In this candid interview, host Ray Sorrell and independent artist Bonita Jalane discuss a wide range of topics that illuminate Bonita’s personal philosophy, career journey, and the challenges of navigating the music industry. Bonita emphasizes personal responsibility as a catalyst for societal betterment and reflects on the strain her career places on family and romantic relationships, noting both the sacrifices she makes and the unwavering support from loved ones like her mother and godfather. She critiques idolization, advocating for respect of each individual’s unique journey, and shares her perspective on dating in Atlanta’s diverse social scene. The conversation turns to the darker side of music history, as Bonita confronts revelations about past icons’ abusive behavior, reinforcing her stance against placing anyone on a pedestal. A significant portion of the interview focuses on Bonita’s "turning corners" moments—manifesting, praying, and ultimately gaining entry into the Recording Academy, being considered for Grammy nominations, and attending the Grammy ceremony, which she describes as a dream realized. She also details her direct-to-fan business model, including her website, merchandise, handmade candles, and a platform for direct album sales that bypasses traditional streaming royalties. The interview concludes with lighthearted personal anecdotes, such as her ongoing struggle to perfect white rice, underscoring her authenticity and relatable humanity.
Chapters
And those people that operate on low self-esteem are very scary because that's the ones that they put their insecurities on you. Those are the ones who, when you on that stage, even if they want to like you, they don't want to like you. They want to hate on you because they don't even love themselves. They don't even—
thing about being the trailblazer, you going to smell like smoke. Going city to city, we turning corners.
When you with trailblazers smelling like smoke, pay attention to the jokes.
Test tried to warn us. Motivation conversation captivating the coach. Performing arts, it's the heart, so we got to watch the vulture.
All my dreams out of mind, out of sight.
They standing on my left 'cause they can't get right. You know what make them wonder every time I turn the corner. Uh, welcome, welcome, welcome to Turning Corners. I'm your boy Ray Can't Get Right. Uh, we have someone here. As you know, we on the show, we talk about We talk to people that you know or people that you should know, right? Um, this particular person— y'all wait, y'all wait. No, y'all wait. I don't— y'all know me, I'm very anal. She has a song that I think y'all need to hear, especially in these type of times. We're going to talk about it. I don't want to jump too far into it. Please help me say your name because I'm going to jack it up.
Bonita Jelaine.
Jelaine.
Jelaine. Okay, just like Lane, just Jelaine.
Jelaine.
Yep.
Welcome.
Thank you for having me. Can't get it right.
I am, I am so excited. Thank you so much. Listen, um, when I got to Dallas— I mean, damn, when I got to Atlanta and I reached out to my friend, I said I need couple more people. She said, oh, I know somebody. I said, well, you know me, I'm anal. Is she doing something? She got talent? Is she a plant? Like, what? Trust me. And I went and I checked out all your pages, and I was like, oh my God, she is the next big thing.
Thank you.
No, I appreciate it.
No, I appreciate you.
No, I'm so serious. First of all, where are you from?
I'm from Brooklyn, New York.
Where's your accent at?
It's there.
I mean, you don't sound like you from Atlanta.
No, definitely not from Atlanta, even though I love Atlanta. But yeah, from Brooklyn.
Okay. Um, how long have you been in Atlanta?
Um, actually it'll be 15 years. Oh yeah, 15, 15, 16, about to be 16 because we in 2026, right? I got here in 2000. Technically got here in 2010, even though I had my townhouse since 2009, but I didn't move here until 2010.
Okay, okay. So you said way before COVID Way before.
Like, I was here, but I was— my mom is still in New York, so she had the townhouse and she was about to get rid of it. So we was going— I kept going back and forth. So I still went to New York. I didn't really acclimate myself with Atlanta when I first moved here. Like, the first 2 months I went back home for like 2, 3 months, then I came back. So I was still, you know, getting the lay of the land. And then I went on tour with How Sweet the Sound. Um, it's a gospel tour with Verizon. And so I did that, and that was like 2 months. So when I first moved here, I was like on the move, like, continue.
So that what made you come to Atlanta?
Uh, my mentor made me come to Atlanta. I was already— my mom had a townhouse and she had investment properties. And, um, my mentor lived here, and he's— when I say his name, his name is Alex Richburg, but he's the third member of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis that they don't talk about. But if you look at all the credits, from Janet Jackson to Trackmaster, he's like one of— he's the creator of Trackmaster.
Okay.
Um, that was my mentor, and he was artist developing me and writing and different stuff like that. He lived here, so I was coming back and forth, coming back and forth before I officially moved here.
Now, I, I, I, I want to ask a question, and I'll tell you, this hat is not going to make it. I hope y'all got the shot of it. It's hot. I'm trying to look—
I love his hat. Everybody who know me know that I love a good hat. A good fedora is Benita Jelaine.
Yes, I'm trying, but it's hot. Now, most people, they say you got to start in New York, right? You always hear, especially comedians, New York, New York, New York. If you can make it in New York, you make it anywhere. Then Chicago, LA. What made you leave New York to come here when there's so many other There's, there's ways of making anywhere, of course, but it seems like New York is just the mecca of music.
I mean, I was born in New York. New York is home. So I even met him from being in New York. Like, he took me under his wing. I used to take these vocal class, uh, vocal classes with this famous, um, vocal training for— he's Craig Derry. He's vocal trained for like Mariah Carey, so many different people. And I was taking his vocal class and Alex, um, was in the studio that was there, so he's always sitting, come in the class. I've had different people in my class, like Sean Kingston to Amanda Seales to, um, okay, it's so many different people that came, like, that has been success stories out of the classes that I took. And, um, he found me there. So I've been— was doing stuff in, um, in New York or whatever, but I was young. I started off with Dipset. I was just singing hooks, and I just wanted to sing. So I didn't establish my sound and the, the artist that I really wanted to be without like outside influence until I started working with Alex.
So let's, let's just back up just for a second. When did you— first of all, what was it like growing up in Brooklyn? Oh, because you always hear Brooklyn sun, Brooklyn in the house sun, you know. What was it like?
They overexaggerated with the sun every time.
No matter where you at, if there's somebody in Brooklyn— matter of fact, shout out to my boy Brooklyn, who I used to cut hair with in Dallas. Um, there's a person from Brooklyn in every city in America, and they're gonna let you know they from Brooklyn. So what is it like just growing up in Brooklyn?
Like, it's a— I'm gonna be honest with you, I am from Brooklyn through and through, and it's a certain kind of pride. It's a kind of joy. Like, New York is, you know, New York is New York. It's great. I have family that lives in Manhattan, that lives in actual New York. But Brooklyn—
I heard the accent.
Okay, we Brooklyn, we have a different kind of— it's so many different parts of Brooklyn, and it's a different type of love, it's a different type of vibe that we have in Brooklyn. And it's just something I'm proud to be. So even though I live in Atlanta, I'm still a Brooklyn girl no matter what, you know. I still go back home It's a certain kind of grit. It's a certain kind of thing. When they say spread love, this is the Brooklyn way, that is serious. Like, people think that we're mean and, or sometimes, um, we're moving fast. And honestly, we're so real. Honestly, if they did a study, we would take our shirt off and give it to somebody if they need it. But you just like, we don't play when it comes down to being real. And that's, that's what sets us apart. I feel what sets us apart. So yeah, you'll hear people that's from Brooklyn, they represent. But when people be overdoing the sun and all of that stuff, most of the time they from the Bronx. No, I'm just joking. No, it's a different type of pride. The same way how Harlem has a certain pride to them, they're known for being extravagant, known for being fashionable, you know what I'm saying? Each part of New York has a different kind of thing that sets the tone. And you'll, you'll see it. And I'm not speaking for the whole—
right, right—
because it's some people that's from Brooklyn, some of them in my family, I'd be like, yeah. But for the most part, like, it's just good vibes. It's always good vibes. We want the best for people.
So when did you realize that— when did you realize singing wasn't just a hobby, it was something that you like, you know what, I want to do this for for my career, for my life, for my dreams.
