“Glenda Benevides: Grammy Voice, Faithful Purpose”

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Welcome to the show today, Glenda. How you doing?

Good, good.

Good, good, man. I'm excited, you all. I have a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter on the show. Hey, this big time, this big time. So, Glenda, yeah, let me ask you, the power of music and storytelling, which you have blend together so, you know, uniquely. Your music has been described as a soulful blend of blues, rock, and storytelling. What initially drew you to this genre?

Well, you know, I've been singing since I was 4, but like professionally since I was 16. And, you know, it's really a journey to yourself. I think everybody has to find their voice, you know, whether it's singing or speaking or just communicating with somebody, right? You've got to find out, who am I? You know, what's my purpose? And how does that make me feel? And how do I touch people? Of course, you have to have a foundation and intention, like, who are you going to be in the world? Are you, are you out to grift people? Are you out you know, share your enlightenment or your story or your journey. So I think that's kind of how I started. And I think there's different voices inside of all of us, you know, and how do you express that?

I like that. I like that. Because what you said is true. You do have to find yourself, you know, whatever you're doing, whether you podcast— I was just telling someone that not too long ago, that the more you do something, the more you find who you are. You start getting comfortable within yourself. You know, as I'm listening to you and as you are in the music industry, I was thinking about the Temptations. I just watched that the other day when they was trying to sing all the other people's songs or whatever, and they never could find their own niche. But when they did, when David came on the scene, he said, I'm David Ruffin and these are the Temptations. I love that movie. So, uh, Glenda, let me ask you.

Yeah.

Who were your biggest musical influences growing up?

Mm, so many at different stages of life. I would say ultimately, it would be Prince. Mm. Ultimately, just because to me, he represents somebody that came from nothing, you know, and had a vision. He decided who he was. He evolved himself musically. And he didn't let anybody stop him. He had so much self-possession that he just said, "Uh-uh, I'm gonna produce this. Uh-uh, I'm gonna do this. And whether you like it or not, I'm gonna be me." And that may be in a purple thing with big hair, or it may be, you know, big glasses. You know, it could be anything. Whatever he felt like, it was his self-expression. And he let himself evolve. So that's the artist part of him that I love. And then if you dig a little deeper, he came into different cities and different towns and secretly helped people. Like, you didn't know until, gosh, till later after he had passed. He was like, oh yeah, he donated X amount of dollars to inner city kids and all these other things. He helped people with their bills and just different things. Like, he just showed up in the world as the prince He embodied that. He stepped into that. And I think that's so true for all of us. Who do we say that we are and how do we show up in life? And I guess I'll just keep saying it for me. How do I make a difference? How do I contribute? Like, what does that look like? And it can be anything for anybody. It could be just opening a door for somebody. It could be a long-lost passion of yours where you always wanted to draw. And you never know, you may save somebody's life because you drew something that they could relate to. Just hit him, you know, things like that. So I would say Prince is my main person because he's a quadruple, quintuple threat.

Hey, I love the choice. Hey, you know, although being from the home of the great late Michael Jackson, yeah, I do love Prince in that area. I did go see Purple Rain when it came out. You know, just thinking about what you said, and thank you for sharing that with us about Prince and how he used to go into underprivileged cities and things of that nature and just help people with causes that nobody, you know what I'm saying, really knew. And I'll never forget, like you say, he'll just say what he gonna say, he gonna do what he gonna do. I'll never forget when he came out with the song, "Maybe I'm just like my father," you know what I'm saying? Or it was the part, I'll never forget, I think I was probably like 10, I was between 8 and 10 years old when the song came out. And he had the chorus, "Maybe I'm just like my mother, she never satisfied." And so, you know, you'd be around the house singing it. I'll never forget my mother stopped me one day like, What do you mean? You never satisfied, you know what I'm saying? Because the song was resonating, you know, you just get it. She never satisfied. Exactly, exactly. I love Pris, man. Like you say, if I was your girlfriend. Yeah, Pris. Hey, so I know a little, I know a little culture, Glenda. I know a little culture. Can't sing, can't hold a tune, but I know a little culture.

It's all good.

So let me ask you, Glenda.

