Meet Spooky

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Spooky. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Spooky below.

Spooky, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?

For me, my optimism comes from sheer, innate hope. I once saw a clip of the legend Jane Goodall, who said this: “If we lose hope, we’re doomed.”

My optimism comes from this constant hope I cultivate, the hope that things will get better. Despite this, I’d consider myself more of a realistic optimist than just an optimist.

We can’t ignore that life gets really hard sometimes. But they’re not kidding when they say you have to take the dark with the light. I’ve always had an appreciation for the darker sides of life, like shadow selves, gothic clothing, and mortality, so I feel like adapting this to my personal philosophy was a seamless process.

I also think of this quote from one of my favorite films, “Ghost World”: “I can’t relate to humanity, either, but I don’t think it’s completely hopeless.”

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Oh, this is the fun part. I do…All The Things! But I’ll keep it short and sweet.

My name is Spooky Bambina Jones=von Belcourt, but also known as Spooky Bambina. I’m a singer-songwriter, musician, poet, bizarre filmmaker, comedian, and multidisciplinary artist, doing it all as a Renaissance-woman freak show, with a little help from some zany pals. I pull inspiration from so many places you wouldn’t believe that they’d all be connected in ways I see them.

Some of my top musical inspirations are Blondie, Green Day, X-Ray Spex, The Shangri-Las, and The Ronettes. Mix this with pop art, Vampira, David Lynch, French New Wave films, and ever-changing personal aesthetics… and you get a wild-woman mix.

My persona, similarly, can be described in five words: quirky, knowledgeable, sexy/elegant, artistic, and grotesque. I’m also neurodivergent, which plays a role in everything I do, including my art and even my costumes. One of my goals with my artistic practice is to help others like myself feel seen, heard, and represented across the board. And as a young neurodivergent Black woman doing it all and then some, I feel like I’m off to a great start.

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As of today [5/22/2026], I have a new song coming out on streaming services everywhere called “Scrambler!” It’s a nice alt-rock-inspired jam I wrote about simple neurodivergent quirks that feel a little too relatable. It’s my first new music in over two years and I’m looking forward to adding it to my setlist.

Scrambler is out on June 12, 2026. Here’s the presave link for anyone interested:
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/spookybambina/scrambler?ref=release

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1. Curiosity and experimentation. I’ve always been one to try new things; even if I decide I don’t like them, then it’s another checkmark in my Big Life Book of Things To Try. Feeding your curiosity, always being hungry for knowledge, is something I feel will carry any creative far into their journey. It’s ok to admit that we don’t know everything. It only opens the door to learn more!

I love history, trivia, and fun facts! I especially love researching artists and creatives who came before me, learning about their overall life stories and how they got to where they got. My advice here is to just know your history. That isn’t just about your country’s history; it’s about culture and society. You’ll become a much better musician when you study music history; it’ll leave you a more informed creator. The same goes with literature, art, cooking, poetry, whatever artistic medium you create in.

2. Tenacity. Giving up was never in my family’s DNA. For me, if something doesn’t work, I will try any methods available to remedy the situation. It builds character and steels you up, which is necessary when you’re a creative of any kind,

3. Guts. It takes so much bravery to make any kind of art and tap into your vulnerability that way…and it takes even more to share it with the world. There’s always going to be self-doubt, but it’s a matter of realizing that nobody is going to make the same art that you make. I think of it as, “I’m the only person who could have been able to write the song ‘Werewolf From Hell!’, or even write this poem ‘In Lieu of Flies’.” How cool is that?!

You also just have to trust yourself and Lean Into Your Crazy. My mind has a lot of great ideas that illustrate themselves before I even assemble the sketch, let alone the video, painting, or other art piece. I’m learning to trust that more. Trust your vision, trust your imagination, trust your own brand of crazy. We all have it, and if we expressed ours in this way, the world would be a much better, more balanced place. You do have to balance the crazy with the sane, right? 😉

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

So right now, it’s not any particular living person. But one major inspiration I’ve been learning from lately is Marta Becket, dancer, visual artist, and multidisciplinary creative. Her story is the most inspiring to me because of the power of both what ONE person can do on their own and the sheer joy of creation.

Marta’s background was in painting, dance, and theater. She started ballet at age 14 (when she received her first pointe shoes after only two lessons), and she eventually made her professional debut in the Radio City Music Hall corps de ballet and performed in several musicals, including Show Boat and Wonderful Town. After a period of dancing in the background, she resolved to be the star of her own shows going forward; this led her to produce and tour her own one-woman show.

After a flat tire brought her and her then-husband/manager to Death Valley Junction, Marta came across this abandoned theater in the junction and saw her entire future through this hole in the door. She rented it for $45/month on a $1 loan and transformed it into her own theater, Amargosa Opera House. From that moment, Amargosa and the desert were her home, and she made the absolute most of it until she drew her last breath in 2017.

So today, I’m taking Marta Becket’s lessons to heart and learning to: honor the art of creation, celebrate my work even if no one else sees it, and trust in my own vision. And lean into my own wild whimsy without apologies! She’s also been teaching me, in a way, to honor the balance between doing it all on your own and working with others. There’s no shame or harm in being a one-woman show, either, as long as you get to accomplish your goals.

Oh, and to keep an open mind, dream big, and remember that we can do anything at ANY age with any budget, because “old” and “poor” are a mindset ;).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://beacons.page/spookybambina
• Instagram: @spookybambina
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@spookybambina
• Other: I have a mortal alter-ego who is a content writer and marketing/branding artist herself, and she definitely loves black turtlenecks just as much as I do.

  Her name is Abeni Abeille, and you can find her at her official website:
  https://abeniabeille.com.
  When you do visit, come bearing citrus fruits and/or project enquiries. Mostly the former, but also the latter, lol.

Image Credits

Maddie Meruvia
Skyler Meany