The Soft Glow of Electric Sex photo of the day!

Happy New Year (yeah I know it’s almost February)…

Happy New Year lovers and dreamers! Yeah I know it’s almost February! It’s been a hectic month, full of change, adventures, lessons, and TRANSFORMATION! I’m making a point to share more of my deepest sentiments with the world once again through this blog.

I know it can be cliche to reflect back on the previous year but I feel like it’s essential to our growth and understanding of self. It’s also a time to acknowledge what’s working in your life and what isn’t. 2012 was such a time of great change for our entire planet in various capacities. I think it was the most difficult year of my life thus far, but with that difficulty unfolds the beautiful evolution of our soul.

Focusing on the positive, my highlights of 2012 were completing my second project The Soft Glow of Electric Sex, and epic BURNING MAN adventure, deepening my friendships, finishing my certification to teach yoga, and developing the courage to follow my heart even when it’s difficult!

My intention for 2013 is more MUSIC, travel, beautiful creation, abundance, and LOVE.

Love and blessings to everyone in 2013!

11.14 is DESTINED to be a magical night! Come play!!!!!

Andree Belle LIVE @ Dakota Lounge! 11.14 8:30pm

soul/latin/funk deliciousness!

manifestation, music, snowflakes, and hummingbirds

the fall is coming. i have yet 2 feel the chill. i’m taking off supernova style to places only found in dreams. i’m studying in the school of manifestation and i’m an honors student. i’m eradicating all fears. i’m requiring belief in myself and the stream of well being. i sang my baby into existence and i will dance as she grows tan hermosa…su voz su mensaje dentro su musica. i’ve connected electricity in the form of our hearts. no one will come between us. we’ll never be apart. u are the most intricate and beautiful snowflake i’ve ever tasted on the tip of my tongue and if u listen closely i’ll whisper the secrets of yemanja. let’s bloom into a garden of paradise. the hummingbirds adorned me with their blessings. so todo es posible en musica, en amor, y en vida…

found this in my diary from last year dated… 10.5.08

Be yourself and liberate the world

i received the message… no more holding back world… i’m going full force… i thought that i was already was in full effect… but alas the signs are telling me otherwise… that i’m STILL holding back from being the fullest expression of myself….of course we are always evolving… but i mean being BOLD musically .. today i had a voice lesson with dannielle gaha that made me elated… she is an absolute musical goddess. flawless. soulful. filled with love. and this vocal angel told me that i have so much voice i’m not using… and though i’ve felt this way before.. hearing this from a woman i admire so much struck a chord with me… i have so much to give! and i need to give it! fully. completely. 

today when talking with one of the guys from the band, bryan, i started sharing with him a story of the 1st time i wrote a song and played it for my dad ….my friend cyrous who i met in govenor’s school played guitar and we started writing this song together…after i was finished singing my first song to my dad, i asked my father what he thought and he said “what do you want me to say dree, i’ve heard 1000s of songs”…  not that my father had to say “you are such an incredible singer. i love your song” but maybe he could’ve said… “that’s a great start to writing songs.”…it was just that his tone was so condescending, demeaning even…. it scarred me in such a way that i didn’t complete another song for 9 years (until i met dre)… i got so emotional sharing this story, tears began to fall down my face and i realized it’s STILL effecting me… my father’s words… bryan tried to reassure me, saying because of what i’ve been through with my dad that i’m at a whole other level where people just can’t even fuck with me, that i’m strong now…and i am strong.. but i thought today.. wow- i really let that hold me back…. i’ve known this already but revisiting this memory and finding such emotion… made me realize i still am holding myself back… that i have room to grow in the fullest expression of my creativity… that i don’t have to withhold all this creativity for fear of not being good enough…and maybe this withholding is why sometimes i feel like i’m going to burst if i don’t sing or i feel like i can’t breathe if i can’t create…

the universe is telling me through those around me that i am more powerful than i thought and i need to be BOLD…bold in who i am…bold in my music and in my voice… so i’m vowing to fully “break the funk out this box” i put myself in… and be completely BOLD in my self-expression.. 

