Akenya Q+A & "Hades Moon" Premiere
For the uninitiated, Akenya’s voice is a musical force that defies the constraints of time and genre. Heralded by Hayley Williams as “one of the best singers I’ve heard in my whole life,” the Chicago artist possesses a vocal prowess so captivating that, despite a limited catalog, has earned her reverence from both fellow musicians and devoted fans.
Equally gifted as a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer; her versatility has made her a sought-after collaborator across genres from acts such as Mavis Staples, Chance the Rapper, Esperanza Spalding, and Resavoir.
It’s also why, five years since her last solo release, we welcome her newest single, “Hades Moon” with fervor and enthusiasm. This sonic odyssey encapsulates a half-decade of personal evolution, spiritual exploration, and profound transformation. Today, These Days is premiering the record, accompanied by an insightful Q&A with Akenya. We delve into the song’s Greek mythology and astrology influence, its creative process, and her long-awaited debut album, Moon in the 4th. Read the brief interview below and stream “Hades Moon” here.
It’s been five years since your last solo release, what makes “Hades Moon” the right record to come back with?
While I certainly didn't intend for there to be a five year gap between my last single, "Decay," and this one, I'm glad to be able to come back with something that marks so much of the growth I experienced during that time. Since 2018, I've navigated immense heartbreak, cultivated a deepening of my own spirituality, started my own astrology business, did a lot of shadow work that involved addressing childhood trauma, and like everyone else survived a global pandemic. I feel like I have gone through several macro and micro transformations; At its core, "Hades Moon" is about transformation. I believe this is one of the most authentic songs I've ever made and something that encapsulates so much of who I have become.
You’ve mentioned that you spent eight months working on this specific song, can you take us through the creative process behind the song?
So, I checked my voice memos to see when I started writing this song, and most of it was written between August 15th and 19th of 2022. So it actually took me close to 15 months to finish this song from beginning to end, as I received the final master on November 3, 2023. Interestingly enough, I had written a song with similar lyrics that was also tentatively titled "Hades Moon" about a year before I wrote this song. I was trying to find a way to describe the astrological aspects in my birth chart in song form. This current iteration of "Hades Moon" I wrote by recycling some of the previous lyrics and building on it. The melody just seemed to flow. I think everything was flowing because I was in a difficult place, and I find that when I'm struggling emotionally that's when I'm the most creatively stimulated. Making art has always been the most effective way for me to transmute my pain.
I started building the production for it a few weeks later, starting with the drums and bassline. I knew I wanted to do something that was a nod to that early 2000s R&B/Hip-Hop sound which has shaped me so much, but also modernizing it. It didn't take long to lay the foundation for the main production either. I continued building it up, adding different synths, vocal percussion, 808 drops, and that probably took a couple of months. The hardest most time-consuming thing was layering all of the background vocals. I probably did over 200 vocal takes for everything. The final product has over 100 vocal tracks consisting of stacks, harmonies, octaves, countermelodies, and other various forms of counterpoint. I spent nearly a month tracking just vocals. Mixing also took a month, and I had the song mastered twice. I'm a perfectionist, and sometimes that works against me, but in this case, I think everything transpired the way it was supposed to. I wanted the lead single for this project to be special, and there certainly won't be anything on the album this vocally elaborate so it is a real standout.
As an astrologer, can you tell us the significance of a Hades Moon placement? And how did it inform the song’s lyrics?