That was day one, to be honest with you, since I was little. But, you know, reality, other people's expectations, especially being so young and coming up in it. Like, you know, you— I have a lot of family members that can sing, a lot of friends that can sing, and a lot of times, like, people are afraid to jump out there and actually pursue it, you know, full-time, because even if they do, it doesn't always garner the results that you think it's supposed to. So talent is not even the main recipe when it comes down to being a singer. So I always wanted to do it.
Don't run past that because they need to hear that. Yeah, talent is not the main recipe.
It's not. If it was the— if it was just the talent, it would be so many different— the singers that be singing in the subway, it would be so many different talented people. You got people on the streets that's homeless right now that can sing circles around some of your favorite artists. So talent is not it. And it's also a lot of times, um, like me learning and being a part of this industry now, a lot of times it's, it's a lot of work, it's a lot of mental, it's a lot of different things that you still have to love it because if you didn't, it's a lot of things that would deter you from wanting to continue. So, um, yeah, so that was— I always wanted to sing, I always could sing. I grew up, you know, my grandfather used to be in a gospel singing group, you know, my grandmother sung in the choir, my mom is a singer. With so many different people that sung, and I was always around it. I was in a church. I was the youngest in my— on my church choir, which made like— I like did awards. Like, we was in the McDonald's Gospel Fest multiple times, the youngest choir to ever win, you know. And I was on that choir, 3, 4, 5 years old, you know. I went to high school, I was the youngest. They wouldn't let freshmen join, but they let me join, you know. So it was, it was so many different things and so many different avenues. And I look back at it now when I say like the journey. I appreciate this journey so much now because I think about even the, the levels that I've went to in this industry and even in my journey of realizing like it's a marathon. It really is. And if you're not ready to continue on a marathon, that's why a lot of people quit. They give up.
Oh, you teach because— no, you're teaching.
You're serious. And I think about where I came from when I first started singing. To where I am now. Some people might look at it— I have friends, I get goosebumps sometimes, like friends that reach out to me now, like, Bonita, I'm so proud of you, like, you inspired me to want to get back into music, or you inspired me to want to continue doing something. Versus I have people who are higher than me and, and, and labels and touring and different stuff like that, and they still inspired by the fact that I still do it independently. Or, you know, it just It's so many. Your journey is your journey, and I had to learn not to compare myself to anyone else. Once I stopped comparing myself, that's when I started loving where I'm at. I am so— if God said today, Bonita, this is it, you're done, you know, this is, this is the pinnacle of how far you're going to come in your music, I would be like, okay, guess what? I, I— this is my third album that I put out. Independently, no label. Okay, come on, like, you know what I mean? Yeah, I could physically— I physically sell. You can buy it directly from me. I can set my own thing. My— I'm doing small shows, but guess what? I've headlined City Winery 3 times. That little girl, I went— I remember 2 years ago, I literally went to a show and was like, I want to perform on a stage. Fast forward to a year later, I opened up for Live Jennings. Fast forward to the year— the next year, I had my own headlining show. So when I— when they say it's levels to this, it really is levels to it. To it. When I see something, it's nothing— when they say— when, like, Katt Williams has said this, and I, I resonated so much with it. He was like, it's nothing in this world that I, that I want that I haven't got yet.
I like that.
Yet. It's nothing. So if God said this is it for me, I'm okay, I'm content, I'm grateful. Not saying that I'ma stop achieving, not saying I'ma stop pursuing, but I'm content and I'm okay what he has for me right now because I don't want nothing if it don't come from him. And I come a long way for that. It's a lot of things. I'm like, when I first came out, when I first started doing music, I was on different albums, I was in rooms with the Beyonces, I was in rooms with Chris Brown, I was in all these rooms in these parties and different stuff. Stuff like that, and I didn't know. I just wanted to— to sing, and they could have told me to sing about, um, anything, anything, and I would have did it. So imagine if I would have made it then. I don't think I would be the person that I am today. Like, all the things that I've been through in this industry, in life period, has tailored and molded me into the person that I am today. So now it's bigger than music. So when I say I'm content It's not about the singing anymore. To me, it's about what is my— what's my purpose now? If I can, if I can touch one person to keep going, that's my purpose. If I could touch one person and tell them to keep believing and to love themselves, that's my purpose. If I could help someone see me and see that there is healing and you can tailor and be exactly what you want and get anything and everything that you want at that moment that. Let me be that example. If I can inspire somebody who gave up on painting or who gave up on podcasting, who gave up on something, to continue to do it because they see that I never gave up— that's what my purpose is now. And it's still evolving.
I love it. I love it. Um, I, I like it. I think you're perfect for this particular channel because It's about people who may have had some ups and downs, have had some dark times and some mistakes on stage, and the mic didn't work, or this person didn't pay me, the promoter didn't pay me.
Yep. Or didn't want to pay. They didn't want to pay it.
Call somebody and say, hey man, let me, let me. But you kept going. And in the midst of that, it seems to me that it's making you a better artist. Yes, it's making you a better person, making you, um, maybe a better, uh, participant of this thing called life. And I thank you for that. Oh, thank you, because it lets me know that what I'm trying to do is create something where people can watch the channel and be like Maybe I can keep going.
Okay, I just want you to say that sentence for me one more time, but I want you to take out what you're trying to do, and I want you to say you. I want you to say that sentence for me one more time. Oh, and say, oh, okay, because you're not trying to do it. You said trying. Everything was perfect in that sentence. Okay, okay. It's not what you're trying to do, is what you're already doing.
Yes, ma'am.
Because you are doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing.
So, so I, I received that because I was, I was fussed at yesterday by one of my mentors, Legacy City. Shout out to Legacy City. Um, I'm an artist also, uh, but I do comedy gospel. I mean comedy, I do comedy blues. Okay, so I've seen it. Yeah, yes, I got a song called Two Minutes Ain't Enough. Okay, women love the song. Okay, what's wrong with you?
Okay.
Um, and he, he told me the other day, he said, quit posting that you're a dream chaser. I said, but I'm a dream chaser. He said, no, you're not a dream chaser anymore, you're living your dream. I said, yeah, but I'm not. He said, bro, you leave it, you live with your dream, like What's wrong with you? So I receive that. I receive that. Who was the first person who you can say, or you remember, really believed in your voice besides yourself?
Okay, besides my mommy. My mom.
Well, no, no, it could be your mom, 'cause sometimes our parents aren't the biggest supporters.
They're not always the biggest supporters. It was my mom. So what happened when I was, I always just sang and been on choirs and stuff like that, But when I decided to pursue it, I didn't want to pursue it— I pursued it as like, I went on Apollo. That was huge back then. I was like 9 years old.
No, you went on Apollo?
Yes, got the rub, the—
wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on. Before you keep going, I need you to tell me the Apollo story because it's always been my dream to go on the Apollo. But I was like, would I be brave enough?
Oh my goodness, how I went on there, um, I'm trying to, you know, because so long ago. Okay, so I went there to see someone else. Like, it was another amateur night, so me and my mom just went in the audience. It was me, my mom, and my godfather, which is— I'm about to cry. Oh my goodness, this is full circle moment because you don't realize these things until it's happening in the moment. So we went to Apollo and they did a part where they was like, anybody in the audience, they could sing. This is not taped, this is just, you know, as I guess as they're doing the show. And of course I'm not— I'm like, listen, I'm on my choir, I'm singing, I'm leading songs. I said, I'm about to go up there.
And so how old were you there?
9.
