Written by James Barry
S0ulfood is a poet who masquerades as an R&B artist. He has a poet’s zeal, a poet’s indifference to commercial success, and an R&B singer’s voice. His goal in music isn’t to achieve wealth or fame. He doesn’t care about record sales or social media followers. His goal is to explore the depths of his creativity. He is a spelunker of the caverns of purpose. And he’s satisfied if he calms just one person with his art the way his favorite music calms him.
His name is S0ulfood because every song he releases is a home-cooked meal, made from scratch. With each new song, he adds a page to his own recipe book. He produces all of his own tracks—he’s taught himself to play guitar and piano—he makes his own beat, he records his own vocals, and he mixes and masters it all by himself. He is as willful as he is authentic. And his newfound fascination with poetry has transformed his performances into reflective amalgams of spoken word and song.
After his soul-stirring set at the Wonder Bar, we convened at a picnic table under a cloud-speckled indigo sky. For 40 musing minutes, we talked about the arcane magic of poetry, the therapeutic power of music, the lessons only youthful folly can teach, and, of course, S0ulfood’s favorite subject: love.
What have you been listening to lately?
Let’s see, I’ve got a playlist: Samm Henshaw, Emotional Oranges, Tems, James Arthur, Anderson .Paak, Leon Bridges, and John Splithoff.
What is the through line running between those artists? What draws you to them?
I’m a fan of love. And all of those artists write about love as much as I think about love. I feel like if I were to sit in a room with them we would just talk about love, about growing up in environments that may not have nurtured love as well as they should have, and about how we’ve grown to a point where we seek it out … I seek to understand it more, because I didn’t understand it much growing up.
I feel like a lot of those artists write about mistakes they’ve made in their love life. Do you draw directly from personal experience when you write about love?
All my music is about who I was compared to who I’m becoming, or who I am. A lot of the songs I’ve recorded were written at a time when I wasn’t sure what love was, or not that I wasn’t sure, but my definition of it wasn’t healthy. And I’ve since redefined love completely. It’s funny when I play songs from the olden days, they have new meanings now, because my definition of love is different. So when I say it’s love, it’s completely different from what it was five or six years ago. And I appreciate that about music. You can write a song today and it can mean something entirely different in a few years.
How has your definition of love changed from then to now?
Vulnerability. The will to get hurt. At one point I thought love meant I wasn’t going to get hurt. But now I realize love is putting yourself in harm’s way, trusting that the other person has no intention to harm you, even if they do. It’s not impossible for someone to love you and harm you at the same time. You just have to work through that, and make it known, articulate that “Hey, what just happened hurt me. And moving forward, this is how we should do it.” At one point I thought it was just one perspective. I didn’t think another perspective should come into my life and change my thinking. But that’s what love is. It’s allowing somebody in, allowing them to change your perspective, allowing them to guide you in ways you would never have gone otherwise.
In your song “D.U.I” you say, “This is a letter to my muse.” Is that a real person — your muse?
Yes. When I was younger, that was a person I dated who opened my eyes to a lot of things I was doing wrong when it came to relationships. Growing up, I didn’t date often. And then once I got to my young adult years, I started dating more. And I was dating using the prompt of what my parents taught me. But my parents don’t have the best relationship…It works for them. But when you enter the real world and see how other relationships are, you start to see what healthy relationships look like and feel like…I started to realize what parents have is not what I want, and that was the person who taught me how to make my actions reflect my intentions. So “D.U.I” was like a thank you letter. I’m so grateful for what they taught me.
Do you find yourself writing more when you’re out of a relationship or in one?
I write more when I’m out of love, most definitely, because I fantasize about what it’s like to be in love…But moving forward I want to draw more inspiration from being in love. I want to write about a healthy relationship, being challenged by a partner to be better.
You’ve only released singles so far. Is there an album coming soon?
The next project is going to be two or three songs. I have a couple songs I play live that I haven’t released, so I’m going to get them out to have a clean slate. I feel like I’ve been holding these back, and I want to put them out into the world. And moving forward, I want to release EPs. I’ve been doing poetry a lot recently, so I want to incorporate poetry into the EPs…put poems between the songs. I’ve been writing more poems than songs lately. It resonates with me so much more.
Who are some poets you’ve been reading?
Funny enough, Rupi Kaur is someone I’ve read a lot […] more female poets because they share the perspective of what it’s like to be on the other side…they speak from the side of what it’s like to be with a man who isn’t whole. And I was at some point a man who wasn’t whole. Maybe today I’m a man who isn’t whole. But through reading those poems, I’m able to check myself […] I get to read those poems and think, if I was in that relationship, what would I do? Would I have caused this poem to be written? And I also get to write replies.
What is it about the poem you connect with more than the song?
I can be more straightforward. I don’t have to hide the things I’m saying in a melody. I can just say them. I can say exactly what’s on my mind. Spoken word gives me freedom. There’s no structure at all. You’re not worried about a meter, not even a rhyme.
And your live performances will start incorporating poetry?
Yes. Instead of introducing songs by telling the audience what they’re about, I introduce them with poems I feel emulate their energy…The poem gives the audience freedom of interpretation. If I tell you a song is about heartbreak, you’re gonna frame it as a heartbreak song. But if I read a poem, your interpretation of it is gonna take you into the song. And then you get your own personal experience of the entire set…I don’t want to box anyone in. I don’t want to tell anyone what to think. I want to give them freedom.
And you want that same freedom for yourself as an artist?
Yes. I’m not an R&B artist. I’m an artist. I never want to be boxed in. And whether it sells or not, I don’t care…Whatever calms me, that’s what I want to put out into the world, because it’ll calm somebody else. And that’s all I need to know…I don’t care about anything commercial. I just want to make art. And I just want to go out and share it. I want to fall in love with the moment. And that’s it. That’s all I need out of this life.
What would you say to someone who wants to make art or music but who is struggling to pay the bills? How do you make time for your passion?
You have to fall in love with it. And then find a way to bring your art into your work life, if you’re able to…I’m blessed. I’m a mechanic. I work on cars. So I’m able to bring my artistic values into my job. I work with my hands; I make art with my hands. It all ties together. I’m able to solve problems the way I do when I’m making a beat or mixing a song. I never have to switch my brain on or off, going from art to work…But if you’re someone who has to work nine to nine some days, you have to make music your meditation. You have to fall in love with the process…Leave work at work. And make music for nobody but yourself. If you make it your escape, you’ll always run to it. Music is my escape…When life is scaring the Hell out of me, and it often does, I always run to it.
What are you most looking forward to in the second half of 2023?
I’m trying to move out on my own, out of my parents’ house. And I’m excited to make music in a space where I feel free…Making music in their house has been tough. I cannot wait to work in a place free from judgment, where I can be as weird as I want to be, and just see what happens. That’s what I’m looking forward to in 2023, 2024, and the rest of my life.
