This is Gulf Coast Life Arts Edition from WGCU I'm John Davis.

Thanks for joining us.

Today we'll be treated to some incredible music performed live in studio by our guest, Melinda Daniel, better known as Blou Note.

She's a singer, songwriter, performer, poet, author, editor, actor, model, motivational speaker, black queen, and Renaissance woman.

Her primary style could be described as soul or neo soul, but if you've experienced her perform, you know her tastes are eclectic and inclusive.

If the music's good, Blou Note can find the soul in any genre, and her explosive emergence onto the southwest Florida music scene has been undeniable.

In 2021, she was a nominee for Best New Artist and Best R&B artist at the Ford Entertainment Awards.

The following year, she won Most Popular and Best R&B artist at the South Florida Entertainment Awards.

She's performed at the Sidney Bern Davis Arts Center, the Alliance for the Arts, The Buddha Live, the Indigo Room, Southern Charm Bistro, and the historic Dunbar Easter Festival, and that's just to name a few.

She's got upcoming performances at Wild Orchid and Punta Gorda, and at Hogwash in Fort Myers, and on August 8th, Blou Note will perform the Blue Light Anniversary Special at the Alliance for the Arts, which will be a celebration of everything Blou Note, the music, the movement and the meaning.

Melinda “Blou Note” Daniel, welcome to Gulf Coast Life Arts Edition.

Thank you so much for having me here.

I am so grateful to be here, John.

So before we get into the conversation, let's just start things off with a song.

I know we're starting with your single energy, and so we'll just hear it and then afterwards we'll discuss.

Thank you.

Since you've been away, I kind of found out some things I needed just to learn from me.

Seated and then sound change.

And I know it's not what you expected to see.

I made some twice as bout my life.

Those old ways didn't feel right.

Escape the noises of my strife I must admit it's pretty nice I came a mighty long way, I'd say gone as the girl that would take that from me.

Gone is the girl that forsake facts on the queen.

Gone is the girl that admit that I ain't.

She ain't for the rope a dope.

Awoke the growth of her and me.

Heavy on the energy I'm claiming victory.

My elevation is the key.

It's time you see I'm digging inside to reveal my truth.

Got rid of my pride on this.

Got my youth, got into my vibe I think I found my groove.

I ain't got nothing to lose.

Not even nothing to prove I'm only trying to move with grace.

Steady pace I'm trying to win this race.

But Gretchen is a must.

Can get complacent.

I said I won't be out here chasing pavements, only playing for selfish elevation.

I think it's time I live my life accordingly.

I think it's time I realized, be free.

Feel the things I need to feel, level up, have faith and always keep it real.

Only move with energy.

The fuze my will.

It's like a hell of a deal.

I've unattached, unwelcome fear.

I got a journey of the gurney to persevere.

At least that's what I hear.

Investing in my passion.

My time is here.

No turning back.

Letting me be clean.

I've been protecting my peace.

And it's been working for me.

My prayers led me to be.

Instead, I think I unlock the key to the creator in me.

I love it here.

It's really real.

The blessings in my mirror.

Almost definitely nearer than they seem to appear.

Yeah, I gotta focus on this road.

It's the obedience for him to sweat him.

So I'm just trying to find a gotten me growing glow is all I see.

Steady on this energy.

It's best I speak the truth.

And she says blue hit that a bit, the knees clear to me.

Now I can see the one that's me.

I'm stepping in.

My destiny said that with my chest and feet is best.

You see, I'm unapologetically protecting peace and loving me.

Cause it's a vibe I see.

Queue up the energy heavy on the energy.

Heavy on the energy.

Queue up the energy.

Heavy on the energy.

Yeah, yeah.

Heavy on the engine.

Thank you so much.

All right.

And that was Energy and original tune by our guest today, Blou Note.

Thank you so much for that performance.

And by the way, wherever you're streaming her music, this version you just heard is a more intimate acoustic version than what you're going to hear anywhere else.

So thank you for that.

