møya rey is Back With an Amapiano Drill Queer Anthem

Girl Cult

Mar 3, 2023 @ 3:33 am By Shirley Reynozo

STREAM HER LATEST SINGLE BACK UP –> HERE

møya rey is a Brooklyn based independent recording artist. A multi-talented polyglot, she delivers sultry and empowered lyrics. Her latest single BACK UP is evocative of a diverse blend of sounds, she synthesizes multiple genres such as Amapiano House, Drill and Hip Hop. The different languages (English, Spanish & Portuguese) serve as bridges between the verses and choruses and unify her many sensibilities. The lyrical components show us a new layer of møya rey‘s feminist ideas and queer identity. Her goal is to make you dance and embrace your identity.

Having grown up in New York City to a Dominican family, and traveling to over twenty countries, møya rey is influenced by a myriad of cultures. Her latest single BACK UP is influenced by her travels to South Africa in 2019, where she explored KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

“I have loved traveling to South Africa the most! I felt I had a very special connection with the people that I met there. They are very open in spirit, the culture is diverse, the vibe is captivating. I have met folks in the most organic way. I still have friends that I met at a cafe where we would freestyle over the lo-fi beats they were playing. To that end, South African house music has been my default vibe ever since I visited. Sho Madjozi, DJ Maphorisa, Samthing Soweto; I can’t get enough of them! I even did a short interview series at Pretoria University on the racial politics in South Africa, which you can see on my art page.”

møya rey shared when describing her experience in South Africa. It was the rich exposure to Amapiano/AfroHouse that sent møya rey into a musical frenzy. So much so that the former king of Zulu nation called her to sing “Amazing Grace” as he played the piano over dinner during a school trip with New York University. Touched by her voice, the former King of Zulu nation stated that the academic cohort was considered honorary Zulu. The following day an ox was slaughtered. These profound stories of cultural connections and black diasporic relations can only happen to the dreamers of our world. It is møya rey’s greatest wish to release this track and have it be well received by not only South Africans, but all people interested in unifying our shared humanity through music connections.

It was in Pretoria that møya rey first discovered Amapiano music, and she couldn’t get enough. The Afro-house rhythms and bass spoke to møya rey’s R&B core. However, to call her an R&B singer will not do this artist any justice. møya rey’s debut EP, Lost In Translation, is evocative of a very diverse blend of sounds. møya rey’s music is hard to box neatly into just one genre because of the myriad of cultural influences riding shotgun on her debut musical journey. Her Afro-Dominican roots and her experience as a world traveler wrap themselves around music genres like Soul, AfroTunes, R&B and Hip-hop in a harmonious explosion of flavors and textures that take her soulful and melodic voice to new heights. Not only does her EP have a rich mix of genres, but it was also written in four languages; English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. The four track EP shows us how møya rey translates her emotions not only into language, but music. Every song is extremely multi-layered which really adds to the multiplicity of her own identity and understandings of the world.

CONNECT WITH MØYA REY

Instagram | TikTok | Youtube | Music

STREAM HER LATEST SINGLE BACK UP –> HERE

BACK UP on YouTube

Stream the EP “Lost in Translation” –> HERE

**STREAM HER LATEST SINGLE *BACK UP* –> HERE**
**Photographer**: Adelina Mekulovic @yunggmamii

FEATURE INTERVIEW

Tell us about your latest single BACK UP, what inspired the lyrics?

møya rey: The lyrics for BACK UP were inspired by my experiences as a woman being cat called in the most annoying and offensive ways possible. Specific to this song is my experience visiting my mother and younger sister in the South Bronx and feeling harassed every time I walked out of the house. BACK UP is lowkey a diss track to these random men who are outside trynna holla at young girls. Sometimes I intentionally walk with the most stank facial expression on in order to deflect any unwanted attention, but even that doesn’t work. I still get unwanted cat calls in the most belittling way. So the lyrics are partly about telling these crusty, dusty, musty men to BACK UP.

I also rep the different parts of New York that I lived in and the overall grind culture. The drill verse is about being a queer thot basically (laughs) like I either wanna be in the club with a baddie or with my bad friends perched, sitting pretty, assessing the room like mean girls (even though we are all actually nice, but I think we can look cliquey and bitchy from the outside).

