Soulful singer-songwriter Rasha Jay stopped by MoggBlog HQ to introduce herself, chat about preferences on whether she likes to perform live or record, musical influences and a lot more!

To anyone new to your music, name 3 words that best describe your sound

Melodic, soulful, dark

Introduce yourself and your hidden talent.

I am a songwriter and I absolutely love singing live! I was born and raised in small towns in southern Maryland in a large family, plenty of cousins to try out songs to, and pretend I was on stage. I wrote my first song at age 9, ran out and taught it to them and made up a dance to it. Since then, I’ve been looking for avenues and opportunities to create and perform since then. And I always will. My music often touches upon the other spectrum of being joyful and in love, it recognizes all the emotions that can occur that I feel and am curious about. My hidden talent is that I can recite word for word old Bugs Bunny cartoons and I still watch them whenever I can find them.

Do you prefer performing live or recording, and why?

Absolutely prefer performing live, it’s a wonderful rush. I have a wonderful band and I know no matter what I change on the fly or make up, they have me. We can fly when we go live.

Who are your main musical influences and why?

That’s tough. Prince early on and Michael, Janet Jackson. I also grew up hearing a lot of soulful R&B, Pop, Country and Rock thanks to my Uncle Larry. Prince mainly because he had no rules, no limitations in his music and I connect with that. Everything in his music isn’t sonically gorgeous and I appreciate it.

What’s in store for you for the rest of the year?

I’d like to finish up my next album, it’s coming together but I’d like to rework a few things that I started at the height of the pandemic. And get back to performing live!

Tell MoggBlog viewers about your latest release! What’s the inspiration behind that?

BACKBONE was written in February 2020 after the sudden losses of my uncle on Jan 1 and my aunt 30 days later. I had to sit with my emotions and deal with the grief. However, with that came gratitude, I was honored to know them, to be a part of my family. BACKBONE is the wail of that recognition. I wrote it ahead of the headlines of 2020 that impacted us all in tremendous ways, and now singing it—it takes on new meaning, the audience has grown and I’m not alone in what I’m saying, I know that!

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