Yeah, it's all good. Yeah, you know, there's so many artists out there though. And I would say probably the '70s— well, '70s, '80s, '90s. The '90s started a transition into hip-hop, which, you know, Sugar Hill Gang and stuff like that. And I think it was a time of innovation and exploration. And of course, you know how the powers that be, they want to just like, oh, I'm just going to keep making that. You know, I'm going to make some money off of that. You know? But I remember a time where, as an artist, I always feel like, "Ah, this needs to be righteous. You know, this needs to be— you need to honor people that need to be honored." You know? And of course, it's never like that. There's amazing artists that you'll never hear about or won't get credit, you know, or whatever. And I think that that's the disturbing part of our art form when it becomes a business, you know? And you just gotta try to band together and just— Help raise the consciousness, help raise it up. Let's come up together, you know. And I feel like we all have a responsibility. You as a communicator, a creator, me too. We all have a responsibility to share not only our thoughts but other people's thoughts and it just helps somebody, you know, whatever that may be, wherever that may be, because you don't know.

Yeah, I mean, like you say, you just got to go with the flow wherever it takes you to. You just got to represent and be the best that you can, you know.

Yes.

And I, so I, I like that, the approach that you're taking with that. So tell us, Linda, your song Walk On Past addresses social neglect. How important is it for you to use music as a platform for social change?

You know, I think it's huge. I think it's really huge. It's kind of like the helping people say what they wanted to say, maybe they couldn't say it, or helps people just get a little different, deeper look at something and go, "Hmm, maybe I can make a difference." Like, what would that look like? You know, maybe I'll go down and donate my time, or maybe I'll feed, you know, get somebody, you know, a meal, like work with Meals on Wheels or whatever it is. You know, I feel like if you start pointing, you know, little spotlights on things, you know, It just helps everybody kind of go, "Oh, I didn't know that was happening there," or, "Oh, I didn't know there was still injustice going on with that." "Oh, I knew about that, but, you know, gosh, I don't know what to do about that." So I think it's really important myself. That's just me. You know, some people are better at love songs than I am.

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Yeah, I mean, I, I like it, you know, especially living in a society that we're living in today.

Yeah.

And going against the grain, you know, or being on blast like, uh, Kaepernick. Y'all have to know that my girl GB, she from the Bay Area, you know what I'm saying? E-42 short. That's right. Uh, Marshawn. And so I had to say, you know, Kaepernick, you know, Tony, Tony, Tony, don't forget. There's a lot of people that came from the Bay Area. And so like when people take a stance for what they believe in and what they feel, you know, as you said, a lot of people, they stick to love songs. I know that you, you know, you can't get too political in it because of your reputation. I wouldn't want to spoil that. So since you can't say it, I say it, you know, because of what they may lose, you know what I'm saying, in the process. So we stay away from certain things, but to stand on your 10 toes and say, look, you know, I'm using my platform but to give information for things that people don't know, like how you just dropped that nugget on us about Prince going into some of these cities and helping people out, some of the things we probably just didn't know. I know I had never heard of that before, but you know, saying kudos to my man, rest in peace, uh, Prince. So let me ask you, Grammy nomination and recognition, like I said before, everybody, I got a Grammy-nominated singer on the show today. Hey, so can Congratulations on your Grammy nominations for The Fury. And as I was reading, I was going through something. This was the same night or the same award show that Beyoncé was nominated for 11 Grammys that night.

I think it's 35.

Wow.

But, um— I should have known. I'm sorry, Beyoncé. I'm sorry, Beyhive people. You know what I'm saying? I'm sorry.

Yeah. Well, you know, she really— her and her team, I think, decided, we're going to take over country and western. So, um, yeah, that's right, she got up there and got her award. Although, who else was on that album, which I think you guys should know, is Miley Cyrus helped out. And there was two other artists that were on that nomination that did the collaboration, so it wasn't— she was like on her own or something like that. But, but yeah, so I was like, okay, yeah, you got to have some of that usher in.

Ah, look at that! Hey, GB giving us some more knowledge, y'all. Hey, Miley Cyrus, the little girl from the Cartoon Network, you know, she was on there. She said somebody— so just in case we didn't know, some of these collaborations and some of these hit songs are not done by themselves. So let me ask you, how did collaborating with Antonio— yeah, Antonio V, I can't— Vergara.

Vergara. Yeah, Vergara. Yeah.