Girl, you bad.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nah, listen, I was that— I was that little girl who, when family came over, I would be like, I got a song for y'all. And, and I would put on my show. My mother was like, go to your— to your song. And I was singing for the family and stuff. That was me. And so I raised my hand, and I was— I'm gonna be honest with you, I was so nervous. But as soon as I stepped on that stage It was just me on the stage. I could still remember that moment. And, um, I sung this song. It was a song, it was like, dang, oh, I remember it. I was like, if anybody asks you who I am, and the audience went crazy, who I am. And I was like singing it to the audience, and they asked me to come back and actually be on amateur night after that. And when I went up there, I, um, did vocal training with my cousin who's Uh, I'm a huge fan. My cousin Eileen, she is a gospel— she was— they're friends with the Winans. Like, that's how my cousin was the, the music director on the, um, play back in the days called, uh, Mama I Wanna Sing. Like, yeah, so this is my— that's my family. And so my cousin— I, I would sing, but I never like sing— like, I would sing, but I, I was— I had a soft, like, tone. Okay. So she taught me how to belt out and, uh, until I had to take my soprano voice and take it to that next level. And so she over and I, um, learned, uh, Jesus— Yes Jesus Loves Me by Whitney Houston. That song I learned at 9, and I went on Apollo. I didn't win, I came third place, but you did it. But I did it, and that's the story that I always have.
Yep.
Yo, I came third place, and it was— and it was— it's crazy because everybody was like, you was cheated, because I lost against, um, adults. I was the only child. I lost against adults, and it was like a dance group who was like killing it, of course, dance group. And it was another singer who was completely seasoned, of course. And, um, I still remember that flower dress, and I was in the dressing room with my little Shirley Temple curls.
But you did it. Yeah, because you said your mom was the first one, but I'm just like, you know, to meet someone who actually went on Apollo, me being from Texas, yeah, you just, I, you know, you think about Richard Pryor, the Jacksons, and all these great people who have graced that stage.
Yeah.
And then I'm sitting in front of a person who's like, nah, I did the Apollo.
And it wasn't Steve Harvey. Um, when I did it, it was Mr. Cooper.
Yes, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper.
Yeah, it was him.
Yeah, yeah, it's funny as hell.
Great comedian.
Yeah. Um, so, so as a comedian, we know we're funny by the responses. Yeah, right. And not only the responses, even if you don't laugh, we know we're funny. Yeah, because we have a weird sense of humor, weird way of looking at things. I get in trouble of dating sometimes because I'll say the wrong stuff.
Yeah, I got you.
Because, right. But as a singer, how do you know— and it might be a dumb question, but I'm asking anyway. Okay. How do you know that you can sing?
You know what, to be honest with you, when I first started off, I, I knew I can sing. I feel like the whole world can sing. I'm just being honest with you.
No, you never heard me.
No, you ain't never heard me. You can sing, let me tell you this. I promise you, you can sing. I just— everybody doesn't have talent. It's the difference. Oh, everybody can sing. Anybody can sing a song. A child can sing a song. A dog can sing, it can bark out a song. They could sing. It's just a lot of people don't have talent with it, if that makes sense. Or— and then there's further— it's not just talent, there's a gift, right? I did— I knew I could sing. I knew that there were singers that can sing better than me. I knew that It was singers that I looked up to that I felt could sing better than me. When I first started performing, I used to always wonder, like, do they really like me singing? Because people would just stare at me. And it wasn't until I got older and my mom just like, Bonita, they're not staring. And it's this first little time they don't notice. When I first started, like, it's people that know my songs now, which I'm still in shock when I go to a show that I have and people come and they know my songs and they're singing my songs. It's still a shocker to me. I'm still like, what? You know, that's still so surreal. That's why I say, if I'm okay with— if I decided that this was where I was going to be at, I'm living my wildest dream. That little girl who just wanted to sing, like, people are singing—
I don't know why—
people are singing my songs, right? And so I have people doing videos to my songs that I don't know all over the world right now. And recording videos and singing my song. And every time one pops up, I'm— you ask my mother, she's like, "But hey, I'm losing it, I'm losing it." I'm like, "Oh my God, this is somebody in Indonesia who's singing." And I'm like, "Okay, what?" But I said, "But like, why are they just staring at me? Maybe they don't like what I'm singing," whatever the case may be. Mama was like, she put them— she said, "First of all, they don't know your songs." This is when I first started off. She said, "No, no, no, your songs." And she said, "Beneatha, they are captivated. You are a performer." And I was just like— and so she— even if it wasn't true, because you know mommies are supposed to—
my momma tell you, nigga, you ain't shit. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
But mommies are supposed to tell you that, you know, they supposed to. So even if she was just telling me that to build my confidence, that helped me on those stages when I was opening up for the Chris Browns, when I was opening up for Fantasia, when I was opening up for Trey Songz and Monica. Where they know their songs and they're looking at me and they're like looking at me like I'm crazy because they don't know my songs. But it helped me because I was like, nope, they looking at me because they trying to hear the song. They trying to— I'm a lyricist, they listening to the lyrics. And that's what got me through a lot of stage fright.
Oh my God. Okay, so the next question is actually perfect. At what moment or what time did you realize, you know what, You know what, I'm built for this. This, this is it. I'm— I am built for this.
Never stop lying.
Listen, listen, okay, so, so it was a comedian told a story the other day about he was in LA, he was getting roasted, but he roasted back, and then they got mad because he was too good at it. Yeah, and they kind of made him get off stage, but He said he left the stage behind the curtain, but he didn't go back to his seat.
Yeah.
And he said that one of the comedians basically came to him, and Monique was one of them too. They came to him like, yo, you was funny as hell.
Yeah.
The audience didn't give you a chance. And they said most people went back to their seat. And in short, what he said was, I knew I was built for this because they were like, well, if you want to get back up there and keep doing it, they just got to be booing them. And 30 seconds later, you asked me to finish my You know, that ain't easy.
It's— let me just say this right now. Every— it's days where I feel like, no, I feel like I was made for this. Yes, I definitely feel like I was made.
I love it. I love to talk it, talk it.
To, um, better is— is— I would never— I was never normal. I thought— I, I just feel like I was made for something in entertainment, something where I will be an influencer, somewhere where I will be talking, somewhere where I will be in front of a stage, in front of a TV, in front of something made for that. Um, but what I can— like, what I laugh about when I say never is certain times where I'd be like, because it's ever-changing, it's always those— I never have thoughts of doubt. It takes a level of delusion.
Oh, okay, go ahead, go ahead, girl, go ahead.
A level of delusion daily When I— when I— even when I'm on that stage and people actually came and spent money to buy tickets, to spend their time, whether it's a Monday or Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, to come and see me, the level of delusion on that stage is to know like, wow, these people came to see me. And it's a level of insanity because it's, you know, we're putting ourselves out there to be judged, you know, to be judged. Like, you got people who have talent who will never share it because they're afraid of that part of being judged. I can care less.
So, so can I interrupt you for a second? Because you, you checked me earlier. Oh, you checked me in a great way. I love it. No, no, in the church they call it rebuking. Okay, right. You rebuke me and everybody think rebuke is bad.
I had to learn it's a correction.
It's correction. I don't think it's delusion, really, because I do. I, I believe It's a level of arrogance.
Mm. Yes, I can see that.
When I get on stage, you're going to like me whether you know it or not.
Yeah.
Give a damn what kind of day you're having. I don't care if you and your girls are arguing. I don't care. When I hit this mic, now you don't know I'm scared. Yeah. You don't know I'm shaking because I've never seen this room before.
Yeah.
They just booed the last guy off and I thought he was hilarious. Like all these different things going through your mind. Yeah. Having a bad day, just came from the doctor, my kids are sick, all kinds of stuff.
Yeah.
But when I hit this mic, you're gonna know that God made me do this.
Yeah.
I am built for this.
Yeah.
So I— that's the reason I say I don't think it's delusion. There is a solid confidence that I think most entertainers have. And when I, when I watch I'm trying not to go here, but let's go here. Fuck it, we're here already because there's other questions, but it's going to lead to that anyway. You, you have a— let me find— you have a lyric that I was like, okay, no, no, no, no, no, it's a song you have. Please put the album up.
Okay.
And the album is called Kept Kissin' Frogs. Kept Kissin' Frogs. And we're going to talk about that. Matter of fact, I want us to, to really talk about that. But you have a lyric in a song called I Love Myself. Okay. Something that you say you recorded 3 times.
Yes, one of my favorites.
Yeah.
Okay.
But in the song you say, and this, this literally almost made me cry, and I'm like, I gotta, I gotta reach out to her.
