The Playground Meets: Symone Royale
Written By: Brianna Nestor
“I like women who just don't care about what other people think, they just dare to be themselves. I love that and I want to continue to do that in my art.”
- Symone Royale
Symone Royale is the 26-year-old artist, songwriter, fashion connoisseur, and certified tech expert breaking barriers to join a long line of Houston greats. With almost 4.7k monthly Spotify listeners to date, Symone is promoting a narrative of self-love, confidence, and unwavering ambition through her pop music.
Growing up, Symone always knew that she was destined to be an artist. She initially found her love for music at church where her father was serving as pastor. After learning from older musicians at rehearsals, she was able to perform during services and instantly felt connected to her authentic self. From then on, she focused on perfecting her craft and later attended Berklee College of Music in Boston where she completed a degree in Music Business Management.
Her drive has not stopped since. In 2018, she dropped her first EP, Lovetrip, and in 2019 her mixtape The Sequence. To complement the mixtape, she released her official video ‘Too Good’. The fun, bubbly video has a vibrant ambiance with matching fits. Regarding that experience, Symone says:
“Shout out to Eboshi Platinum, it was amazing working with their whole team and the director Andrew Lee. I sent him a Pinterest page of the vibe I was going for for this video. When I first wrote the song, I was thinking ‘this is just super femme and super pink, about being sexy and feeling yourself’ and I wanted that to come across in the visual. He was dope in his own way, brought his creativity into the mix, and came up with a really dope storyline that could tie it all together. I love collaborating with different creatives, so that was such an amazing project.”
Her discography also includes her latest release and official debut album, Goin’ Deep. Although the project was nearly completed when COVID-19 hit, Symone was then able to take a bit more time to reflect on her intentions of the album and bond with herself, especially in nature where she is most inspired. To describe her songwriting process, Symone tells the Playground, “I wanted to tap into myself and go in deeper, as a person, as a woman, as a young woman. Taking down all my barriers, all my walls, and things that I've kind of been afraid to talk about or face myself personally, was really therapeutic for me.”
Cover of her album, ‘Goin’ Deep’
Goin’ Deep so beautifully expresses the aura of the nonlinear cycle of growing and healing as a young woman. Sonically, the album has a bit of Solange vibes alongside an amazing vocal range. The 7-track album can be found here. No matter what kind of day someone may be having, whether they’re ready to turn up or get introspective, there is a song for it. Symone leaves her listeners, also known as her Royals, with advice she has realized thus far upon completion:
“Just love yourself, because there's so many people in this world that are gonna try to latch on to you because of what they see in you, your energy, and your light. You may not see it yourself, and it's important to see your worth or know your worth and your value so that you don't fall for the okey doke from negative people. Protect your aura and your energy because not everybody is deserving.”
Moving forward this year, there is a lot to expect from Symone. To start, throughout the month of March she has been celebrating Women's History Month by releasing covers of music from female artists who have inspired her, including Brandy and Chloe X Halle. The installment is sponsored by Island Jon Vodka, a Black-owned business who Symone personally supports and loves their products. For a behind-the-scenes look into her creative endeavors, Symone has started her YouTube docuseries Scenes by Symone and will be dropping the next episode in April. There will also be more visuals and music on the way in the latter half of the year.
The rise of Symone Royale is definitely something that The Playground will be keeping a close eye on. Whether it be through her socials, interviews, or live performances, you can always catch Symone leading with contagious energy, an Urban Decay eye with some Fenty lip gloss, and her outstanding talent.