Shape the sound of this album?

You know, he had heard my music and my voice and stuff like that, and he reached out to me and he said "Wow, I love what you're doing. I love your vibe." He's like, "Would you like to be on the album?" I'm like, "Yeah, sure.

Sounds like fun." That's me.

Yeah, okay. And so I said, "Yeah, send it to me." And he sent me the track, and I vibed it. I was like, "Okay. Yeah, I got this." And so I sang it, shot it back to him, and said, "Hey, you know, if this is not right for you, please send it back. I'll do whatever you need to do," 'cause this is one of his songs on his album. And he texted me back. He said, "What, are you kidding?" He said, "I cried." And I was like, "Oh, oh, okay. That's okay. That's good. That makes me feel good. I did something righteous there." So anyway, so it got on the album. And so, you know, I'm scrolling through after voting because Recording Academy, we all vote on, you know, on the key areas that we are experts in. They ask us to like Glenda, don't go voting classical music because you don't know shit about it, right? Don't do that. Anyway, not that I would, but that's the point, right?

Yeah.

And so I got on there after we had voted and stuff like that, and I was looking because I had submitted some of my personal songs directly, and I was like, scroll down. I didn't get that nom. I didn't get that nom. I was like, oh, and I thought, oh, I should go look and see how Antonia's album's doing. And I scrolled down, dit dit dit dit, 5 The Fury, I'm like, oh my goodness. I was like, ah. So it took me a long time to accept that, like, I was actually nominated. So, but it was cool.

I bet it is, you know what I'm saying, to be up there with all these, you know, here I am, you know what I'm saying, from the grind to— you also gotta know she was raised in the town of Nike, so she knows fabulous things when she see it. And so this, if this blew her socks off That was cool. So let me ask you, Glenn, I wouldn't go— you know, I didn't have this as a question, but let me ask you, because you was talking about the voting process and things of that nature. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, you know, this is like one of the first people that I really hear about, because you said that my song made the album. And so how do that process really go for those of us that don't know? I guess you like, you do so many songs, and so if I'm gonna have 15, I did 30, and then so I chop them in half. How do that process go?

How do you do the split, you mean? Yeah. It just depends on who the person is, what kind of album it is. Sometimes people don't get credit. I got credit. I'm a featured artist because Antonio's vibe is really high. And plus, that was the agreement that we had. I'm doing this for free. You're not paying me. I'm a professional musician, so you should pay me. But I said, no, I'll do this because I believe in what you're up to, and you're a great guy. But I want credit.

Yeah.

And he said, yeah, no problem. So we make sure that we, you know, do a contract. And so, you know, it's written one saying I get— if I'm going to get a percentage of the writing credit, am I going to get a percentage? I'm, I'm the performer. That's mechanicals. Am I going to get that, right? So we, we did all that. He asked me back on this album this year. I haven't seen anything yet, but I'm— I'll probably work with him again. He's just a sweet, generous soul. And I want to support that. I want to support good music in the world. I want to support higher conscious humans that are out there, like, really sharing themselves. And I think that's what I want to work with. I don't want to work with anybody if they just need a nomination or Grammy because it makes them feel good. They think they're going to be famous because that ain't true.

Talking about that, you know, speaking of that, Yeah, what does being nominated mean to you, especially at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards?

It is an acknowledgment with my peers saying, yeah, you did good, I like that, you know, you're on the right path. I'm making headway. I'm— people are getting to know me, or they're liking what I'm doing. And if that— if people— if that's what's happening, because that's how I take it, it's like if you're getting you're being— I mean, think about it. I think there are over 20,000 people voting members in the Recording Academy. Not everybody votes in my category, but— or whatever category I'm in. Then that's amazing that you got that acknowledgment. Everyone says, yeah, yeah, that's good. We like what you did. It's an interesting process. I've learned a lot since being in the Recording Academy for the last 3 years. And it's lovely to be able to have something that's— it's kind of like it's our artists, you know, it's our union. We take care of our own. We do legislation. We do Music Cares. Music Cares is if, let's say, I can't make my bills or something happens, then they come in and help me. They've got money. They raise money for that. We all do. Things like that. There's a lot of different things. The legislation is pretty cool. I do mentoring. We do Grammy University, they call it, and it's a mentoring program where we help younger artists, like, step into their own key niche. Like, some of them want to learn how to mix and master, some of them, you know, like, for me, I don't teach that or mentor that, but I do mentor self-expression. I mentor performance, songwriting, that type of thing. So that's what's beautiful about the Recording Academy. Yeah.