**STREAM HER LATEST SINGLE *BACK UP* –> HERE**
***BACK UP*** on YouTube

**Photographer:** Kevin Jackson @burban.pics

Your innovation and creativity is mind blowing. What inspired the production?

møya rey: Since my mom lives by my recording studio, where I work closely with BSNYEA, I would walk to the studio. Third Avenue in the Bronx is extremely hyper stimulating; there is always music blasting out of someone’s apartment window, car, motorcycle, bike, bookbag, store, street vendors -whatever it is, the vibes are always giving. This really informed my brain waves and brought me closer to home. By that I mean, a lot Dominican music was blasting and I began to feel nostalgic. So I made the mental note that I wanted the sound of a güira, a percussion instrument from the Dominican Republic used as a percussion instrument in merengue and bachata. I wanted to use this sound as the hi-hats.

But I was also hearing drill songs, rap, salsa, merengue… literally so many songs. It was inspiring to feel connected to them all. So I wanted to find a way to piece everything together. I mostly wanted to live out my dream of making a house track. BSNYEA showed me the different house tracks he’s made and I knew it was finally my time. BSNYEA produced, recorded and engineered the song. We layered the Amapiano baseline with drill beats, the Dominican güira, cuíca (a Brazilian friction drum) and Brazilian Funk at the end.

What are some of your favorite effects to add to your voice?

møya rey: It’s funny you ask, the first time I met with an engineer to record my song Open Letter I told him I wanted zero effects on my voice. He kept insisting that it’s like telling a plumber to show up without his tools. I didn’t get it at first. The way I saw it was that I wanted to be true to my voice and expression. I was worried he was going to turn me into Travis Scott or Lil Wayne with the mega autotune lol. Then, I realized that I was actually limiting myself. I had to really understand my voice is an instrument that can be manipulated and there are so many cool effects that can completely elevate the song. Now I love playing with reverb, distortion and delay.

**Photographer**: Carmelys Ovalles @carmelys_

Why have you decided to go by the name møya rey?

møya rey: Moya is my maternal grandfather’s last name but I chose it to be my artist name because of my grandmother, she is the most important person to me. Moya is her chosen name and I am a product of the family she raised.

Upholding this name frees me from all the politics associated with real world problems and responsibilities. I also feel the Moya family are the wings on my back; my aunt, grandmother and grandfather have been the ones to shape my moral compass. They are the ones who nurtured me and saw me to reach new heights. What’s more, the Moya last name in the Dominican Republic has a very specific association with white land-owners who were also against the Trujillo dictatorship. I feel the name carries a lot of history behind it, and I am certainly a product of this history. There is so much displacement when one is of Afro-descent given the histories of colonialism, “racial” mixing, and migratory patterns.

Moya is my grandmother’s chosen name and I am a product of the family she raised. “Moya” also means “wind/air” in Zulu, and it makes me feel connected to the Black diaspora, especially because I only have beautiful memories from my summer in South Africa. Recently I met PHEELZ in his first headlining tour in New York City. My producer for my first EP, Arty Furtado, produced the concert and I was able to meet PHEELZ after his show. When I introduced myself as Moya, he told me it means “joy” in Yoruba. It feels like a full circle moment to want to identify with a name that has traveled throughout time and across the Atlantic.”

In a deeper sense, I felt part of what helped me keep my sanity during the quarantine period was sitting out on my terrace and meditating. Listening to the wind. A lot of my song writing feels as though the words were whispered into my ear; winds coming from all directions. What’s more, as someone who loves to travel, I feel as if I am carried by the wind. So I absolutely love that “Moya” means wind/air in Zulu. All in all, I hope people will feel healed by music, which is written in the four languages that I speak.

How do politics intersect with your artistic practice?

møya rey: The majority of my works have in some sense been political. I am also grappling with the fact that not everything has to be political. Sometimes we like things just because we like them, in the way that I wear glasses because I need them.

This time around I wanted to throw caution to the wind and feel free. I wanted to honor Amapiano, and even though I am not South African, the music speaks to me greatly and has been influencing me for nearly 4 years.

What are three songs or projects you’re currently listening to that you can’t stop playing?

møya rey: Honestly, it’s these house mixes my friend makes, he be putting me on.

If you could collaborate on a track with one of your favorite artists, who would it be?

møya rey: Yendry, Stromae, Lauryn Hill, Sho Madjozi and Mayra Andrade are my top 5.

What do you have in store for 2023?

møya rey: I am working on a new album!!! Ahhhh. Four of the tracks were recorded in Paris, the rest were recorded in the Bronx. I am making some visuals with my friends, all very exciting things. I actually plan to go back to Paris this summer to work on more visuals, inshallah.