She continues to host our Live Sessions performances in September at the Fayetteville Public Library's Maker Faire. Musician Deaja Monet spoke with Ozarks at Large’s Sophia Nourani about community among artists in our region. Right after that, we'll hear one of her performances, an original song called By the Way or B.T.W. First, though, that conversation with Sophia Nourani.
Deaja Monet: Born and raised here. Well, not born. Born in San Diego. But we're here.
Sophia Nourani: And you were just telling me before we went on that you came to Arkansas when you were around 12. Is that right?
Deaja Monet: Twelve years old.
Sophia Nourani: It's a big change.
Deaja Monet: Oh, yeah. Very, very different. Fun, but very different.
Sophia Nourani: Yeah. So maybe tell me a little bit about how you got into music.
Deaja Monet: Honestly, it came from I was like, I think I was like five years old at Best Buy. And they had a little, like, piano. And, you know, kids like to touch things, and I don't need to do that as a kid. My mom was like, “Don't touch it.” I started playing the piano out of nowhere. And, like, I just turned around, there's like a bunch of people behind me as a 5-year-old, and I'm like, “What are y'all staring at?” Had no idea. I'm just playing, like, normal music. And they're like, “You need to buy her that.” So cool. And it turned into like, okay, I'll mess around a little bit with it. Turned into playing piano, turned into playing guitar. And I was like, maybe I can sing a little bit. And I kind of discovered, like, just hearing, like, different music and, like, listening to radio. I'm like, oh, I'm kind of on pitch.
Sophia Nourani: You can sing a lot of it.
Deaja Monet: A bit. Yeah, I can sing a lot now. And I just started, like, getting into it and was making. I actually ended up going to school for music production. I have a degree in music production, which nobody ever knows. I never tell people, but I was like, I went to Los Angeles Film School.
But of course, when COVID happened, I got shipped all my stuff here. So I learned everything in my apartment and just kind of went through there. And that's when I made my first EP. And so it just kind of like, like learning, but also kind of already messing around with YouTube and like getting different, like, logic, different DAWs and everything like that and learning what worked for me and just started making my own beats and started making my own music and kind of went from there. And it just never stopped. Like from 5 years old to 19. That's when I started getting like the groove of it, to be honest.
Sophia Nourani: That's awesome. Yeah. And I can definitely hear that production work in your music. It's the layers are amazing. It sounds amazing. You're very talented. Maybe tell us a little bit about the songs that you performed today.
Deaja Monet: Okay. So the first one I performed was Down for You. One of my friends was actually, we were both going for, like, the most toxic relationship ever. And I was like, well, let me put some of that into music. So there'd be times, like when I said the line, “Tequila shots got you out on the weekend. Liquid courage got you going off the deep end.” There were times, like, situations would happen when drinking would get involved. And I'm like, that's actually a clever line to put in there. So it was kind of like a song about you shouldn't be with this person. Like, I was down for you, and then I did all this stuff, and now it's like, for what? Yeah. Like, that's just one of my favorite lines from that song.
The next one was Out of State. And so actually how the song came about, I was in my room, and one of my friends was like, “If you don't drop another song, if I don't come back to another song being made, I'm not going to talk to you.” And I was like, uh, okay, I got it. So instead I was like, you know what, I had that beat. I bought that beat actually from a YouTube beat. And I was like, I kept it in the vault for like, I think, two months. I didn't want to touch it. I was like, I don't want to do it. I just put it on after two months not touching it. And literally for like an hour and a half, I'm just recording and recording. I'm like, wait, kind of sounds good.
So then I started just, I don't even have like a, there was no like way or idea behind it. I just want like a fun, vibey club song. Like that end of the night, we're all about to go home, and that one last song comes on, and you're like, okay, now call the Uber. Like, that's the kind of idea after I made it. Yeah. And honestly, one of my main things from that song was just to have fun with it. It was not like not all songs have to be like, oh, there's a message behind it. A lot of my songs, yes, but that one was just like, who really says, give me that 20-inch bust down? Like, no, no one says that. So it was really just a fun one.
And then my last one that hasn't come out yet, that comes out on the 12th. My best friend Ian, he's actually an 18-year-old producer. He produced that whole entire song. So originally that song, By the Way, was not supposed to sound like that. I found a YouTube beat, and I was like, I like it. But he's more production than me. Like, I don't even do production anymore. And so when I started hearing that beat, I was like, oh, I like it. I sang it for him a little bit. He's like, let me cook something up. He literally, when I say, remade that whole beat in one day.
That dude produced my whole album in two weeks. So those like little moments in each one of my songs, you can hear him under the music. So it's not ever just like me doing it by myself. That dude, he's also another singer. He's in a lot of my songs too, By The Way, When he redid the whole entire beat, it made me like the song.