Mm. GB wear a lot of hats. Let me ask you, Linda, To get into the, uh, as you was talking about, the Academy. Yeah, that you have to win, you know, be nominated for award or something like that to be in this Academy or this selection. How do that go? How do that process?

No, I think you can submit. I never really looked into this part.

She said, I'm not, though. I don't know this part.

Um, but I do know since I'm in the Recording Academy that I do submit my music and everyone gets to hear it, and then there's a whole process with that. There's round 1 voting, there's round 2 voting. So round 2 is for the win. Round 1 is to get you into the nomination. So that's all I know. I don't know. I think there are people coming from the outside submitting music. I think so. I just never looked into it.

So, you know, you dropping so many nuggets on us, you know, and you being very, very transparent. So some things that— something I didn't know, you know what I'm saying? And just say like the right time, but that's pretty cool though. So Linda, let me ask you, how do you balance your world roles as a musician and author and being an advocate?

I don't know. It's called a schedule, um, pretty much. I mean, balance in what way, like emotionally or technically, or just how do you just balance it all? How do I do it at all?

How do you do it at all? Because, you know, because Coming from a space, you know, because you're creative, and so, you know, being a creative, we have so many ideas, and, you know, one door opens up another door. This idea here, that idea here, you know, you doing a whole album, so you got so many ideas with different titles. And so how do you blend all this together as far as being a musician with the creative side and things that you have to do there? Now you're writing, got to have a number one bestseller. And then, you know, say you out there being an advocate for certain issues, social issues, as we talked about earlier, how do you balance all this together?

You know, I think foundationally, which is kind of like what my book is about, Clarity, Courage, Confidence, Commitment, Community, and it happens in that order. You can't not have it in that order. You can't have community if you have no idea who you are, what you, what kind of community you want. So I take that because that's how I do life. And then I make sure that I'm eating well, I'm resting well, I have enough other things in my life that I'm, you know, because you have to consume. Like, last— like yesterday was so cool. I watched the movie Sinners. Mind-blowing. Amazing. Amazing. Plug for that. And I mean, it sat with me all day, you know, things like that. But it was like, wow, this was deep and influential. So that feeds my soul. That also gives me Hmm, hmm, you know, what is the blues? What is that? And what does it come from? And, you know, not just like, oh, I got the instrument, the voice to sing it, but what's my heartache? What's the background? What, you know, like those kinds of things, you know, you have to like look deeper. Right. And so I feel like I start there and, you know, make sure that I try to take care of myself. Like I walk 2 miles a day. I stretch, I go to chiropractic, you know, I try to take care of myself as, as, cause as you know, we all aging, so you gotta start there and then And then ultimately it's called a schedule. And so, you know, get on, use this little unit here, this little thing, and you plug in like from this time to this time, I'm going to be doing this and then try to stick with that. So like today I'm with you for an hour, so I don't do anything else but you. So that, right?

Yeah, I know how that, yeah, you know, you got to balance things out, you know. Trust me, I know. And I'm, you know, pretty sure I'm not like you because I don't have a team, you know what I'm saying? Like a lot of stuff I have to do yourself. Yeah, so that's why I call it building brick by brick, you know. Yes. Uh, what you trying to maintain. I don't know, people don't really know how hard it is. As you said, you know, I finally made it, you know, when you got to the ground, like, you know, hey, people finally— people don't know how hard it is to build a brand with no name.

Exactly.

You know what I'm saying? From scratch, you know. I talked to you about the project that I'm working on, and I'm glad you brought up Sinners because I was reading an article the other day about it and whatnot, and it was talking about, you know, juke joints and like you say, the blues and things of that nature. And I was, you know, I said, wow. I text one of my friends that, you know, that I go back and forth with, with ideas and send them stuff, whatever. And I say, man, either I was in Ryan's playbook or he was in my playbook, but one, you know what I'm saying, either way Because a lot of things that I was reading was what's going on in this movie is a lot of things that I have, you know, saying, and what I'm doing, you know, as far as juke joints and going back, you know what I'm saying, and then bringing it back up. So I have to check it out. I've been planning on checking it out. I wanted to take my wife to go see it.

