4 Artists to Sustain Us During The Pandemic

By Kendra Hale

It is almost unheard of that I go a day without listening to music. Sound as a modality of healing is my limitless source and what has sustained me throughout my life. Music also helps me activate the creative pathways that encourage me to dream and flow through my writing. A gift born out of pandemic-induced solitude has been all the new songs, artists, and songwriters I’ve added to my extensive quarantine playlist. Below are some artists and their songs that have helped sustain both me and my writing during the pandemic.

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Masego

Masego is a Jamaican-born talent and featured in the wildly popular song from pre-quarantine days with FKJ called “Tadow.” He blends a divine combination of future soul, R&B, and jazz fusion to produce sounds notably infused with saxophone and piano. Vocally, Masego has a fresh tone that soothes my soul and reminds me I can access joy at any moment.

Song Pick: “Veg Out"

The perfect upbeat quarantine tune to mellow out to while cooking, eating, writing, dreaming, and beyond.

TeaMarr

TeaMarr is an artist I recently heard and can’t seem to get enough of. A native to Boston, Teamarr’s voice carries a texture that is buttery, angelic, and sensual. The art of her sound is dreamy, direct, and personal. Her tracks dance within the veins of pop, R&B, and hip-hop coupled with her own unique flare.

Song Pick: “Cool Enough”

This song showcases her gorgeous range, distinct vocals, and her lyrically raw nature.

Koffee

A Reggae artist on the rise, Koffee has uplifted my spirit especially when I’m working through difficult emotions. Something in her voice convinces me she is smiling and encourages me to do the same. Her songs speak of gratitude, joy, adventure, and resilience among many other chapters we face on our life journeys.

Song Pick: “Lockdown”

This song dreams of when quarantine is over and the liberated adventure that awaits us all.

Chloe x Halle

Often noted as Beyonce’s protégés, Chloe x Halle are the equivalent of a two-person choir. Originally from Georgia, these sisters intuitively navigate harmonies in the most magical way. I appreciate how these gifted women experiment with different sounds and do so with seemingly natural ease.

Song Pick: “Lonely”

A sweet song that reminds us all that solitude in quarantine doesn’t have to be lonely.

Ultimately, these songs activate a sense of comfort within me, encourage me to surrender, flow into breath, and move my body intuitively. More than anything, during a time of heightened uncertainty, stress, rapid global shifts, perpetual and compounding trauma for lives moving through the land in Black and Brown bodies, that sense of home within a melody, harmony, or just one note has been more than welcome–and one of the gifts I have been so thankful for during this pandemic.

I am learning I can rest and that rest is a form of resistance, reclamation, and restoration from the aching wounds from colonization and, more specifically, capitalism. I am learning that I lean into genres that pull in influence from different places beyond my home country, including the Caribbean and African nations, as well as infused with plenty of instrumentals like the saxophone, guitar, piano, and drums. That connection taps into a personal ancestral reclamation that powers and lights up my soul.

There is a component that is so all-encompassing about music as a modality of healing. It has the power to transmute the more challenging emotions life spurs and compels me to fall into it, dip into my daydreams, and explore the dreams I want to bring into reality. These artists and so many more are helping me to travel through the lived experience of being human, being Black, and being a woman with vibrational ease. I look forward to seeing which artist will nestle their place on my quarantine playlist next and post-quarantine playlist, too.

Black+%26+Bookish+Photo.jpg — About the Author

Kendra Hale finds joy in spontaneity, music, international adventures, nature, volunteerism, and BIPOC-centered community spaces. Writing has long been the modality that encourages her to dream beyond the conventional. She is fiercely committed to Black liberation, healing justice, and anti-oppression.