The Hades Moon, a term that I believe was coined by the late Judy Hall, is one of the most complex astrological configurations there is. It refers to anyone who has what we would call Moon/Pluto aspects (or Moon and Pluto in your birth chart directly interacting with one another), Moon in the 8th house, and/or a Scorpio Moon. Hades is the Greek name for Pluto, who of course was the god of the Underworld. Pluto in astrology has a lot of that same mythos embedded in its archetype: Pluto is the force in your life that represents buried, hidden things; the shadow. This will often include our fears, traumas, deepest desires, and secrets - anything repressed that requires further excavation and purification. It is also the underlying power source in the chart and can show how we feel disempowered, as well as how we seek to find the ultimate sense of power and control. The Moon is one of the Luminaries in our chart, representing our needs, our habitual emotional patterns, our earliest conditioning. It's the original unconscious, our innermost psyche, and also connects us to ancestry, particularly matrilineally. So a person with a Hades Moon has an intense emotional nature, a powerful intuition, will often have to face addictions, obsessions, and destructive behavioral patterns that are often rooted in early trauma. Depending on how the Moon is positioned, the trauma this person is navigating may have even happened in utero, or could have even been inherited; Epigenetics, for instance, is a big Moon/Pluto topic. The person with the Hades Moon may often feel themselves to be a receptacle for generations of unprocessed trauma. They have been given the chance by being born with this placement to either break generational curses simply by healing themselves, confronting the shadow with honesty, and purging their pain, or to reinforce them by refusing to do any of the former.
I have the infamous Moon/Pluto opposition, meaning my natal Moon and natal Pluto are about 180 degrees apart. This is regarded as one the hardest Moon/Pluto aspects to live with. Here we see the most extreme circumstances of generational trauma, early environmental duress, an intense mother/mother figures, and yet we also see the largest opportunity for personal transformation, profound healing, and genuine enlightenment if we can face our fears head on instead of deflecting or projecting them. I wanted the song to reflect the absolute despair and desperation living with this aspect in particular creates, as well as the profound hope and hunger for transformation it offers those willing to face their own abyss.
The lyrics draw on Greek mythology, particularly referencing Persephone, the queen of the underworld to illustrate your own yearning for positive change while being pulled by inner turmoil. What inspired the incorporation of these mythological elements?
The Persephone-Hades myth is one of the most famous in all of mythology, and for good reason. What a story! A young maiden, daughter of the Goddess of harvest and agriculture Demeter, is kidnapped by Hades and dragged into the Underworld. If the story ended there it would be a total tragedy. However, she not only adapts to her environment, but she becomes Queen of the Underworld and the only God or Goddess who is able to not just travel between realms, but actually THRIVE in both environments. Persephone's story is one of integration. Of making the best out of the worst situation and coming out on top. Of what happens when we truly own both our darkness and our light. I have always related so strongly to this story. In astrology, Persephone can be represented by any of the Venus/Pluto aspects, Venus in the 8th, and or Venus in Scorpio. I have Venus in Scorpio conjunct (or right next to) Pluto in Scorpio which are both in opposition to my Taurus Moon. Do you see how intimately I work with these archetypes? Especially since both my Sun and Moon are ruled by Venus. This is literally my life! I am constantly fighting to transcend the seductiveness of victimhood by remaining resilient in the face of adversity and working tirelessly to fully claim my own selfhood, self-worth, and personal power.
The outro includes a mix of emotional expression and a call for transformation. Can you share more about the emotions you aimed to convey in this part of the song?
This is where we find the hope and really the solution(s) to the previously expressed turmoil in the song. Regarding what I sought to convey, one should note that this song is very tonally ambiguous - meaning that I'm not entirely committing to a key. A lot of the song hovers between B minor and B dorian. Sometimes there are just open 4ths and 5ths and no clear key center at all. By the time the listener gets to this vamp—which is essentially a mantra—sonically there is a turn. We finally have a B major chord, the first clear tonicization in the whole song. We've waited nearly 3 minutes to get here. At the moment this first occurs, I say the word "integrate" and you hear chimes and light ethereal vocals as well as a deep sub 808 drop as the beat pauses. I wanted this to feel like the Heavens and the Underworld opening simultaneously. The dark and light becoming apparent at the same time, as I essentially detail the shadow integration process, was certainly an extremely intentional choice.
This is also the lead single for your debut album, Moon in the 4th, when and what can we expect from this project?
I am aiming for Moon in the 4th to be released in May of 2024. This project is an introspective, quasi-autobiographical look into my life. It is deeply personal, eclectic, and ranges across a vast emotional spectrum. I have spent nearly a decade working on this album and I am ecstatic to be so close to sharing it with the world FINALLY! I hope "Hades Moon" serves as the perfect introduction for all that is in store.