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, I'm definitely gonna check it out. Yeah. Um, yeah, so you just gave me confirmation that this is the thing, so I need to check it out.

It's deep. It's deep. There are layers, layers, layers, layers in there. And I'm going to go see it again. And it's so funny because there was a— I was watching a talk show the other night, just last night, right? Honestly. And, you know, they were talking about the cultural thing and, you know, da da da da da, how cool it was. And this one brother was like, he's like, yeah, I don't do horror. He goes, I've seen it twice. And I was like, because that's not the focus. Like, it's really, really— it's juicy. It's good.

Yeah, she said another plug for Sinners. And that combination between Ryan C. and my man Michael B. Jordan, that's a heck of a combination right there, boy. Yes, they always do things. I need the writing team. I need you. I need some help on what I'm doing, man. You know what I'm saying? I'm not too— you know, I ain't saying, but ain't too proud to be.

Exactly.

So let me ask you, uh, 'Cause you know what, I did an interview with DC Glenn, you know, the group, uh, tag team, whoop, there it is.

Yeah.

And he said, you know, one thing he said in the interview, he said, if you don't ask, you would never get it. He say, you know, sometimes you just gotta go ask some people. Sometimes they may do it, sometimes they may not, but if you don't ask, then they not gonna do it. So that was one of the things that he gave me. Shout out to DC. Hey, looking for you too, man, Mr. DJ. I need to get in Magic City, man. So let me ask you, Yeah, because that's where he started at, at Magic City. So, you know what I'm saying? I'm going state to state with this GI thing. Glenda gonna be one of the voices out there with it.

I love it.

I'm telling y'all, I got something going. So, Glenda, let me ask you. You're known for using your platform to empower others. Can you share a specific, I mean, project or initiative you're passionate about right now?

That's a good one. There's so many things that I'm involved in right now, and I love it. There is a retreat that I've been working with a young woman over in the UK, Dr. Madeline Chan, and her and I have been talking about and designing a retreat over there. It's really to have women— and I would say, you know, we're open to anybody, but I think it's mostly for women— to really step into their own self-care and empowerment. And what does that look like for them? So we've got some wonderful things happening there. And then, yeah, I'm just— I've got a flood of projects that have come in from the UK to, like, some festivals that are going down, some major projects. There's a gentleman I'm working with out of Nashville who is a songwriter, and he sent me a couple of tracks that he thinks my voice would be perfect for, blah, blah, blah. And so there's several of them that are amazing because my style is more like a— Stomp, Delta Blues, soul, that vibe, you know? So that's kind of my trip. So it, it's interesting. It's called Outlaw Woman.

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And so that's, that's come in. I'm doing that. God's Going to Cut You Down, which was done by Johnny Cash a few years ago. And so those are going to be out and about. So I think, you know, like everything right now is just coming in and I just, I love to have the problem of going, I don't know where I'm going to find the time. Yeah, I like that problem. Not like, well, I'm just sitting here, nothing's happening.

Yeah, yeah.

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Yeah, it's better to be busy than not busy at all. Yeah, yeah, I get you on that one. I get you on that. And I have to ask because my favorite color is blue. I'm a blue person. Royal blue is definitely That jacket is on point. Is that your Grammy jacket?

My Grammy jacket.

There it is. Oh man, yeah, I like that, I like that. Show it, flash it. So hey, Grammy, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter right here, y'all. Fury, go check it out, listen to it, and grab the book. Matter of fact, while I'm talking about it, let me ask you about this book. Uh, yeah, your book Courage. Find Your Fire is particularly inspiring. Can you share what motivated you to write this book?