I was never going to release that song. I hated it. I did not want it to be out. And he was like, let me do something real quick. He here, he's not here. But he was with me last night working on new music. And he basically was like, “Let me just work on this. If you don't like it, we can trash it.”
He remade like the little like beat drops and added more, like, just, it wasn't supposed to be a Latin pop song. It wasn't supposed to sound like that. And I was like, wait, now I kind of want to go get a little tequila shot and, like, be out on the beach. Like, the idea of that song was like another have-fun, but it was more of like, I picture being on a boat. I picture being with all the home girls, having like mimosas.
And a lot of the times I get the feedback from my friends that heard the song. Their number one reference is it sounds like The Cheetah Girls, and that's what the idea. I wanted that, and I was like. That's the idea, just was like, hey, I want a girls' girl song.
Sophia Nourani: I could totally see that. It's super catchy.
Deaja Monet: Oh, 100%. I didn't even mean to make it like that, By The Way. Literally, it was just me. I actually texted somebody and said, By The Way, and the way I said it, as like a musician, you hear things, you're like, wait, that sounded good. I literally was trying to record something, and I said, “By the way.” And I said, oh, wait, wait a minute. I sat there for a second and was like, oh, wait, that sounds kind of good. And it just went from there.
Sophia Nourani: Very cool. Thank you for sharing that with us. Yeah.So, well, you mentioned it that you maybe work with independent producers, other artists that are remote, maybe in other places. Tell me a little bit about what it's like to be an artist here in Northwest Arkansas.
Deaja Monet: In Northwest Arkansas, I didn't think there was that much of a music scene at all. I was just like, okay, we're here. Like, I don't even know if I want to do music. And then meeting people. Well, I used to work like near Dickson. And so I met people through like just going out here and there. And one of the people that I personally met, like it was literally five years ago, maybe six now, she's a local artist. Her name is Coco. That's my best friend. Yeah. And, yeah, like, it's one of my best friends ever. And we started connecting after we decided, like, oh, she reached out to me and was like, can you do one of my shows with me? And I was like, okay, cool. And that so happened to be that show ended up being the guy that produced my song. He was at that show performing too.
And that day, ever since her party, we have not stopped talking since. Like, we, people will call us the Big Three. Like, that's, like, we work together as a brain cell. That's our group chat name. And if I wouldn't have gotten in touch with them, I would have honestly stopped doing music. I would have never, like, when you get in, like, toxic relationships, I wasn't able to do music. And so now, like, I'm out of that, and I'm in the realm of people who are, like, into music. It makes it so much easier to record.
We have people around us, like Ian. He goes by Solano as his artist name. He's 18, produces albums, but he also puts music out too. So we have producers on our side. We have singers on our side like Coco and Ian and all these other people around us. They're like producers as well. So it's like we try to meet like once a week to be like, hey, what are we doing? We're going to get together. We call each other the Big Six, because now it's not just Big Three, it's Big Six. And that's awesome. It kind of like elevates us because it forces us to be, like, out of our comfort zone.
I have never been able to freestyle the way I can now, if I wouldn't have been in that room full of six people getting out of my comfort zone, not knowing only two people in there, and then meeting four other people. I was like, oh, like, we're, like, we're doing this for real? Okay, cool. It's been a little bit difficult kind of to adjust what I'm used to because, you know, used to California and, like, it's easy to go do shows, easy to get booked. Here it’s kind of like, it makes it a little bit more difficult, but not impossible. You just got to be able to put yourself out there and just not care.
Sophia Nourani: Well, kind of like what you were saying. You know, it's a group collaborative effort. And I think what I've heard across the board is that the people here support each other.
Deaja Monet: So that's 100%. There's not one artist that I can ever think of that's like not trying to be like, hey, let me post this person's music. Let me, let me feature on this. Like, let's work together. It's always like a collaborative event.
Sophia Nourani: That's awesome. So where can people find you and your music?
Deaja Monet: Well, you can find me on Spotify. You can find me on Apple, TikTok, everywhere. If you look up Monet, it's M-O-N-E-T. And usually it's a little bit harder for people to find my name because I'm not like a popular artist or anything. You'll get Victoria Monét, Janelle Monáe, all that. But if you type in Monet: Return to Sender, that's my latest album that came out. It's pink and it pops up. And that's how people always find me. Just a little, you look, look for a little girl in a pink little square, and then you'll find me.
Sophia Nourani: Perfect. Is there anything else that you want to share about today, about yourself or your music?
Deaja Monet: Honestly, just been a fun experience at this point. Like, it's not, this is not work. This is like, I'm just hanging out right now. Like, I'm just in my element. Just love what I do, have the people around me, love them. So it just makes it a whole lot easier to love what I do.
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