You gotta shut that up.
But, but I, I, that's what made me say, oh, I need to interview her. Because I want to know what does she mean by that. Okay, she says in the song, it says, it's my responsibility to love yourself. And then to say, it's my responsibility, it was such a big lyric. And I don't know what you meant by it, but I know what I heard.
Of course.
Can't nobody love me like I love me. Even when I have them days when things ain't going good, even when I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, the DNA is kicking in. I'm a Black man in America dealing with all these different things, the Republicans, Democrats, everything. Yeah, I don't give a damn. Yeah, it's my responsibility to love me. There you go. So you as a writer, yes. Please explain to the audience what does it mean? And, and it's this camera right there that's on you.
Okay, this one.
Okay.
Yes, ma'am.
Because I want someone to understand what that means to love themselves.
Yeah, that's why I wrote the song. But the responsibility part, because it's a lot of times even I do this challenge where you could do one for me too, where I ask somebody to say why they love themselves. And when I ask certain people from the— Erica Campbell from Mary Mary to Coco Brown to actors that's on your TV screen every single day— when I asked them, some of them said, let me think about this because I don't know. And it's like, wow, the fact that you even asked that question. I had some of them, of course, who know, who are confident within themselves, and they they had to think about it, but they had it right away. I had some people who was like, come back to me because I don't know. I had one person tell me she don't think she ever loved herself. I had a lady come up to me, um, at the show, mind you, in her 50s, 60s, who said that she never loved herself. And you got me on the stage, you know.
And so What's up, independent artists? This is Legacy City, CEO of Street Legend Productions LLC. Radio station, TV network, earn your royalties, UPC code, ISRCs. Come holla at us. Street Legend Productions LLC, home of the independent artist. Resume speak for itself.
It is your responsibility. There's no one else's responsibility to love you. That— this is why the world we in today, to be honest with you, it's a lot of people that's operating in not loving themselves and low self-esteem. And those people that operate on low self-esteem are very scary because that's the ones that they put their insecurities on you. Those are the ones who, when you on that stage, even if they want to like you, they don't want to like you. They want to hate on you because they don't even love themselves. They don't even like the person that they see in the mirror. So what— and I've even had somebody say to me, oh, that's very cocky for you to say I love myself. And then I'm like, yeah, you know, mostly for the most part it's positive, and I always focus on that. But I even knew when that person said that, that they don't even love themselves. Because for you to think of anything negative from loving yourself is absolutely bonkers to me. You have to love you first. Let's say this: you have to love you first in order to love anyone in the world. To love a companion, to love a child, to love a mother, to love a father, to love a dog, to love a cat— you have to love you first because you're going to treat everybody with that same love and compassion that you give to yourself and how you would want to be treated. If we all operated like that, the world would be probably a better place.
Listen, listen, and the reason I, I, I wanted, I wanted you to expound on that, and I thank you, because, you know, in the Greek there's different levels of love. You know, you got eros, which is erotic, you got philia, and all these different words, but agape is one where it's unconditional. And sometimes I don't like myself. Yeah, but I love me. And I was talking to someone a couple of months ago, they was talking, said, oh, you just— oh, you just— you're arrogant, you just— I said, well, what you see is arrogance, I see is healing.
Is that— I'm gonna say, there's— you have people who— I don't operate in ego, right? So you have people who operate in ego and that comes off. And to be honest with you, I'm gonna be 100% honest with the people that operate in arrogance. Who are cocky with it, those are the most insecure people. Those are the most insecure people in the world because it's the ones that are arrogant, cocky, and look down on other people. Those are the most insecure people in the world because you can love yourself and not look down on someone else.
Yeah. You—
my, my love of myself takes nothing away from you. My love of myself takes nothing away from somebody, another beautiful person next to me that's loving themselves. That it takes nothing away. When it comes to a fact that it's taking it away, or it's ego, I think I'm better than you because I have this, that's when there's a problem, that's when there's an issue. But I love myself so much that I want you to have this feeling. I want you to love yourself so much because it's a different healing. I didn't always love myself. I'm not sitting here and say that I came out the womb and I was just loving myself, but my mother always instilled in me self-esteem. It took a long time for me to find that place. Even in the song, I say it was a time when I wasn't good enough. Because we are putting ourselves as creators out there for the world to judge us, for people to judge our music, for people to say— I— it's art. So when someone says they don't like it, I'm okay with that because I'm just not the artist for you. My art that I'm creating is not for you. So when I come on that stage, for those people who came to see me, Even if someone came with a friend who'd never heard of me, most of the time they leave loving me because my art is for them. And if you don't, I wouldn't be mad if you don't leave loving it, because that just means that I'm not the artist for you. And there's plenty of other artists out there that works— that will work for you. Doesn't take away from me loving— I don't love myself any less for someone who doesn't support me. I love myself even more.
And that, that is the, the confidence. Because people misunderstand arrogance and confidence.
It's two different things.
And it's oftentimes this perception, because you can see me as arrogant, but I'm really just confident.
Yeah.
But whatever you think of me, I don't change my opinion of myself.
But let me tell you something, most of the time when someone else is seeing something else in you, it's really them mirroring themselves.
Girl, you better talk.
It's not what you— because I could walk in a room and not say two words and someone couldn't determine whether they like me or not. I could walk in—
you—
I could walk in my room with my head held down and someone would be like, oh, she's so sweet. But if I walk in that same room with my head held up, think about, oh, she thinks she all of that, and never even met me.
So let's, let's go there for a second, because perception, especially in the entertainment field, is a lot of how we get bookings.
Yeah.
And that's sad, but it's true. Because sometimes people, oh, she thinks she cute, I'm not gonna book her.
Well, that's them. Guess what? It wasn't for me. Because no matter what, every door that's closed on me or every opportunity that was not given to me because someone thought that, it wasn't for me in the first place. Because I don't want somebody who is booking me to think that about me because then you're not gonna give me my price that I'm asking for. You're not gonna make sure that my stage and my sound sounds good. You're not gonna make sure— I want somebody who is booking me like, I want her to win. Yeah, because that is going to translate on how you treat me.
That's okay. So the album, yes, Kep Kissen Frogs. Uh, what does that mean? And we, we got it on you right now. Okay, what, what does that even mean?
So this album is like 3 years in the making. Um, and I'm a hopeless romantic, so everybody think when they see Cupcakes and Frogs, they're like, oh, let's think about a relationship with a man, a relationship with, um, finding a Prince Charming or whatever the case may be. It's not just that, it's bigger than that. Yes, I play on the frog and kissing the frog or whatever the case would be, but frogs I turned into— so instead of snakes, I say, I call them frogs. Frogs can be your relationship with depression. Frogs can be your relationship with fear. Frogs, uh, can be your relationship— like my relationship with this industry. It's so many frogs that I've met who promised things, who, um, who said it was going to help me. I've got scammed before. I have worked with producers who start off with me and then all of a sudden they see I'm getting some type of name or something and they want to charge extra or they want to take part of my publishing. I've dealt with a lot of frogs in the industry, so that's what frogs was. And instead of— I'm not going to keep kissing them— I kept kissing them on this journey.
I'm—
I kept kissing frogs on this journey. So I changed frogs, which is what it says, what it represents, to forgive, release, overcome, and grow in order for you to soar. So forgive, release, overcome, and grow in order for you to soar, because in order to go to the next level, in order to heal, you have to forgive. You have to release that energy. So even though I kissed all these frogs and ups and downs, I didn't keep it with me, you know. I had to release it. I had to overcome it and grow in order to keep going, in order to heal. And I have a single called So High, and I'm like, I'm soaring so high. I go higher and higher and higher every frog that I forgive. Every person that hurt me. Every frog is, is your eternal battle within yourself. Sometimes you have to forgive yourself and love yourself. That's a frog as well. So that's what Kept Kissin' Frogs is. I know I did a long way, but that's—
no, that's why—
that's the basis of where frogs come from. So it's not just about Kept Kissin' Frogs, about The Princess and the Frog. Frogs is any— if you listen to the song KKF This on the album, it kind of gives you a little bit of the breakdown. It's this title track from the album, so it gives you a breakdown of what it is. How it started off with, you know, just being hurt by a significant other and then realizing that it's bigger than that. Being hurt by someone who said they was gonna help take me to another level or invest in me, you know, steal money from me. Like, it's so many different frogs that you have to overcome and grow from.