Yeah, that's kind of a weird, funny story. Uh, it started out with a good friend of mine. He, he'd been trying to write a book for like 10 years, and I was like, how hard can it be to write a book?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so, you know, I thought, okay, so after I thought that, then I thought, okay, do I have anything of value What is it that I have to say or what I want to say, you know? And I really sat with it and I thought, you know what it is? It's clarity, courage, confidence, commitment, community. I have experience in those areas and that's how I get things done. Because if I don't have those in those order, you can't get anything done. A lot of people have like ideas and fantasies and wonderful intentions, but if they don't know how to you don't get to putting them in action, then it's a dream that's gone away, you know? And so I thought, hmm, I guess I could talk about that. And so really, I call it a teaching memoir. So it's stories about me being on the road and the failures that I experienced and how did I get through that? How did I pull myself out of that to move forward? And always, I'm always moving forward. Sure, there's times where you stall, you just sit. But then there's times you kind of go, okay, now let's go here, lick our wounds and move forward, you know. And I'm here to say that, you know, we all look at each other and especially if someone's got a book or they're number one or they're Beyoncé at 35 awards, you know, you know, you go, oh, her life must be so amazing. And it's like, no, not really. Because there's always, there's always something that isn't in alignment with us, right? On some levels, yeah, her life really works. And I'm sure on other levels that we'll never know about, life is not working. You know, and hopefully— I just use her as an example, but hopefully she's helping herself evolve into something that's really aligned with her spirit now, not Beyoncé 10 years ago, but Beyoncé now, you know, with her new goals or priorities, right? So it's the same with all of us. You know, it's wonderful to achieve things and to glean the insights and the gifts and the knowledge and to be able to pass that on to others too, to say, hey, you could do that too. So that's kind of, kind of weird way I started with the book. And I just thought, you know, I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to see how do you do that. I've never written a book in my life. So I thought, well, I think you'd probably just make an outline. And that's how I started. So I made an outline inside of Clarity, Courage, Confidence, Commitment and Community because that's what I wanted to talk about. And then I told myself, I said, look, do one chapter a day. That's it. Don't try to do the whole book or whatever. And then the next day, I did chapter 2. And the day after that, I did chapter 3. And after I filled out all the chapters inside my outline, after I did that, then what I did was then I went back and I read it. And then I went, what was I thinking?

Yeah, right.

And then you start to edit and make, you know, yeah, make edits and stuff like that. And then after that, you know, I ended up sharing it with someone and that someone happened to be my mentor. And she said, this is really good. You should put it out. And I went, what? Turn it into a book and put it out. I'm like, okay. And so she had someone to introduce me. It was an editor, a professional editor, and she went through with me, didn't get rid of my voice because she was very clear about that. I had never done anything like that either. And then she just helped me, and then we put it up on Amazon and I sell it now.

And, you know, the rest is history.

The rest is history. It's happening. People have come back and they've— I've gotten some wonderful reviews, and that's— a lot of people have said it really helped them, inspired them. So that's good. Yeah, that's what I wanted.

Yeah, that's cool. And I know what you're talking about. I wrote a book. Matter of fact, this would be my 10-year anniversary for that book this November. So I'm trying to do a promotion for it or whatnot because I'm planning on writing another book. And I'm not a writer, you know what I'm saying? I don't know, that's not my thing because I write like I talk. And so I just say what I feel. But I like what you said as far as disciplining yourself. So I'm gonna do a chapter a day because you can get to the point, boy, once you start, you know, you just want to You got all these ideas, but sometimes you just got to meditate and think. That's right. That's right. You got to allow yourself to breathe at times and say, you know what, let these thoughts just meditate. Let me come back to this. Yes. Because now I may have thought of something different.

That's right.

What I was initially thinking, you know, that would fit better with this now. So, you know, that's just a little nugget for you guys out there that's inspired to write and think, like, just let it come to you. You know, like she said, you can't do it. All in a day. But as you said, I had a guy, he saw the book, he said, man, he said, it's cool, man. He said, I know somebody that, that, that's a book editor. So he took it and he said, man, I like this, you know what I'm saying, or whatever. He said, but you're definitely not a writer, right? But he didn't change my voice though, like you said. Yeah, yeah, he said, you definitely not a writer. I said, I know my lane, you know, I just got stories to tell, that's what I do, you know what I'm saying. I think a lot, whatever, whatever. I've always been like that, as you said. My whole life, you know, growing up. I was doing Michael Jackson and, you know, Prince songs back in the day. I was the entertainer. I was, I was you. Nice. I was the entertainer, you know. They wanted— that's back in the day, they had on Putting on the Hits or something, you know what I'm saying, where they used to do these little entertainment shows. And my family wanted to put me on one of them shows because that's what I did Christmas holidays, you know what I'm saying. I put on a whole show. I was a clown, G. I was a clown. I love it. I think that's why I'm doing what I'm doing now because this has always been my passion even as a kid. So, um, let me ask you, G, I only got a couple more questions for you, then I got this quickfire round where I will ask you one question. Yeah, I get everybody on this one. That's why I'll tell y'all in the beginning because people be, you know, you get a little nervous. I bet you're gonna slip up on one of these questions, at least one. It has not been one person that has it, has it slipped up on one. You can be the first. Hey, but, uh, but before I get there, let me ask you, how has your journey as an independent artist shaped your perspective on giving back?

