Shameka Dwight is making 2023 the year she’s letting her own music shine.

The Columbia, South Carolina singer-songwriter has been doing a lot of moving over the past few years as she’s relocated from her native state to Houston then to L.A. and finally to Atlanta. It’s those experiences she explains that have made her the talented musician she is today, while learning different pieces of the music businesses while in those perspective large cities.

Now in Atlanta, Dwight has been using her gift as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer to contribute to different ventures, including music on Netflix’s First Kill soundtrack, partnering with Jeep for the nationwide “Release Your Renegade” campaign and appearing on a number of TV productions, including the BET Awards, American Music Awards, Stand Up 2 Cancer, and most recently, CBS presents Aretha! A Grammy Celebration for the Queen of Soul.

And while those experiences have taught her a lot about how to secure deals and bags many may know nothing about, Dwight is now focusing on her own music. In January, she released her latest EP Back Home, and on it, she gets extremely introspective about what she’s been through, including relationships, triumph and loss. It’s an update of sorts since dropping her last project – 2020’s acoustic album Love UnMastered.

During a recent interview with BET, Dwight revealed that she’s working on more new music set for release around the end of summer, her creative process, the experience of fulfilling an artist residency at Quincy Jones’ Q’s Bar & Lounge in Dubai, and more. Read below.

BET: What was your childhood like and what along the way attracted you to music?

Shameka Dwight: I'm from South Carolina so deep south music was always something that I was passionate about. I've been doing it since I was [in] middle school. I think before that I was really into art. I used to paint a lot. But when I got to fifth grade, I was trying to play the violin – that didn't work out. Then I went to the alto sax for a little bit, and then started playing the piano and me and my cousins would rewrite all the popular songs on the radio. So it was just a fun thing that we did. I never thought that it would be a career. It took up a lot of my space and time, and even when I was in college, I started going to school for physical therapy but I skipped class to practice and play music. So I think it was that moment when I was like, Let me try to see if this could be something that I could do long term and so it's kind of been that way since the beginning.

BET: Your EP Back Home dropped in January. It’s beautiful and you can tell the attention to detail was extremely prevalent on this. How did this come together and what is sort of the background on it?

Shameka Dwight: So for the most part I focus more on the songwriting tip in shopping some songs to other artists, and a few of the songs of the project, I actually shot two different artists one song “Day To Dawn.” An artist recorded maybe six or seven years ago, but then she transitioned to do some other stuff. Then another song called “Enough,” I shopped around, and two or three artists were interested in recording it but then they didn't do it. I just wanted to have them put the music out with my voice and not so much as relying on other artists to put the songs out. So to backtrack between L.A. and Atlanta, I went to South Carolina for a few months. So when I was back home that was just kind of like my respite moment when I was just able to do nothing and kind of consider where I was in my life and what I wanted to say. So when I had the songs, some of them were just kind of sitting and I told myself this will be my year of taking chances and just doing the things that felt right regardless of knowing what the outcome would be, regardless of what I wanted people to get from it. It was just more like, Okay, this is this song describing where I was in my life at this moment. I was in a relationship, got out of it, and learned so much about myself and my intuition. So it was just like a really reflective moment. So I think all of those songs kind of came from that space.

BET: This is your first project since Love UnMastered. How have you grown from that release in 2020 until now and did you approach this new EP in a different way?

Shameka Dwight: Love UnMastered, that was my cover project. I've never fully embraced myself as a producer. At that moment. I was like, Okay, I know how to record my vocals a little bit. I know how to record some instruments when we just do the bare minimum. But I just needed to be creative and I just kind of sat with some songs that I thought I expressed where I was in that moment, and kept the bare minimum. I did everything on my computer and I was like, Okay, this is really a master because the project isn't mastered, it's just me here. I tend to explore different genres of music and see kind of based where I am, what I'm listening to at the time with what I'm putting out. So I just needed to be creative. This time around with the latest EP, I was a little more intentional about solidifying who I was as an artist. Because I write music, I write different genres of music, and sometimes as a songwriter, you can float between different spaces.

BET: What is your creative process like? When you hit the studio, what are you looking to accomplish?

Shameka Dwight: That's a great question. I will say when I first started songwriting was my main focus. Just being able to sing and play different instruments. You think about the other possibilities of it. So I performed a lot as well and I've tapped into that a little bit. I've done some residencies, some live performances, and I still do, I just know at my core my heart of hearts is with the music. So now I've gotten more into sync licensing and I feel like there's a formula there too, but I think it gives you the freedom to kind of play with different sounds and different genres.

It's a combination for I will say 80 percent of the time I'm emotional about something and I just have to get it out. Something happened, some kind of event or something, or a conversation happened, and so either like a melody will pop in my mind, or just like some words. I'll get an instrument and kind of improvise and see what comes from it. But then also I've been in situations, or if I'm getting a brief for TV then the whole scope of what the scene is. You just make up a story based off of whatever the character is. So I like both approaches.

BET: Some of your inspirations include Joni Mitchell, India.Arie, Sam Cooke, Cyndi Lauper – a lot of classic talents and they definitely show up in your music as well. How do you feel they inspire you and how do you incorporate that into your music?

Shameka Dwight: I grew up on gospel music so all we could listen to was gospel in the house. That was my scope of music unless I went to my cousin's and they put me on to Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston and just like other R&B voices. I would tap into a few other people, I got on the Norah Jones record Don’t Know Why, but listen to that over and over again. I think I maybe had two secular records in my house when I was a kid. So my scope was very limited until I got to college. And I studied music therapy my my professor, she was like a folk guitar player. So a lot of the songs and the artists she introduces to like folk singers are just like, that's why I got to Joni Mitchell late. I got to Elton John late, I got to like all of the people who shape music. I got to them when I was in college and I just kind of binged on everything. And so like India.Arie, my friend left her CD [holder] in my car. We were in high school, and I was like, Oh my god, “Ready for Love.” That was like the first time I played on the guitar. So I was just discovering all of these new artists. I started listening to a lot of jazz. I listened to Dave Brubeck, Art Tatum, Robert Glasper – a lot of his first records that were more jazz heavy. I'm still diving into catalogs of a lot of people and discovering the diversity of music.

BET: A little while ago you completed a residency at Quincy Jones’ Q’s Bar & Lounge in Dubai. That must have been an incredible experience…

Shameka Dwight: I was his singer, piano player, guitar player, just kind of like, wherever. And so I helped him out on that first residency, but the first set, he let me sing a few of my original songs and the hotel invited me back to do my own residency. So we got back to the States and I talked to Quincy’s people, and they were like, “We would love you to do it.” So the second time we did an all girl band, which is something they haven't seen over there. It was a learning experience because, of course, you focus on the music and engaging with the audience, but it was also like, all the back stuff like managing the shock. And I think I grew so much from that experience. So I would never play it down. It was a really pivotal moment in my life. I really enjoyed it. All the different cultures that came in there, people everywhere dancing to your music. You're able to see what people connect with and what they like, hearing their stories. I still have friends from being over there. So it was just a really enriching experience.

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