Meet Marlei Dismuke

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Marlei Dismuke a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Marlei, we are so deeply grateful to you for opening up about your journey with mental health in the hops that it can help someone who might be going through something similar. Can you talk to us about your mental health journey and how you overcame or persisted despite any issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
Back in 2020, I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I started going downhill pre-COVID, but being isolated once it hit didn’t help. At this time, I was going through a major life change – graduating from Community College with my associate’s degree and moving all the way to Miami, Florida, to pursue music at the University of Miami. Being separated from my family and friends was a shock to the system. Learning how to live in a new state, meet new people, and experience online school was truly the icing on top of the cake. Navigating so many new areas of my life made it hard for me to ground myself mentally and focus on handling my depression and anxiety. During this time, I also experienced the unexpected deaths of many people on both sides of my family. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around how different my life would look once I moved back to Texas. I didn’t know how to grieve in an environment full of new people and still go on as if everything was okay. I felt lost and hopeless while trying to explore a new world where I was starting to feel very alone.
In the same year, I released my first single titled “Burn,” where I uncovered some inner feelings about a previous relationship with someone who took advantage of me. Releasing “Burn” was truly a big win for me! I was so proud of myself for achieving the first step in accomplishing my dream. Confidence is currently a really important part of my brand, but at that time, what I didn’t realize was that I also valued vulnerability. Music felt like my only outlet, but it was still hard for me to write when I was going through so much.
Around this time, my boyfriend of two years broke up with me, leaving me feeling hopeless and at rock bottom. This made it difficult for me to get into the mindset of my confident artist alter ego. As a result, I stopped writing for a couple of weeks simply because I didn’t want to acknowledge all the bad thoughts in my head; I mostly wanted to focus on the good ones. And once you hit rock bottom, there’s only one way to go, and that’s up.
I spent a lot of time during our breakup focusing on learning what made me who I am – what makes me happy, helps me focus, and what I’m interested in beyond music. This reclaiming of myself led to my manifestation journey, which helped me create my current single “Sheesh.” I would spend countless hours journaling, meditating, and having in-depth conversations with my mom and friends about rewiring my mental habits. I was learning to regain my confidence and remember who I was before I was depressed. This led me to realize that I’m that b****, that I can have it all if I work hard and if I want it. The only thing holding me back at that time was myself, and I didn’t want to do that anymore. If anything was going to keep me from achieving my dreams, it was going to have to be a strong force ready to put up a fight. Or, as I said in my first single, “What doesn’t kill me better run,” and I truly mean that.
“Sheesh” embodies the heart of manifestation, specifically in its first verse. The chorus focuses on how I identify myself, who I really am on the inside, and what I learned about myself during my manifestation journey. My mental health still isn’t perfect; it challenges me every day. But whenever I feel like I’m taking steps back and I hear “Sheesh,” I always remember that I am so much more capable than whatever my mind is telling me. What I’ve manifested will soon come into fruition.

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?
My focus as a Pop/Rnb singer, songwriter and producer is to grow my artistic career by sharing meaningful music with my fans that helps them feel empowered and good about themselves. But, I also aim to create music that helps people to feel raw human emotions. I want my audience to be able to feel vulnerable when they hear my music, and connect with me not only through positive emotions but sad ones as well. When they’re having a hard time, I want my music to be something they can turn to when they need to process things. My goal professionally right now is to find my audience, and to release more music that represents me as a whole. I feel like what makes being an artist so exciting is wearing all the many hats that come along with the job. I’ve had to be a stylist, director, videographer, editor, makeup artist, producer, manager, social media manager, choreographer and so much more than just a singer. I love that my job is multi-faceted and it’s so exciting to see how all my work turns out as a whole. I’m working on creating a music video for my recent release “Sheesh” where I’ll be able to finally start branding myself as an artist. My brand combines elements of pastel colors, edgy styles, glittery makeup, iridescent clothing, oversized T-shirts and short skirts with long boots. I take a lot of inspiration from K-pop music videos and I aim to add some elements from them into my own video. Currently I’m doing a gofundme to raise money for a music video for “Sheesh”. Right now we’re a third of the way there, which is so exciting! Hopefully we’ll reach our goal in time for the music video. I also have one more release planned for the end of August titled “Malibu”. The song is a nostalgic summer song with a calypso pop feel. I can’t wait to share it with the world!

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?
I believe that perseverance, patience and a strong imagination helped guide me through my musical journey when it comes to releasing music. If I could give any piece of advice to other budding artists, it’s to focus on these 3 qualities. Releasing a song takes immense effort, money and time with very little return in the beginning. Patience is required because it’s difficult to release one song in a short span of time without a team, it’s easy to get caught up in arbitrary dates you set up for yourself in order to have a smooth release. Take the time to make sure you cover all the details in what it takes to release music. Perseverance is necessary especially in the music industry. Occasionally you’ll put your heart and soul into a song and not get the feedback or results you desire. It’s important to understand that you’ll often hear the word “no” more than you hear the word” yes” and you still have to push through those moments and continue on. A strong imagination helps you tap into your creativity, your music is uniquely you so don’t be afraid to show who you are. As an independent artist we sometimes have limited connections, low funds and a small following. It takes a lot of imagination to create beautiful art from scratch when your options are limited! But with a strong imagination, anything is possible!

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
I would say my biggest area of growth or improvement in the last 12 months would be consistency. In order to get the word out about my music I’ve had to learn how to manage all of my social media as well as create content that represents me as an artist as well as my brand. The only way to connect with future fans is to make sure you post consistently and to be your most authentic self in your online presence. It can be difficult to manage social media accounts, market yourself, create music, release music, and do live shows. But being consistent has helped me to achieve so much more in the past 12 months, than what I was able to do in the past with my singing career.

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Image Credits
Hart Flores

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