You know, it's always been that way for me. Like, I've never really changed. I always— I'm always doing benefits for nonprofits. I always support what's right. You know, that touches my heart. Like right now, I support One Tree Planted. So I'm helping to reforest a variety of places on the planet. And I do that by you purchase something of mine, I take a dollar off of that and I send to One Tree Planted and they go plant a tree. So it's kind of like a communal way of like doing stuff together. You don't have to plant the tree. You just have to, you know, support me as an artist and I'll go plant the tree with that company. So them. And I also like the Trevor Project. I've performed for their nonprofits. And, you know, LGBTQIAABCD— I'm not sure.

Me neither. I've never been good with these.

But, you know, I believe in, you know, I believe in freedom, like the real sense of the word, you know, truly. And I just love people. So that's always in my forefront. Of if I'm an entertainer, if I'm telling a story, if I'm singing or whatever, it's, it's always to give back. It's always to give something to somebody that wants it.

So there's no wonder that you were standing on that stage or standing in that building as a nominated Grammy singer on awards because of what you do, because of your heart. God said that he don't look at, he don't look at the outside exterior of a person. He looks at the inside. And so the things that you have shared with us today have shown not that you're a beautiful person on the outside, but also on the inside. And there's more to come for Glenda. So, um, just let me ask you, last question on here. Yeah, what advice do you have for aspiring musicians who want to make a difference through their work?

Again, I would say just, you know, be clear about who you are. You know, start there. Don't look from the— like you were just saying, don't look from the outside. Go within. Go within and say, why do I want to sing? Why do I want to rap? Why do I want to play this? Why do I— why, why, why, why? Know your why. Just know that that's who you are and that will be your brand stepping forward. I would say start there. And once you're starting there, then you've got authenticity, you got honesty, and you've got clarity of like where I'm going. Because it may not be who I was at 18 and looking in my career, being in my career was not where I'm at now. So those things evolve and just allow yourself to evolve into you. In your artistry or your career, whatever that is. And know that it will change. It will evolve. And it will evolve based on who you are. And I would say, just really go there first because it really doesn't matter what you're actually doing. It's who you're being. That's the key.

Mm. I like that. I like that. Be who you are. Because you have a band of 5 people, be yourself. Don't try to be New Edition. Don't try to be Boyz II Men. Be yourself. Although I love New Edition.

Me too, but we already have one.

And we already have— yeah, we already have one. We need you.

Yeah, who are you?

Like we were talking about the Temptations earlier, once they found out who they was, once they got David, and David say You know what? I just want to sing with y'all.

Yeah.

And it was over with from there. He said, you can't do this to me. Yeah, but I love them. I, I've watched that movie probably over 100 times. I remember when it first came out, I had to see it. I would watch it every day when I got home from work. I know that movie verbatim, as they say, you know what I'm saying? Word for word.

Now that's inspiring.

They ain't coming to see you, Otis. They coming to see me. You said they come to see the Temptations. Hey, so let me ask you, Glenda, uh, quick fire round. You ready?

Okay.

Ah, see, you're nervous. Ah, this is gonna be simple, easy breezy, just like the West Coast air. Uh, your favorite song to perform live?

And it has to be fast, right? I have to tell you really fast?

No, take it.

Oh, okay.

I got fire around. I'm like, oh my God.

Okay, I Will Always Love You.

And you said that other people like making love songs, huh? Like you like to get on stage and make a little love song yourself now, uh, Glenda? Who you think you fooling now?

Hey, so, so we could do Rochelle Ferrell, Sister. How's that?

Okay, okay, okay. Empowerment. Now we sticking— now we with the— we with the movement.