Yeah, and I have to give a major shout out to Drew Howard of Star Star Sound Studio in Cape Coral.

He is actually on guitar in that, and we set that up together a couple of years ago, so I have to give him a shout out for that.

That's a beautiful version.

What I love about that song, you know, with the lyrics, you know, there's so much music out there that's like, oh, you know, my boyfriend or girlfriend dumped me and I'm sad.

But this is really about self-affirmation and overcoming the barriers we sometimes put in our own way.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Thank you for recognizing that.

I actually consider energy to be of the original tracks that I have out, which I do have ten I feel like energy is my signature track.

I feel like if someone wanted to know who is Melinda Blou Note Daniel, that song is the perfect track to listen to, to understand who I am as a human, as an artist, just as a woman altogether.

I genuinely love that song.

All right.

Thank you for that.

Well, I'm going to try to get to know you a little better.

I know you're from North Jersey.

Yes, father, a pianist.

Composer.

Your uncle played in a big band called Total Eclipse.

Yes, yes.

You have played flute, saxophone, oboe, clarinet.

I mean, so it sounds like you came up in an environment where music was pretty important.

I did.

Absolutely.

And actually on both sides of my family.

I mean, my father's family is by all means very heavy into music, but thankfully it was something that was nourished and nurtured in me ever since.

A little girl, you know, you hear horror stories of some people who it's like they were always being yelled at to shut up or, you know, stop doing that thing you're doing.

I never had that growing up.

I was always encouraged to tap into my, you know, singing and my musical acumen.

And it just, you know, your gift will make room for you, as they say.

You know, I always thought of one day I'll be a singer, but to see it coming to fruition and the way that it has, especially knowing my background is, is very amazing.

And shout out to my Uncle Tony.

I'm actually born on his birthday and he's a bass guitarist that I've been watching ever since I was a little girl who's with Total Eclipse up in Jersey.

So Uncle Tony, yeah.

Well, I'm curious about what prompted you to to choose the stage name Blou Note.

I mean, to most people associated with jazz, the iconic Blou Note record label.

But this was a childhood nickname.

Yes.

So Lou Loewe, that is.

Right now I can call certain people, and I'm not going to hear Melinda.

I'm going to hear Lou's on the phone, you know, and I've always prided myself on being myself, John.

So when it came time for me, for when I started out as mahogany blue, I started out with just my poetry.

Mahogany has always had an affinity for me with Diana Ross, the movie mahogany, the like, everything about it.

Just so for some reason, when I decided to take singing seriously, I didn't feel like Mahogany Blue was going to translate from just the poet that people had kind of started getting to know to now this singer songwriter.

But I wanted to keep the blue because blue stands for Be Yourself, Just Be Lou.

So that's why it's spelled blue as opposed to the color.

And then note is because whether you're reading something I've written, whether you're hearing something I've written or sing, it's a Blou Note.

Regardless, it belongs to me.

So that's where Blou Note was born.

And you started writing poetry as a little girl.

I'm curious about your approach to writing poetry versus writing song lyrics.

Do you see a clear division, or do you not really see a division there?

Absolutely do, for some reason.

Yeah.

For some reason it's hard for me to write a song.

Usually I like to feel the melody so I can hear the lyrics sometimes, and if I'm singing them in my head for some reason, I have to find the actual rhythm.

I have to find the music first.

When I'm just writing something and my thoughts are translating, it hits me in a different way.

I'm.

It's very rare that I come up with the lyrics before I hear the rhythm, even if it's just a rhythm that I've made up in my head.

The music leads for me with music.

The thought leads for me when it just comes to writing, if that makes sense.

It does.

Yes, yes sense.

And an interview you gave a few years ago.

You had said as a kid you were nervous about singing in front of others.

When and how did that change?

I don't know that.

It had.

So really.

If you notice, I couldn't even look you in the eye.

There was like, no, you know what it is.

I've come to understand now with wisdom and experience.

I'm an empath and I feel very deeply so.

It's hard for me not only to.

