Winehouse, Nas, Jay-Z, all that was her influence and that definitely shaped my sound. 

modrNation: Elder siblings come in clutch for that, for sure. The name ‘Kelly Moonstone’, how did you  decide on it and/or what inspired it? 

Kelly: It's literally just my name and my birthstone. 

modrNation: Very cool! Remind me, which month does moonstone belong to? 

Kelly: June. I have three birthstones, so I have pearl, alexandrite and moonstone. Based on what I’ve read, moonstone represents new beginnings, success in business and love endeavors & simply starting  over, which I think was very representative of the time I was going through before, because I used to go  by Afr0dite. I had that stage name for around seven years. I decided it was time for a change because  the stylization of it was difficult for people because there was a number in it, the O being zero. So, that  was hard for some people to really grasp. I was like, let me simplify it, and I always introduce myself as  Kelly so that's another thing. I want to be more true to self. I'm 28 now, so I'm entering my 30s soon and  I just want to transition into something that feels more authentic to me. 

modrNation: Yeah, true, it feels closer to you, if anything. Love it! So, newer artists from Queens; are  there some that you would like to see gain more recognition? Maybe any you've worked with? 

Kelly: I haven't worked with too many people from Queens, but I love my city. I love hearing when  anybody's doing a thing, getting famous, blowing up. Nobody's coming to the top of my head right now,  and that's partially because my memory sucks so I don't know. Shout out to everybody doing their thing! 

modrnation: I know that you're a producer as well, so do you have any self-production on your latest  album ‘I digress...’? 

Kelly: Yes, I do. I produced 4 of the 10 tracks. So, I made the intro, Digress, Psilocybin, and I also did  Unforgettable Love. If I'm forgetting anything then I'm not sure, but I know I did those four. 

modrNation: I really love the way this album feels almost confessional and diary-like. Would you say  that during a lot of those songwriting processes, your inspiration stems from real experiences?

Kelly: A lot of my music can be personal. I wouldn't say all of it is, but I will say that for a lot of those  scenarios or a lot of the music that I make, it's not out of the realm of possibility to experience those  feelings at any moment in time. I write about all different aspects of love: the negative, the positive, you  know, the beautiful, the ugly, the empowering... the parts of you that get a little disappointed because  you feel yourself regressing. But all of that is authentic and all that is real, it's raw and it's just life. 

modrNation: It's all part of your experience, and it makes you you at the end of the day. 

Kelly: Exactly, so I really try to encapsulate that. It's also about love of self, too. Personal progression in  my career, things that I've been working really hard for coming into fruition, all those things are  important to me, and all those things reflect the love I gave myself. 

modrNation: You’ve mentioned in the past that you find it almost scary to write without music or  without the beat already. So, when you're in that process of creating and you've got your beat going, do  you usually come up with a hook first, or do you try and piece together some lyrics you've already  written? What's your process usually like? 

Kelly: That's why I like to have the beat first, because I don't want to say I need it per se. If I really try to  make a song without a beat, I'm sure I could do it. It's just not my preferred way to go about it at all.  Usually, I take the melody and I just find notes that fit within the melody. I'll hum something first and  once I have that sequence of notes that I like, I'll fill that with words. Okay, so I definitely like having the  music first, because it kind of tells me the vibe that I'm going for and it inspires me, it tells me a mood, it  gives me a feeling. Sometimes I like to ask, especially when co-collaborating with somebody, a question  like, ‘what word comes to your mind when you hear the beat?” For example, I was with redveil and  MAVI a couple months ago and I was like, ‘What do you think of when you hear this song?’ to which  someone said caterpillars or butterflies, something like that. So, we made a song about butterflies. That  one word inspired my entire verse, so I like fun stuff like that. 

modrNation: That’s sick! My next point is actually to ask you about some of your recent collaborations. I  know you have one collab track out on streaming platforms with MAVI, titled “Just Another Day”. You  were in the studio with Saba recently, so when can fans anticipate a collab with him? 

Kelly: I'm not giving too much about that, but we do have a song together. There’s definitely a song. 

modrNation: Amazing, that’s good to know. Do you think it's something that you'll incorporate into a  bigger project, or is it a single vibe? 

Kelly: I'll definitely put in a project.  

modrNation: Cool, and are there any other collaborations you're looking forward to, or that are in the  works?  

Kelly: I wouldn’t say in the works, but I would love, love, love, love, love to work with Noname. modrNation: Yes, okay! What were your thoughts on her recent project ‘Sundial’?

Kelly: Oh, it was a gorgeous album, absolutely. 

modrNation: Right, it was great. 

