Her voice just met most of us but we’re well acquainted with her lyrics. Muni Long has penned hits for several major artists like Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande, and others. After sweating behind the scenes, the Florida-native is shining with her “Hrs and Hrs” single.
“Being a pop writer in L.A., they don’t want to hear [vocal] runs,” Muni Long explained in Rollingstone. “You sing straight, dry, bland, hit the note, give me a little character, and get out. You are just there to assist” the talent, she says. “You don’t show up trying to be the star.” It’s got to be difficult having that ‘star’ quality but being held back. Even weirder is how the same executives who boxed her in are the ones who now want to work with her on current projects. “That’s a bit overwhelming,” she shared. “‘What happened? I’ve known all you guys for years. All of a sudden I have something and now you’re interested?’ I’m trying very hard not to be pessimistic about that.”
The Re-invention(s)
Priscilla Renea aka ‘Muni Long’ weathered a few reinvention periods of her artistry. I thought it was interesting to read that she even tried to release country music under the stage name ‘Melrose’ in 2018. She actually tried the country route multiple times and vowed not to focus on “impressing the good, old boys.” However, she says that, “it wasn’t clicking.” Just my two cents here: the universe will plead its case and keep calling us to our destinies.
She says that her co-manager Rashad Tyler was the one who pushed the idea of her singing R&B and giving that a shot. It worked out. Two more cents: there’s value in having good people around you. Those who always want the best for us. They never stop trying to make sense of it all, you know?
Also beautiful, her ownership of the reinvention. She released “Hrs & Hrs” under her own label, SuperGiant Records, and says that she plans to continue operating business as such. “I’m not trying to go backwards, go back into that dark system,” she says. “And [maintaining] ownership is where the world is going. We don’t want people telling us what to do.” She’s correct. We’ve been afforded several new opportunities to reach others and the internet has opened up the world of possibility like never before.
Moral of the story: fly.
People will put limits on us. They create lanes to keep us in and paths to keep us on that align with what they see for our lives. In Muni’s case, imagine if she had started to believe the idea of her not being a star. She would still be writing music from behind the scenes and ‘Hrs & Hrs’ may not even be a thing. Who knows? Another artist may not have been able to deliver the record like she did.
Live outside of the box they put you in and fly. Take yourself to the moon where you were destined to be.