Yeah.

Hey, but I think you like the one, "I Will Always Love You." We not gonna go that from that one. So one artist you would love to collaborate with right now?

Living?

No.

Okay, actually a couple of people. Let's see. Gosh, I just lost his name. Well, of course it was Prince. Um, oh, I can't think of his name now. I'm like, I'm freezing up.

I told you.

Dang you, dang you. I can see his face. I don't know why. Oh yeah, Jamie in comments. There we go.

Hey Jamie, man, don't get upset, man. She saw your face. That was enough. Yeah, good thinking. Like, sometimes we got so much stuff on our mind, it's hard to think of that. And that's why I call people by their first initial, like I call you GB because I couldn't pronounce your last name, but I can say Glenn. And so, um, one book besides your own that you would advise everyone to read?

Oh, the, um, Five Love Languages. The Five Love Languages, and I can't think of his name, but that's really good. Five Love Languages.

And she's all about love, everyone. She says some of y'all make like love song, but she is the one that really has the love. It's just flowing through it. She can't help herself. And so, uh, a mantra you live by?

Shut up. No, um, negative talk. Shut up. Thank you for sharing. No, a mantra I live by, love yourself, self-care. You know, I wake up with that, like, because it's one of those things. If you can't take care of yourself and love yourself, you can't love anybody else. Like, there's nothing available. There's just, right? It's just like a bucket with holes in it.

I believe it, you know what I'm saying? Gotta love yourself before you can love anybody else. How can I love you, right? I don't love me, you know. Sometimes we give those type of examples out without even knowing that either, you know what I'm saying? We just walking through life not loving ourselves but claiming we love everybody else. There's no way you can love everybody else if you don't love yourself first.

That's right.

You know, and then I ain't gonna even go there because they probably try to ban me. And but first, the Lord— like you say, you gotta love God. So, uh I'll just throw that out there. So let me ask you, you talk about self-care, your go-to self-care ritual after a long performance.

After a long performance? Oh yeah, be quiet.

Now that's the shut up part, huh?

Yeah, be quiet. Just sit with what you did and not be bombarded by, you know, or like, yeah, I gotta go do something, all right, you know, just rest, rest and be quiet.

I like that. Glenda, your journey from soulful singing to impactful writing is truly inspiring. What message would you like to leave our listeners with today?

Know thyself.

Keyword of the day: know yourself. You can't love somebody else if you don't love.

It's so true. It's so true. It's— that's really the foundation of everything, really. It's to discover yourself, really discover who who you are at whatever stage you're at and share that with others. However you can.

However you can. Where can people follow your work, listen to your music, and find your books?

I'm all over the web.

Um, so Google me.

So, well, if you go glendamusic.com, that's super easy. Glenda Music. It'll take you right to my website, and everything is on there. And, you know, and if you do put Glenda music, Glenda Benavides in there. I've got a YouTube site so you can watch any of my interviews. You can watch— oh gosh, there's so many things on there. It's just, it's fun. My music videos, so on and so on and so on. So that's great. And if you want to purchase my books, you can also find it on my website, but you can go to Amazon and it's called Courage: Find Your Fire and Ignite Action. In Your Life. And I also have two other books called Own the Goddess Within and the Goddess and then Soul on Fire. So those are my other books and they're all on PDF. So it's easy enough to download and affordable. And it's neat because if you do purchase my music or anything like that, I will plant a tree for you.

So, man, plant trees. Glenda planting trees. I'm planting seeds on Planting Seeds with CJ, my other podcast. This was a connection that was meant to happen. Hey, you have been listening to your boy CJ Moneyway with Glenda Music Global, badass goddess. Yeah, I said it, and I'll repent tomorrow. Hey, so thank you for joining us on the CJ Moneyway Show Plus, GI, the state's capital. Your passion for art, storytelling, and community is a powerful reminder of the impact one person can make. Hey, get out there and go— what you say— plant your tree today. You have been listening to CJ Moneyway with my girl Glenda. We out of here. Peace.

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Thank you for listening to the CJ Moneyway Show. Don't forget to share this episode with your friends, leave a comment, and drop a review. Be sure to tune in every Tuesday and Friday for more inspiring journeys. Who knows, your story might be next.

Mm-hmm.