So what, what is your creative process? Like, like, do you start off with the melody, the lyrics, the emotion?
Like It's, it is never one way. Oh yeah, it's never one way. It's a feeling. It's— I'm, I'm that type of artist. It might be I might get a track in, in my email right now and I listen to the track and I just start writing to it and I feel it. I might not hear a track and I just have a melody, a thought, and when I go into the studio we build from there. So it just— you just never know. I remember one time where I had to write everything down, like in my— I had a note— I have so many note notebooks of lyrics, so many, because I'm a writer, writer lyricist first. Now I'm— I think I'm a rapper. I go into the studio and I freestyle, you know. And so I just— whatever comes off my head, that's how I am now. It's evolution, it's levels to it, it's a journey, and, um, it's, it's a feeling. I, I make soul music. It's whatever I'm feeling in my soul, and at that moment, how it comes out is how it comes out. It's— I mean, when I wrote So High, I was like I felt like I wasn't writing it. It's just the lyrics was flowing through me.
It—
the lyrics was flowing through me. I was in a, a, a deep state of grief. I had just lost a good friend of mine who helped me with the— in the music a long time. It was just a lot of different things. But even though I was in that moment, I was on the plane going to— I recorded in LA. I did a lot of songs in LA. I was going to LA and I'm in the air and I'm just looking at the clouds and I'm like, damn, we're really high, you know. So it's all these different things that I felt before I went into the studio. And I wanted to not be— I wanted to not think about the bad stuff. And really, when those words came out, I was— it was like a euphoria. It was like the soul, the words and the lyrics was just flowing. And when it just started flowing and the music just started going, I was like, okay, yeah, this is beautiful.
I love it. Yeah, I love it.
It's a superpower.
I'm curious because the way you explain Kept Kissin' Frogs. Is there a song that possibly people have not yet understood, or maybe they misunderstand? Like, even with your explanation with that, is there like a particular song like, y'all still don't get what I was trying to say?
No. Okay, because you might not get it, but somebody is going to get it. And I love— it's so crazy because what I love about my album and love about my music in general Everybody has their own favorite. Like, the people that really support me, you can't— they most of the time is usually the same one, like I Love Myself, the— because everybody loves that one. But even though they love that one, you got friends that say, oh my God, So High is my favorite. Oh, I have a song from my first album called Retro. Everybody has their own favorite or a song that resonates with them so much. And that's why I keep going, because I'm like Every— I have music for everyone. I feel like if you might not resonate with one song, but another one might be your favorite. Then my other cousin, I have an interlude called Grateful, and he's like, I listen to Grateful every single day. So that, like, so it's, it's art.
So it's an interlude?
That's— it's an interlude. It's not even a full song, and he said he listens to it every single day.
Okay, I'm curious, how does it go?
It's great. You gotta listen to the album.
Okay, what, what album was that one?
That was Captain Frog.
Yeah, because I, I, I have—
actually, you can purchase No, no, uh, vinyl's for sale. These are $30. The CDs are— this is the nostalgia, bringing back, you know, the nostalgia of the vinyls and CDs. Um, digitally you can purchase it from me, but the CDs are $15, the vinyls are $30. But if you want, you get both and they're $40, so you get $5 off.
Is it on a website or everywhere?
Yep.
What's the website?
It's, uh, benitajalaine.com.
Okay. Yeah.
So you pre-order the vinyls right now.
When we edit it, it's going to be right there on the display.
Yes.
And actually, I'll get a link from you to make sure that when we post the video, it'll be in the link.
Okay. Yes, sir.
So the struggle of music, the struggle of the industry and everything else.
Yeah.
There's been some moments where it's kind of rough, right, for me. And I was like, I don't know.
Yeah.
Comedy is easy. That's always been easy. The stage part is easy. It's the other BS around it that sometimes—
the noise.
There we go. There we go. What is thus far the hardest no that you've received?
The hardest no? I don't think I— to be honest with you, I don't consider anything a no. I just consider it a not now, a not yet.
It's like you have this attitude. I mean, no, no, it's a great attitude.
A lot of healing. It takes— it's a lot of healing, and it came here, and a lot of content of the person that I am. I'm content in the artist that I am.
But, but how did you get to that stage? I don't know, because Rodney Perry was saying the same thing. He was like, yeah, this happened and this happened, whatever he said, but I'm cool because I wouldn't be me if I wouldn't have went through that. Yeah, and that's just such a great attitude. But let's be real.
Yeah. Rejection is there, it's always rejection. But to me, that's noise. I feel like you, you can say like, I feel like I didn't hear it, you get what I'm saying? Because even if someone says like, I'm gonna give you— I'll just give you an example, not to put anybody on the spot, because I know that it's, it's the right time. Timing is everything. Everything, um, is not right away. You might— that's the thing, people give up because they want that instant satisfaction. The same thing, that's why the divorce rates are so high. People want instant satisfaction, they want that microwave. I it right now. I'm the turtle. I'm like the tortoise and the hare. I collect turtles and everything. I'm going to win the race no matter what. The race is within myself. I'm the— I'm my only competition. So if someone tells me no, like, say, like, for instance, a bigger— a bigger platform, like I wanted to do Colors, um, you know, sing— it's a— it's a platform called Colors or whatever it gets to be, and they said we're going to pass at this time. That's what they told my team. And, um, I was like, okay, cool, because that's at this time. Because I want it, I'm gonna get it. I want to do Tiny Desk. I've entered the Tiny Desk multiple times. I've submitted, you know, the things. I've got picked before. People was voting on it and everything, but it didn't get picked to win. It doesn't matter. It doesn't mean that I have it now, but I'm going to get it. If it's for me, it's already mine, just not right now. And if it's not, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that. I can make my own tiny desk, you know what I mean? So I love it. That's the way it is. We are one. We are, we are, we are, we are, we are one. No matter what we do, love will, love will see us through. We are one. That's the way it is. We are one. We are, we are, we are, we are one. It— I don't want nothing that's not for me. That's the problem with— we force so many things. And at certain times, like, where you ask God for something, and I just— the— just to be 100% real with you, you ask God for something and it might take a while, and he's going to give it to you. And you ever get something and you like like, dang, this is not what I thought it was going to be. He gonna give it to you at some point, at some time. You're gonna get it. That's what says nothing in this world that I don't have that I don't want yet.
You know what, and you— I don't— I didn't send you the questions. I didn't. But it's funny because the next question is, what's something about this industry that people didn't warn you about?