“Pebble to a Pearl” by Nikka Costa

Baby girl too shy to shine
Let everybody else take the light
Didn’t want to burn too bright
So she kept it all inside

Little girl go beat your drum
Go and see what all you can become
Playin’ small don’t serve no one
Face your fears and you will overcome

‘Cause the tears that we been cryin’
Been workin’ overtime

It’s about time that we got our joyful
That we got our joyful on

Don’t be afraid to live out loud
Never squash who you are be proud
You’re a universal sound
Whatcha gotta say, say it loud

Baby don’t ya act demure
So nobody else feels insecure
Be yourself and liberate the world
Don’t ya be a pebble be a pearl

detours to our dreams and lessons learned

our dreams often don’t unfold the way we planned… we can envision our dream becoming a reality, work towards our dream diligently, and trust that the universe (or God) will make everything align and still the dream doesn’t SEEM to come into fruition… but i believe we should dare to adjust our perception and think perhaps this is just a detour, a lesson to be learned before our dream comes true… and perhaps our dream might come true in an even grander way… there are INFINITE POSSIBILITES!!!!…   

now that the album is in the completion phase, i can reflect and see the detours to my dreams and the lessons i’ve learned…. here’s the cliffs notes version on the reflection of how i’ve arrived to where i am today…..i grew up singing, knowing this is what i wanted to do… i loved growing up in North Carolina but was super focused on going to NYC after high school to pursue music. unfortunately, i was discouraged by many to go to a place so big where i would be swallowed up by heathens or something like that…so i ended up staying in NC and going to study opera for 2 years at UNCG… (detour: Greensboro, NC) (lesson learned: don’t let anyone tell you where/how you should live your life)… my music education was valuable and i made some great friendships yet i didn’t really get a sense of the music business in the small town of Greensboro… fortunately, my uncle mario heard me sing at my mom’s wedding and encouraged me to come to LA to sing and live with him there. so july 4, 2001, i left to drive across country to explore this other world (because it IS another world)… the first year here i sang back up gigs, made a pop demo (that was supposed to consist of  music i wrote but ended up being butchered, over processed, and unauthentic) (lesson learned: make music that truly represents who you are and what you’re about)… also, my dad stopped talking to me i think (i’m still not sure) because he was upset that i was dropping out of school-though i never said i was dropping out it was more of a break really- after a year of adjustment to LA, i ended up going to USC’s School of Music and studying jazz (much more fitting for my love of freedom and improvisation in music)… unfortunately, because i had a jealous, insecure boyfriend i didn’t gig that much- he was very threatened by me collaborating with others (lesson learned: don’t let others hold you back from living your dream- it they’re trying to hold you back they don’t really know how to love you)… also, i was working in a burlesque / gentleman’s club to pay for the other half of my tuition that wasn’t covered with grants…(so many lessons learned there – see my blog on empowerment through our sexuality)… not a very healthy environment… after school i took yet another 2 year detour (i didn’t know how to really go for it… and i was scared)… (detour: The William Morris Agency). after learning a ridiculous amount about the music business (my boss was amazing enough to let me sit in on all the meetings with these music biz geniuses), i still found myself unhappy on the business side of things and not doing what i was meant to be doing- SINGING damn it! (lesson learned: sometimes we have to take detours to gain information that will later help us excel in our dreams!!!). so i did some spiritual work (i need many blogs to express the spiritual work i did and am still doing), i read countless books one called “feel the fear and do it anyway” (i know -bad title but good book for me at the time), i reread “the alchemist” (the book that made me believe in signs and influenced my big move to LA in the first place), also took in “the power of the subconscious mind” and absorbed many, many other books… i’m a queen of inspirational reads- i can send you a list just email me … things shifted. i transformed. (well i’m still transforming!) then i just went for it! i even reached out to musicians way beyond my echelon for advice, guidance, and connections. why not? what did i have to lose? (lesson learned: always aim to surround yourself with people that know more than you do in order to grow)… and from reaching out to Prince’s keyboard player, who didn’t have time to produce my record as he was on tour with Prince, i was connected with the super talented Andre De Sant’anna who produced and co-wrote M.U.S.I.C. with me  (a dream come true), which has been the last 2 years of my life (along with way too much for this blog – that’s more bio material 40 years from now)… And out of our musical collaboration a deep love flourished… (lessons learned: our dreams sometimes are intertwined (a dream of love and music), sometimes they don’t come true in the way we expect them to, and sometimes they unfold grander than we imagined)…