Kelly: I give it all 10s. It's amazing. There's nothing else to it, like you said. I enjoyed it; the first time I  listened to it, there was like a thunderstorm outside. It was raining quite heavily, and I was just sitting in  the dark and letting it play. It was an experience, like it just took me for a ride. The beat selection, her  lyrics, it's just all so pretty. There’s no other way to describe it. 

modrNation: It's a different kind of feel for sure. It's almost whimsical— 

Kelly: —but it’s also very raw and real. 

modrnation: Yes, in that way. 

Kelly: The lyricism touches on so many different aspects, and I appreciate her for being able to be so  forthcoming on the album and just not really caring too much about how other people will interpret it,  because at the end of the day, she's making music for a specific demographic and if it doesn't apply, or if  it doesn't feel like it's not made for you then it probably wasn't made for you. The people that vibe with  it will vibe with the people that don't. Oh well. 

modrNation: True, and I saw that she shouted you out in an interview the other day, that was cool. 

Kelly: Right, it was, she was with Eric. She did an interview with EricTheYoungGawd, and he mentioned  me, and then she was like, “yeah, shout out to her”. Yeah, I was really excited about that. Also, on the  topic of the collaborations, I would also really love to work with Smino. Hi, Smino. If you can read this,  please, let's make a song. I love you. 

modrNation & Kelly: *laughs* 

modrNation: A Kelly Moonstone x Smino collab would be iconic; with each of the Ghetto Sage members  at that. Speaking of that trio, you performed at Noname’s Sundial block party! What was that like for  you? 

Kelly: It was amazing. I performed "Window To The Soul" for the first time in Chicago. I love Chicago. modrnation: Man, I would love to see to Chicago. 

Kelly: It’s so beautiful. I feel like Chicago gets a bad rap because of all the things that go on out there. It's  really and truly a beautiful city. It's nice to go with a local. My partner and I were out there, so he  showed me around, took me to a lot of places, and it was wonderful. It's funny because when I was out  there, I was having such a good time, and then somebody made a comment and they were like, ‘oh, you  can tell your friends it’s safe to come to Chicago, they don't have to be scared.’ In my mind, I was like,  ‘wait, what?’ It wasn’t my line of thinking at all. 

modrnation: I feel like that's the good kind of energy to have going into new places. Like me coming to  New York, I've never really been here before. I don't even know how the subway works, but I’m getting  the hang of it all.  

Kelly: Yeah, obviously be aware of your surroundings and be safe and stuff, but I feel like that's with everywhere you go.

modrNation: It is everywhere you go for sure. You've had a couple of live performances in the past few  months, from being an opener for Navy Blue’s tour, to SILK Fest, to your album release party, so what  has it been like sharing some of the emotions you relay in your tracks with a live audience? 

Kelly: It has been amazing. It's been very emotional, especially at my release party. Oh gosh, I was crying  my eyes out at the end of my set. It was just really nice to know that people resonated with my music.  People relate to it, people feel it, they incorporate it into their everyday lives. There are millions and  trillions of songs you can listen to, and you chose to listen to me? That in itself is such an honor, and I'm  just so happy to be in a position where people want to hear what I have to say. So, it’s always emotional  for me, it’s always super special.  

modrNation: It’s almost like you’re taking it all in for the first time again— 

Kelly: Every single time I get on stage.  

modrNation: What can fans expect from Kelly Moonstone in the future? 

Kelly: I definitely am working on visuals. When I first put out the project, it was really a rush to get it out  before the tour because I wanted to have new material to perform. After I got back, I had to deal with a  bunch of life stuff, getting acclimated to being back, going back to work, and things like that. So now  that I'm kind of back into my routine, I feel as though I have the bandwidth to do certain things. I'm in  the process of working on visuals and eventually, I would like to put out more music.  

modrNation: Speaking of future music, on your next project, do you think you will incorporate more  collaborations? 

Kelly: So, I worked on a lot of ‘I Digress...’ by myself. I was in my home studio, in my room, and this time, I'm definitely going to push outward, do more studio sessions with other people and just see what we  come up with. Honestly, I'm not even in a rush, because I feel like music gets absorbed so quickly, and I  want to kind of re-roll this last project because I didn't get to release it with visuals. So, it's going to be  like a revamp, you know? 

modrNation: Absolutely, so that you can put out the other components that go along with it before  moving on to another. 

Kelly: I'm not in a rush and I'm not putting pressure on myself, because that's when you panic, and you  worry about perfection, and I've been guilty of that so many times. I don't want to do that with myself,  so I'm pacing myself and taking my time, taking everything in stride, prioritizing my immediate needs  first, because I have things I'm trying to attain, like we spoke about before. So, once I get that out of the  way, the good stuff will come.