What they did not warn me about, which— and listen, I'm not a gatekeeper, so I'm gonna be honest with you because I'm gonna warn— I'm gonna warn everybody. Okay? And that's probably why it took me so long to make it, or it took me so long to make it because I already made it in my eyes. Um, but I'm 100% real. I can't— no matter how sweet I am, I would basically do anything for— like, if, if it is, if it's within my means to do it and you ask me, I'm gonna do it. That same way when even when you reached out about the interview and you said, oh, you decided not to do it, I said, what are you talking about? I sent my manager your information, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't care if you had 10 followers, you asked me to do an interview with me, and that's 10 more followers that I didn't have that I can gain just from your, your podcast. Also, me doing your podcast and you do— us doing this together, we can grow together. The, the more popular I am, they can go back to this, to the podcast, and be like, oh, remember when she did this? You get popular, I get popular. I get popular, you get popular. Same thing. Um, I, I recently went to the Grammy Awards for the first time, which is crazy, being a part of the Recording Academy. First of all, these are stuff that I dreamt about when I was little. And one of my videos went viral because I posted a friend of mine who actually won a Grammy. And when I posted that video, it wasn't about me getting followers. I was posting it because I was genuinely screaming and crying for him as if you— and I just met this man, but I've been following his journey as much as people follow my journey. And it went viral. And so one of my friends who is a smaller podcast, um, Archonics, super dope, I met them through doing stuff for Ace Honors and stuff like that. And, um, she said, oh my God, Benita! And I was literally get packing my stuff to go on the plane, like literally putting it inside the shuttle. And so I was like, I gotta call you back. She's like, call me back. And so I get on the shuttle, I'm like, why did she text me and call me again? I said, girl, what do you want? What's going on? She said Queen Latifah liked the post of our interview. It was an interview of me and her, and that was huge for them because that was an interview with me— with them. And they're like, Bonita, Queen Latifah! So I'm like, she could have thought it was liking the post because it was an interview of, um, or they— she found it from their post. I went back to my page and I looked at my page and Queen Latifah liked about 5 videos and pictures of mine. And I'm on the shuttle like, oh, losing it, because I'm like, what in the world? And then it said, Queen Latifah is following you. Yeah, she didn't have to follow me. She could have just liked it. She found me from me just posting someone else and then liked them. And I was con— I was so happy with the fact that she liked that one post, thinking that that's what it was. And then I go back to my page and like, oh, and I'm not— she's a person just like me. She's an oppo— she has a long career of doing what she loved, but that's her journey and her opportunity. So I'm not praising no man, I'm praising the, the, the fact that it's a legend, living legend, who little old me just liked a post. Yeah, so I keep going and I said I went on a tangent. I don't know where I was going with this. No, no, no, but I go— I say that to say like, this journey, you never know. Tomorrow, the same way I'm sitting here with you, tomorrow I was in the room with Chris Brown, in the studio with him, running around. We little kids, we running around. Then two months later, I'm opening up for him to months later, he's Chris Brown now. And I see him and he's like telling me, well, keep going, you know, don't give up. And I'm like, did we not just— you don't remember us? But that can happen. Yeah. So you never know who you're gonna meet going up. So I'm the same with everybody going up, because trust me, it's full circle. This life is a marathon. This life is a roller coaster. This life is a journey. And I'm loving this journey, loving this journey.
Um, being in the industry, um, it seems to me that this question may not apply to you, but I think it's still— do you feel pressure to look a certain way in the industry?
When I first started out? Oh no, now, yeah, now please. I love myself so much, I got on a hoodie. And you know what I'm saying? Take me as I am. I'm very fashion-forward. I love fashion, hats, different stuff like that, but that's just me. When I first started in the industry, remember I started off with Dipset. I started off with like around Ashantis and all these different people. And I'm like, why they not choosing me? Like, do I have to be naked? Do I have to wear my pants a little bit tighter? Do I have to show this? Do I have to do that? I didn't make it because I'm brown skin. It was so many different things that I put— so many different things that I put on myself. It wasn't until I started healing and learning that I'm gonna love me regardless. This is the art that I'm bringing to you. It's gonna be an audience for me. And if that audience— if you don't like it, then change the channel. I don't— I don't have no perception. Of course I'm not gonna go looking crazy, but You got artists out here right now who look like they in their pajamas and they one of the best artists and selling out shows. It ain't— it's about what the art that they're bringing. So I'm not going to change or change my perception. That's, that's why I got locs. When I got locs, people was like, oh, you putting yourself— you setting yourself and putting you in one type of box. No, I don't care. I love my locs. I have a crown, you know. And if I want to put on a wig, I'll put on a wig. If I want to put a hat It's how I feel when I wake up in the morning, when I look in the mirror. That's— I have to be happy within myself. I'm pleasing myself. I have to— I'm holding myself accountable.
Yeah, yeah.
It's— this is my response. This right here is my responsibility. If people started caring more about them and their responsibility, the world will be a better place. I'm not comparing myself to no body.
Do you find in the industry, and been in Atlanta, I heard different things, do you, do you find because you are career-driven, because you are an entrepreneur, you are a dream chaser, do you find there's a strain— not going personal, but is there a strain in relationships? Because oftentimes I've heard, and even with myself, because you're so driven at doing XYZ, sometimes other people don't understand it.
Of course, you got a lot of people that don't understand it. Okay, I got— you got family members and stuff now, like, you still doing this? You know what I'm saying? You still keep going? Like, you should have been made it over there, KSB, and some I have some same family members who like, I'm one of their favorite artists now. So it's a strange, like, you're gonna, as an artist, as a creative, you're gonna have sacrifices. That's, that comes with it. You got people that sacrifice for you who believe in you so much, you— that they believe in you just as much as— like my mom, who believe in me just as much as I believe in myself, you know. Like my godfather, I was about to tear up earlier because I just remember he was there with me at Apollo, and it wasn't until years later that now he's coming in and like, Bonita, what you need? Because you right there. What I gotta do to help? You know what I'm saying? Like, you— it's gonna be people that don't understand it. I will— I have friends and family who just getting married or just having a you know, first having, having a first child. I got my dog and I'm good with it, you know, with them. I still want a family and stuff, but that's only if God wants that for me. Yeah, I am birthday— what I said, I was telling, I said, Mommy, I have lots of children. I have people that reach out to me every single day who say how my music touched them or healed them. If I decided tomorrow to give up, what about those people who need me to keep going? Those are my— those are the people that I'm raising and I'm helping grow, and I'm growing with them.
Yeah.
So everybody's journey is not the same. So like, when my grandma's like, oh, I wish you were— oh, you worry about your own. You had your kids, you understand what I'm saying? Like, don't— if people start being responsible for their own well-being— and I used to be that way. I used to want to, like, be— if I read a certain book, I will want, Mommy, you gotta read this book.. And if she read it and she don't get the same thing that I got from it, I'm like, you don't remember this part? The same way they're like, oh, in this movie, this is a really good movie, you don't look at this part right here. And if they don't get it exactly where you get it, you're like, dag. It's like a— it's a— you're woke and you want somebody else to wake up. I started realizing that, and I'm just learning this within the year. I can't live nobody else's life. I can't live nobody else's journey.
I like that.
Their journey is their journey. Mine is mine. I have to continue to— not to say I'm stop sharing it, but I can't be mad and personally take anything from somebody else not getting what I get.
So the dating process, is it harder in Atlanta, period?
I think it's harder, period. Yeah, I think it is harder in Atlanta, I'll be honest with you, because there's so many different people here. But I feel like it's harder, period, because you just never know. People are— and it's—
it—
I laugh about this when somebody say it's not how it was back in the days. I'm like, well, back in the days, how was it? Like, back in when I found out some of my heroes or people that I looked up to even in music were some of the worst womanizers or the worst people. Like, I mean, from— I just found out Teddy Riley, when I lost my— not Teddy Riley, Lord forgive me, not Teddy. I hate Teddy. What up? Um, uh, Teddy Pendergrass found out that this man was like abusing his— I mean, and I was just like, allegedly, shock.
Allegedly. That's just gonna say allegedly. Now we—
no, it wasn't Teddy Pitygrass. No, it was, um, what's the, um, Al Green. Not Teddy, not Teddy. Allegedly.
We're building the brand.
Yeah, I don't know. They have pulled out facts, girl.
Say allegedly.
Allegedly.
Anyway, this is all— but this is all— no, no, because look, look, look, look. This comes out, you 10 years later, you 3 years later, you at the Grammys and somebody's seen the interview and the family won the suit. Allegedly. Allegedly.
No, that's true.
We're gonna protect each other here, right?
That is true. No, but just finding out different things, like, that's why I put no one on the pedestal, like, besides the Most High. Like, I, I don't put nothing past nobody. But like, they, they were singing love songs and beating women, you know what I'm saying? So even how it was back in the day days, or having multiple women. And it's the same thing with women, women only with a certain person and having multiple husbands and different stuff like that. It's so many— it's nothing new under the sun.
Yeah.
So only difference I feel like how it was then, they stayed in marriages a little bit longer.
They had no choice.
They didn't have a choice. But it's so many— that's the problem now, like we have choices.
Yeah.
It's certain women back in the— back in those days who couldn't even get a bank account if they didn't have a husband.