now to dream a bigger dream

my life

i want my life to be poetry

that doesn’t rhyme

honest

and free in form,

the words of my life-

elegant and vulgar,

the rhythm of the words dance

to music of my native land

with passion and fervor

singing a hymn of praise

to all that is sacred

moments

“moments” is a song from M.U.S.I.C. that grew from a poem i wrote awhile ago when my love and i were first starting our relationship… it came out so organically… and one night when dre was playing his upright bass, i started singing the poem…

—-

i lost myself inside your sex / subconscious desires that i suppressed / obsessed until i became possessed / thoughts in my head your soul undressed / in a craze for days / lost in this love maze / finally understood the deep purple haze / can’t count the ways your body gives me praise…

tonight i wanna get lost in u / find myself in the way u move / our love making will be your muse / i can feel your pain / and it’s the sweetest blues…

when the sun comes up / it’s my heart you’ve accrued, renewed, on it is your name tattooed/ they say with no attachment we can never lose / but it’s too late now / eternity together infused / with u  there’s nothing i can’t say or do / in the world of life vs. death / it’s a life in love i choose…

tonight i wanna get lost in u / find myself in the way u move / our love making will be your muse / i can feel your pain / and it’s the sweetest blues…

—-

i love sharing lyrics- to me lyrics are just as important as the music in the creation of a song… and when we can take in the lyrics before hearing the music, it takes on new meaning when we eventually do hear the words combined with the melody, instrumentation, and arrangement… there’s also a little operatic part i sing in the background. Diana Booker lends her amazing vocals on the track for the bridge- she gives it some reggae flavor! the mixture of all of these elements makes “moments” very different, can’t wait for you to hear it!!!! it’s become one of my favorites on the album… “moments” of love are coming your way soooooooon (the mixing process has officially begun)!!!!! 

Erykah Badu, Pangea Collective, music with a message…

Yesterday’s performance at the UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival was so much fun! I love festivals- being outside in the sun, the energy, the people, the food, the cute little artists’ booths, the music… OOOhhhhhhh the music! I loved singing and dancing on stage with The Pangea Collective! Check them out- they fuse afro-beat and jazz together beautifully. I really dig “Right Brain Test” – such a hot song! I felt so at home on stage! I also got to stay on stage while ERYKAH BADU was performing, which was unreal for me. She was wearing typical Erykah attire- fabulously eccentric… She had tight black vinyl pants, crazy high patent leather shoes, a gray Public Enemy hoodie and top hat! I wish I could pull of some craziness like that so effortlessly! More importantly though I experienced her essence/energy/message up close. I love how she directed her band- they follow her at the drop of a dime and she kept bringing them out to where it would just be vocals – her solo or with the back-up singers so that the people could really hear/understand/take in what she’s saying. Her lyrics are profound and inspirational… I’m still understanding her lyrics in new ways. It’s interesting how our perception of art changes as we grow… We can listen to an album or see a film or read a poem and get more out of it the more life we live…. I love that! I just recently got more out of her song “On and On” which was out in the late 90s, her lyrics understanding her perception of God…. I live for music with a message….I looked out into the sea of people she was reaching and moving and inspiring! Ahhh I can’t wait to do that in such a meaningful and grand way!  Powerful! 

Jazz Reggae Festival at UCLA!!!!

I’m really excited to be performing with The Pangea Collective at the JazzReggae Festival this Sunday! It’s going to be an amazing day- my idol Erykah Badu is headlining along with De La Soul! I’m honored to be a part of this celebration of music, art, culture, and diversity!