And I don't mean for this to sound cocky, but I'm finally accepting saying this for myself.

Sometimes it's hard for me to even grasp the power within me as I'm singing, because I sing so powerfully.

And then on top of it, when I look at someone and I'm watching their reactions to the melody and watching the emotions that they're going through and trying to process, both being able to contain it to some degree, deliver it accurately and not take on what's happening for the person that I want to receive it authentically, but I can't have it throw off what I'm doing.

You're performing?

Yeah, yeah.

So it's such a but I think it's just my empathic spirit that really puts me in that nervous place.

It's not that I don't think I can sing, it's just this is about to be a moment, and I want it to be able to exist in the way that it's supposed to for both of us, both myself and the listener.

All right.

Well, let's go ahead and hear our second song from Blou Note today.

And this is going to be we're going to hear more original music later.

But this is a cover of Killing Me Softly.

Yes.

Strumming my pain with his fingers.

Singing my life with his words.

Killing me softly with his song.

Killing me softly with his song.

Telling my whole life with his words.

Killing me softly.

With his song.

I heard he sang a good song I heard he had a star.

And so I came to see him.

And listening for a while.

And there he was, this young boy, a stranger to my eyes, strumming my pain with his fingers, singing my life with his words, killing me softly with his song.

Killing me softly with his song.

Telling my whole life with his words.

Killing me softly.

With his song.

I felt all flushed with fever.

Embarrassed by the cry I felt.

He found my letters and read each one out loud.

Oh, I prayed that he would finish.

But he just kept right along.

Strumming my pain with his fingers.

Singing my life with his words.

Killing me softly with his song.

Killing me softly with his song.

Telling my own life with his words.

Killing me softly.

With his song.

Oh.

Oh.

La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la.

Killing me softly.

With his solo son.

No strumming my pain.

Yes, he was singing my life with his words.

Killing me softly with his song.

Killing me softly.

With his song.

Telling my whole life with his words.

Killing me softly.

With his song.

Oh.

I was singing in my headphones.

All right.

Oh, goodness.

Lauryn Hill, you can take a break.

Blou Note has got it covered!

Just taking a moment to reintroduce our guest today.

Melinda “Blou Note” Daniel.

Wow.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Wonderful rendition.

Oh, goodness.

Oh.

Thank you.

Oh.

It's hard for me.

It's.

I'm such a like think so.

It's just it's like it's hard to contain sometimes.

So I thank you.

Thank you very much.

So I know in past interviews you've talked about where you're from, your North Jersey roots.

It was truly like a melting pot community.

Aunties and uncles could be Italian, Asian.

And so coming to Southwest Florida a little over a quarter century ago, a bit of a culture shock.

Very heavily.

Very heavily.

Very hard to digest over, over, over the years.

Coming to a place with such a different dynamic because it just wasn't what I was used to not unaware of.

But, you know, until you're in it and it's completely a different process from, you know, your regular everyday life, it just it hits you in a different way.

I honestly didn't even expect to be here this long.

I didn't think I would even stay because I just didn't want to.

You know, my kids were so young, I didn't want to bring them up in a way that felt so different from, you know, but thankfully they've been able to maintain, you know, you teach a child in the way they should go.

So they're, you know, they have that access by way of me and different, you know, things in their lives.

But I didn't think I'd be here this long.

So it's just it's interesting how life worked out.

Yeah.

Because southwest Florida still birth Blou Note, you know?

Yeah.

I still have to give it that.

You know, it's full circle moment in a way.

But, you know, you don't know what's up ahead until you continue that faith walk in that way.

So you know, you're working in marketing, supporting your family.

Three kids who all varsity athletes.

In my school.

Yes, they kept me busy.

Yes.

That's the full time focus.

Yes.

Then the pandemic hits in 2020.

All our lives and routines were upended.

But for you, this became something transformational.

It did.

It did.

And ironically, the jokes it also piggybacked on, which I didn't know at the time.

But at the time, the George Floyd case.

Literally the day that something was planted into my spirit to write my song, How many?