Listen, when I, when I saw The Aretha Franklin Story, and this is not allegedly, this is—
no, this is the movie. Yeah.
And you saw the abuse, you saw, you know, from the parents to the church and all that stuff. You're like, what the heck? And then the great songs that came out of it.
Yes.
Matter of fact, Bobby Womack has a song called I Wish You Didn't Trust Me So Much, not knowing that the song— it was a hit.
Yeah.
But he was talking about him sleeping with Sam Cooke's wife. And then when Sam Cooke got killed, which, you know, Sam Cooke was his mentor, he went to his funeral with his wife.
Yes, I heard that.
Are you serious?
Yeah.
So, so what you're saying is right. And sometimes I, I hate meeting people I, I admire.
Oh, sometimes it's great. Sometimes it's— sometimes it's great. I've met some amazing people within this year and I'm like, oh my God. They actually— everything that they, they— you thought they were, they were. And then some people are like, yeah, why did I meet you?
So let's do this. Don't say no names, okay? Because we want to—
yeah, no.
What's a time you met somebody? And I got one more question, I'm gonna let you go. What's the time you met somebody and you were so excited and they were not what you thought they were? You don't say no names.
We're not gonna blow nobody up. Um, it was— and that's actually, um, yeah, um, I don't know how to say it. Okay, so it was a singer who I admired, and I really, um— see, I'm a little different. When I was younger, I used to like admire and like, oh my God, I would love to meet this person. Or I've never idolized anybody, if that makes sense. I admire my mom so much, and she's right, you know what I'm saying? She retired as a New York City Transit, um, bus dispatcher, you know. I admire regular people, you know, but I don't idolize anybody. A lot of times, like, and I don't want nobody idolizing me. Yeah, even people that support me and fans, or I don't even, I don't even like the word fans, or people that support and I call them family or whatever the case may be. Um, I don't want you to worship no one but God, right? And so when I meet somebody— I've been around— if you'd be surprised at the people that I've been around. Like, people like, how do you know this person? How did— I've been around a lot of big people that are everyone's favorite person, and they just people to me. I admire the work that they've done. I admire um, what I've seen, because I don't— you never know how people are behind closed doors, that part. So nothing surprises me. It's just a disappointment when I meet somebody who, like, I admired and they tailored something. Because when I say I don't compare myself to other people, I don't compare myself to their career. But you can admire somebody like that. I wish I, I, I, I would look forward to being at that status, or if I, if I had this I'll be grateful for. I'm grateful what I have now, but if I had what they had, I'll be like, good. Yeah. Um, and I've met this person and I opened up for them, and, um, I opened up for them and they was just not nice, right? So then I chucked it up to human. They're human. They was just having a bad day. They probably was just having a bad day. And then, um, I met him a second time They were nicer, I will say that, the second time I met them. Um, and they— but it was, uh, you know, like, uh, then I met him a third time and I was introduced to them. And this also, it also goes to say respect the person. My mother says that all the time, respect the persons. You— levels of who's introducing you, levels of where you're at in your life, right?, and, um, someone introduced me to them and they said, oh, I'm familiar with her, I know who she is. And I'm like, this can't be the same person that I met because we already— what? But it was the person who introduced me to them. They admired them.
Gotcha.
And I was just like, oh wow, okay, so I see the type of person you are. If they can't— if it's— that's a lot of stuff in this industry too. In, in life, period. If someone can't do something for you, they don't treat them the same. So when I say respect of persons, meaning like you only— you change your respect factor on the status or what they can do for you. Yeah. And so I see that a lot in this industry, and I used to take it personally. I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't anymore. I don't anymore. The reason why I don't anymore, because I'm like, that's, that's your own insecurity, and it can change just like this. Because I've seen someone be here, and then I meet them again, and they asking me what I'm doing, you understand? And, and they're here. So I'm just like, tomorrow it can change. So when somebody reached out to me like, oh, we want to do this, I'm not gonna ever look like, oh, I can't do that with you. If it's in my means, why not? Yeah, why not? Because you never know, that person that you did that for, tomorrow they can be Chris Brown.
Viola Davis has a I saw her in an interview. She said, be careful of the toes you step on today because they may be attached to the ass you gotta kiss tomorrow.
That is so true.
I was like, oh wow.
And every story and every testimony that I hear with different artists or different celebrities or, or actors, or like, they always got a story like that. They always got a story of someone who didn't believe in them. They always got a story up. And it's— that's why I'm gonna say it's a level of delusion. And be honest with you, when I say it's a level of delusion, not to say that we're crazy enough, it's a level of delusion because everyone's looking at me as delusional at this moment. Until you make it, and until you get on that status where they feel like you've had— then you're a genius, you understand? I've been a genius. You just didn't— you didn't get it.
The world didn't know.
The world didn't get it yet. So that's why I say it's a part of the delusion. People think you're delusional until you actually get everything that you ever wanted and you get it and people get to see it and witness it, then that delusion turns into, oh my God, they have always been this amazing.
So I, I, we have one last question. Okay, so Turning Corners is— a lot of people think it's about because I drive the different cities, turning corners. No, uh, it's about Traveling in this journey and turning that corner and saying, I finally did it. I didn't give up. I could have gave up at red light number 3. Yeah. But when I turned that corner, now I'm here and I'm on my way to my journey. I'm on my way to my destiny. My question to you is, what is a turning corners moment? Because we have a lot of them.
Yeah.
What is a turning corners moment for you when you look back at it, you just like, wow, that was a, that was a moment where I wanted to give up.
Yeah.
I wasn't too sure, you know, life happened. What was the moment, if you don't mind sharing that?
Um, so many, so many. Um, 2023 to '25 was rough. And the best. Imagine two things can be true at the same time: the worst moments in your life and the best moments in your life all happening simultaneously, which is this thing called life, right?
Yes.
Pastor Mike said something and I was like, oh, he was like, you know how when you at the hospital and the monitor is going up and down like this and, um, that's when you know there's life. And when it flatlines, then it's dead, they're dead, or they got to come resuscitate you because you're dead. When he said life is those, those ups and downs— people only celebrate the ups, they don't, they don't talk about the downs, but the ups and downs keeps life going— I was like— I'm paraphrasing, but I was like, oh my God. I'm living, I'm on this journey, and my— it's up and down, it's up and down, up and down. And I'm starting to appreciate those downs because those downs is— those downs is track number 5 on my album I wrote about. You know what I'm saying? It's— those downs are track number 3. Where I got Black Rose, where I'm talking about the industry. And if I had a dollar for everybody, every time somebody told me I was gonna make it, I'll be rich right now. Those downs is that song I Love Myself, where I had to find my way through those downs in order to get to the fight. So, so many turning corners, so many turning corners where I didn't know if I was gonna make it around the corner. I didn't know if I was going to continue to go. But what keeps me going, this recent one, the biggest turning corner for me was I'm big on manifesting. So you can manifest, but I'm also big on praying. I'm big on trusting God. So yeah, I could manifest it, but if God don't want it for me, then it ain't gonna happen. And he will give it to you, and it's not always what you want. I was manifesting 2 years ago. I went to a Grammy party with a friend of mine. I wasn't part of the Grammy Association. People look on the outside of industry— when you're in the industry, they think, oh, you just get nominated, anybody can be nominated for music, not knowing there's so many different red tags you got to go through. I went to the party, and you got to be a part of the Recording Academy in order to even submit, in order to be in the tent to even get considered, then nominated, then win. Oh wow, it's so many different steps to it. I went to a Grammy party just happy I was a guest of someone else who was a part of Recording Academy. At the Grammy party, I said, I want to be a part of Recording Academy. The next year, I'm part of the Recording Academy. I said, ah, I'm gonna be nominated for a Grammy, I'm gonna go to the Grammys. This year, I was intense. My song got chosen. I was afraid to even submit it. I submitted it and it got considered. You get past intent and considered, you're considered, you have a number assigned for you to put out for your consideration. So somebody to vote in the Recording Academy, not regular people, no one can vote unless you're in the Recording Academy.
Wow.
