The Playground Meets: Mo’Love
Written by: Zahir Byam
Born and raised in the Bronx, Mo’Love is a budding R&B singer-songwriter who is a musical sponge to the world around him. A self proclaimed free spirit through music, clothing, and life itself, we learned that there is more to him than his peculiar timbre. Mo’Love makes music that touches on numerous topics such as his experiences with people, the gritty neighborhoods of New York, daily struggles, and who he is as a person, as heard on his 2019 project In Due Time.
Now with over 60K streams on DSPs, In Due Time took inspiration from everything he knew and experienced as an artist. The project is a coming-of-age alternative R&B record that explores themes of love, sex, and life. His most streamed song from the project “Bad For You” is a record that he knew would resonate most with his core fan base, simply through its title. One thing to note here is that he had no plans to release that song up until a month prior to the project's release. It took the spot of an unnamed song that he felt didn’t belong on the project. The music video for “Bad For You” is said to have an old school vibe that was inspired by one of his team members, Christiana. With over 14k views on Youtube already, the music video definitely lives up to those expectations.
Notable for his musical talents, isn’t it ironic that music wasn’t actually Mo’Love’s first love? It was basketball! The veteran Laker fan played the sport on an organizational team from 8th grade until college, but left those dreams behind due to constant injuries. Nevertheless, basketball was a huge part of his life, as he intently states. Mo’s love for music blossomed in 2018 after one of his friends discovered his talent to sing. “Singing wasn’t in my agenda” said a now musically immersed Mo’Love. After coming to a realization of where his talents lie and finally honing in on them, Mo’Love is focused on longevity. He makes it clear that he’s taking the necessary steps in order to become a full fledged musical prodigy, in the same way his musical influences are. Mo’Love is heavily influenced by Partynextdoor, Ne-Yo, Tyrese, Usher, Chris Brown, HER, and Summer Walker. However, he has an affinity for Solange Knowles for her assimilation of jazz and Houston sounds into her music. In addition, Bryson Tiller, who's helped him through some low moments in college. He manifests to one day working with these artists.
Fresh out of a manic filled year of lockdowns and quarantining, Mo’Love makes it known that he’s spent his 2020 working on himself. He’s been staying creative throughout the year training his vocals, polishing his songwriting skills, and finding inspiration in songs from his contemporaries. He has big plans for 2021! This includes the release of his new song coming in February titled “Heavy Heart” and the possibility of something new every month, which he will be headed into the studio to perfect consistently.
Mo’Love is a firm believer of manifestation, as he implicitly states:
“Don't let anything discourage you. Sometimes you gotta take some steps back to move a couple more steps forward. Don’t listen to those negative people in your ear. They could be your family, friend, or whoever it is. Just follow your dreams. Anything could happen, but you gotta put the work in. Some people are not gonna see the work that you put in, but that's ok. Eventually they'll catch up. In due time, with everything”.
Be sure to check out Mo’Love’s debut project In Due Time and the video for “Bad For You” - as well as his recent single “Down”