Which, ironically, is about the unjust killing of black men.

The very next day, George Floyd was murdered.

So not only was it transformational for me from like a whoa, what was that deposited into my spirit that hit so on point for something that then became magnanimous throughout the you know, the discussion was everywhere.

And when I shared myself singing it, the reactions that I got, you know, unfortunate.

It's bittersweet because it was tied to such an unfortunate thing.

However, it solidified for me.

I have something to say.

I have a powerful voice, both vocally and, you know, theoretically, even.

And maybe I need to actually really fully step into this.

And even then, I didn't foresee sitting across from John, you know, I just I didn't foresee all of this, but thankfully I was obedient at the time.

It kickstarted something in me.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, it kickstarted something heavily in me.

Yeah.

Was it weird for you at first or maybe.

Absolutely.

I even have video footage.

I literally have a video of me sitting in my bathroom going, oh my God, I don't know what just happened.

I think I just wrote a song and I don't know what's going on, but I just, I feel like I should record this, you know, myself talking about it, and now we're here.

And that murder was that was in May of 20.

20, 2020.

That was kind of like right when the whole lockdown in isolation.

Literally, literally.

I mean, so I mean, performing that song after you'd eerily written it the day before.

I mean, was that kind of a way to sort of process something of that when you couldn't, like, physically access?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And in talking to so many people on social media, because it gave access to so many more people, everyone was at home celebrities.

So, you know, I've even maintained some friendships that I established at that time, because at that time we were all on an even playing field.

Everyone was just brought back to basics.

And it just, it thankfully kicked, started a mindset for me that not only with my music, but we don't know how much time we have.

You know, the pandemic is something the majority of us have never experienced in our.

Lifetime.

And hopefully we won't.

And pray to God we never, you know.

But, you know, it made me realize this.

We don't have time to waste.

Yeah, we do not.

So then how did performing out begin for you?

Was it just like open mics once the world started to open?

Yeah.

I got to.

Give a shout out to my baby girl who goes by baby girl as well.

She's a model well known throughout Southwest Florida and beyond as well.

But she actually, you know, once I shared that song and, you know, my kids have always heard me sing at home, so I've always gotten the one day, why don't you go on this or that or try, you know, and I was just always nervous.

But she's the one who said, you know, how about we start going to these open mics and you just get yourself out there?

And then once we did the reactions that I started getting from people, you know, it went from mommy, go out there to, I don't think you realize you're famous around here.

Now.

That's her.

Running joke with.

Me now.

Yeah.

So she is definitely my she pushed me in my lower back into my first open mic and I haven't stopped.

All right.

Well, we are starting to run out of time here and we have a lot more to get through.

So I just want to encourage anybody watching this on YouTube.

We are going to have bonus footage and bonus audio and more songs.

So go to work out to check that out.

But for the moment I just have to say thank you.

Melinda.

Blou Note Daniel.

She'll be performing blue nine Anniversary Special at the Alliance for the Arts the evening of August 8th.

And for more information on Blou Note, including interviews, photos, upcoming performances, merch, visit Blou Note.

That's Blou Note again, thank you so much.

Oh thank you.

And I got to give a shout out to my girl Rasheeda Shaheed, tapped by Venus for this face, which you'll also be responsible for the blue light anniversary.

Looks right.

And if you missed any of today's show, you can always hear episodes in their entirety on our website.

Or subscribe to our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts or show.

Today was produced by Jared Gonzalez and yours truly.

Our director is Richard Chin Quee for now.

Thanks for listening.

I'm John Davis, this is from Fort Myers, 90.1 WMKO Marco Island, 91.7 FM, NPR for Southwest Florida.

You broken down and tired of living life on a merry go round.

And you can't find a fighter.

Well, I see it in you.

So we gonna walk it out and move.

Mountains.

We can walk it how?

And move.

Mountains.

And I rise up.

Rise like the day he held.

Rise up, rise unafraid I'll rise up and I'll do the thousand times again.

I'll rise