In the Recording Academy to get nominated, and then you win. I didn't get nominated, but I got considered from the year prior. I said these are things that I wanted to do since I was little. I'm turning this corner, I'm like, I said last year I wanted to be a part of the Recording Recording Academy. I'm a part of Recording Academy. Um, I said at the party, I want to, um, be nominated. I was considered, so I guarantee the next one is nomination. I've never been to the Grammys. I said I want to go to the Grammys. This year is my first year going to the Grammys.
That's crazy.
So these are all things that I've dreamt about, and in levels to it, and I'm living my wildest dreams as I'm sitting in the Grammys. Taking it all in. And just the first Grammys that I've ever seen, I was— that I saw myself in it. I saw myself. Like, you could watch something on TV and like, it looked like you gotta have this, you gotta gatekeep, you gotta— you know what I'm saying? So this is the first time I sat there and was like, this is possible. As I'm sitting in the Grammys, someone who has a similar journey independently gets a Grammy and I get to witness it after meeting him a week prior before we went to the Grammys and telling him he was gonna— I told this man he was gonna win a Grammy and then he wins the Grammy and I'm witnessing it. That video goes crazy viral, 2.5 million views. I was there to witness it and it was—
and you just showing love.
I was just showing up. I was showing up and showing love. And in that moment, I saw myself. I saw myself in that moment. And as I'm sitting there, I'm grateful. I get nominated for 2 awards. As I'm sitting inside the Grammys, I get a notification that I'm nominated for 2 snubbed, uh, Prism Awards. That might not be nothing to somebody, but I'm sitting in the Grammys getting nominated for 2 other awards for doing what I love. I'm losing it. I'm like, what is going on right now? This is, this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm right where I'm supposed to be on this journey. I'm right where I'm supposed to be. I don't know what tomorrow holds. One thing I started learning and loving is every day is like Christmas to me. Every day is like something new that's happening, like, oh my goodness, Benita, we got a call, we want you here. I don't know what tomorrow holds. I promise you I don't, and I'm okay with not knowing that because I'm loving this journey. I'm sitting here and turning corners, talking about music that I do, that I created, and I love. This is— this is— I love this. Yeah, I didn't have this schedule last week. Yeah, yeah.
So yeah, and it's crazy you say that because the lady who I met her 2 times in San Antonio when she lived in San Antonio some 10 years ago. First time I was on the radio, she had just, she was doing her thing.
Yeah.
And I just knew, I've been following her too. And then I was like, oh, I'm in Atlanta, let me call up my girl. And I said, hey, do you know, oh, I know this dope artist, da da da da. So you just don't know.
And names in rooms that don't even, I didn't even know that y'all was talking about me, you know what I'm saying? Like.
And I can't, I can't wait, 'cause when the interview's over, I'm gonna, I'm gonna send you a song. To a friend of mine who was at the Grammys performing with Beyoncé. Wow. And like I said, she tours with Scarface. And I was like, hey girl, do you know who this person is?
Crazy.
Because that's what it's about. It's not about clickbait and all the other stuff. We'll get views, fine, but it's not about that. It's about— I think the closest we get to God is when we become a creator.
Yeah, I love that.
Because we always say, oh, that's our creator. We don't really understand what that means. So you might not like my creation. Everybody's not gonna like the platypus duck.
Everybody.
But God still created it. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? Like, it has a purpose.
Yes, yes. You know?
Yeah. So, so thank you. Yeah, thank you for this. Um, I am stupid, okay? No, I am. No, no, I'm stupid. I'm a comedian.
He's silly.
No, no, I'm stupid. I'm, I'm thrown off for real. And something I added to this show. We always end with Turning Corners, but something I added to this show, okay, because of you, and you don't even know I added it. As, as she's walking up, I said, I'm just gonna ask her what. So my stage name is Can't Get Right.
Can't Get Right.
Because I can't get right. I got, I got, I got problems. I got issues. I laugh when I ain't supposed to be laughing. I laugh at funerals. Like, no, for real, I laugh at funerals.
But that's a part of it.
Um, what is something— and this is Last question of the day. What is something that you just can't get right? You know, you know, you probably should, but you just can't get right. It's just, it might be, um, your schedule, it might be a note, it might be laughing at the wrong time, right? You can't cook bacon to save your life. What is it? What is that one thing that you just like, I just can't get right? And it's okay, I'm cool.
So many things. Let me see, what is something that I can't get right? Uh, because I don't like that, I don't like that, that, that, that. Okay, um, I know, I know, I know, especially as the person that I am, like, uh, um, it might be chicken.
You always burn chicken. You are—
no, rice. Okay. I could cook my behind off, but white rice is my Achilles heel. I make the best yellow rice. I could make some good jasmine rice, but something about the white rice— and my mother taught me so many different ways, and my grandmother— and it wasn't until I found something on TikTok. TikTok gonna save a lot of people's lives, okay? And they, they show you a way that you can do it where it doesn't get, uh, mushy, where it's not mushy. Listen, my white rice is the worst. I've had some times where it's okay, where, you know, it's edible. But I'll be making mashed potatoes out of white rice. It's like I never put too much— I never put enough water, and then I put too much water, and then—
yeah, why don't you get the Minute Bag? Well, that's cheating.
That's cheating. I've done those before. I do those, you know, because I— but I'm determined before— in this lifetime, I love it because I love white rice. In this lifetime, I will make some white rice that's going to be just as good as the Chinese restaurant. Okay, mark my word, I'm gonna figure it out. But yeah, white rice is my— oh, I can't get right.
I love it, I love it, I love it. First of all, thank you again. Thank you again. How can people get in contact with you? Yes, give me that website again where they can purchase your album. Show us the album again. Yes, and promote, promote, promote, promote, promote, promote.
So my album is Kept Kissin' Frogs. It's on my website, which is my name, which is bonitajalaine.com. So bonitajelaine.com. Um, I have CDs available on there, I have, uh, vinyls that's available in there, and I have merch. I have, um, hoodies from my first album, um, my song called Retro. I have I Love Myself, um, sweatshirts that have I Love Myself on them. Those are a big seller now. I have a lot of different merch that's on that you could purchase as well. And I have handmade candles that I made, um, with dry flowers and some of them have CBD, um, in them for calming. Yeah, so they really smell really, really good. Those are big sellers when I do shows. So that's on there, um, bonitajalane.com. You can follow me at Bonita Sings on everything, on Instagram, on, um, Facebook, and on, um, YouTube. If you put in bonitajalane.com, but Bonita Jalane, you'll find anything and everything for me.
Yeah, okay.
And then, um, so on there it also has a link, so if you don't have CD player or a vinyl player, which you can get one because they're really cheap and they're coming back. Um, you can digitally—
old school to your heart. I'm laughing, I'm like, okay.
You can digitally download, um, my song on all streaming platforms. It's on all streaming platforms. But you can actually get the full album from me, and you get gifts when you actually purchase it directly from me. Those, like, for instance, if you stream my album, if you stream it I might get 10 cents from it, you know. But if you purchase it digitally, um, it's a platform called even.com. It's on my website called even.com. You can actually purchase it for the price it is, or you can donate anything extra and it goes to it. And that— those sales go directly to me.
Okay, well, I will do that as soon as we get finished. Yes, I will download it for myself.
Yes.
Uh, I don't have neither one of those, but no, no, but I, I love, I love music. I love your voice. Um, that one song, I Love Myself, I, I promise you, I listened to it over and over and over, and I was like, wow, that's a good, great reminder. Yeah. So, uh, on camera, I am, I'm, I'm going to purchase.
And, um, a lot of people, like my cousin, he, um, he bought one and he just had me sign it, and he's not gonna open it. He said, I just want to have it just because it's your first vinyl. And then, um, my girl has a CD player car, so they play the CD player in the car. And they— everything's coming back. Like, uh, Jill Scott just came out with her album, is on vinyl. Everybody's on vinyl.
Yep. Hey, thank you again. Yes. Uh, thank y'all for watching the episode of Turning Corners. Um, wow, this, this is good. I appreciate y'all. I holla.
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