Senite is Transmuting Change into Art
Photography by Amy Schwartz at South Facing Windows
There are times in life when we must surrender and go with the ebbs and flows. This practice has been key to Senite over the last few years, in which life has proven to be unpredictable and profoundly transformative. Throughout it all, music has remained a constant presence, despite a hiatus from releasing singles and projects for a couple of years. Those years mark memorable features on tracks with KAMI, Kaicrewsade, Rocky Fresh, and Saba, and a lot of writing, rewriting, recording, and rerecording music. As I write this, she's somewhere in Europe working on new music, so when I say it's always there -- I mean always.
Since a youngin', Senite was immersed in music, mostly because her older siblings were, so in a way, it became a family tradition. Her introduction was from a classical lens, encompassing the learning of four instruments: the violin, piano, guitar, and her voice. The Chicago-native grew up listening to worship and Christian rock music, the makings of a great artist. She would get a taste of mainstream music at music school when her peers would play her a few seconds of a new video or song. Still, it wasn't until high school, and shortly after that, that she became more acquainted with the music scene, including some artists with whom she would eventually co-headline and collaborate.
Photography by Amy Schwartz
This past August, Senite curated and produced The Bridge, a musical showcase, to raise funds in support of Semicolon Books. As a community-driven person who loves curating events, this idea had been bubbling in Senite's brain for a while. Still, it only came to fruition upon a passionate and aligned conversation with Shawnee Dez. Together, they began organizing the showcase and booked Jamila Woods, who was so excited about the idea that she also joined the curating team. This powerful trio, comprising not only strong vocalists and performers but also pillars in their community and advocates for freedom and education, clicked and together presented The Bridge at Lincoln Hall, hosted by Raych Jackson, featuring m.e.h., Naira Bills, and the production trio. Recalling her vision for The Bridge, Senite didn't hesitate when she said, "I want it to replace Pitchfork. I want it to incorporate bridging the gap between community and artists every now and then [throughout the year], but I want to replace Pitchfork once a year with a showcase." All of the money would go to a non-profit that represents Senite's vision for the world she is building: a world where we take care of community and keep mutual care at the forefront.
The Bridge is not Senite's first time producing something where music and community meet. Her experience in the music and DIY scene includes a lot of non-profit work, providing spaces for Black and Brown artists to create art, and even co-running a business at one point. For a while there, that was all she was doing. So much so that her music took a backseat, except for a few features she would appear on every now and then. Reflecting on the strain and sacrifice of giving her 110% to running a business while working on music and keeping up a social life, she wondered if the losses outweighed the gains.
"Am I cutting my dreams of an artist short because I want to do this?"
This is where being in your twenties and surrendering to the ups and downs of life really kicked in for Senite. When we don't slow down to hear what our heart needs, life will show it to us, and oftentimes, it will be a large jolt. Or, in Senite's case, a few.
Navigating the music industry as a teenage girl proved tumultuous; it was challenging to know whom to trust and where to find one's place. But her love for singing and down-to-earth nature kept her pushing forward through the confusion, predatory offers, and growing pains. As Senite grew, the challenges life presented changed with her. She felt like she had just mastered setting boundaries and protecting herself and her music when her next hurdle proved to be a bit more personal. The last year was full of sudden change and chaos in her personal life, and Senite's instinct was to let everything fall apart so that she could put it all back together. "I have to walk through it. I had to mess up so much to get to this point of maturity." All of the previous mistakes and shady experiences built her resilience and ability to adapt to stressful life changes, no matter how unpredictable they were.
Her deep and personal history with music made turning to the medium a natural response. With every change, loss, and trauma, she turned to music, processing and going through the motions of each experience that came her way, which meant making mistakes, forgiving herself, and learning what she wants and doesn't want throughout it all. A lot of this music hasn't and won't see the light of day, but it served its purpose of supporting her emotional processing and growth into who she is today, on this cold Chicago day when we met up at a bustling coffee shop.
Photography by Julien Carr
Donning her signature glasses and a colorful scarf, I felt Senite's presence when she entered the shop and was excited to catch up with a friend, especially knowing that she would be my last These Days interview. When we sat down to chat, it had been a few weeks since she dropped “Getting Older,” her first single since 2023. Having been two years since dropping her own music and the song's vulnerability, she was "petrified to drop it," and even pushed it back from April to September. Come September, her friends and colleagues (everyone say thank you to theMIND) convinced her to drop the song. After a time period full of loss, grief, and transformation, “Getting Older” symbolized the healing and growth she had undergone. The track was received really well because it came from an authentic place and reflects how Senite utilizes music to make sense of what life throws at her, something that many people look for in their music listening: help navigating life.
Produced by Senite and Que Sol, “Getting Older” was the perfect reintroduction to the artist's heartfelt, clever, and soothing sound. Her rounded, sweet vocals, paired with playful and bubbly production, put her lyrical abilities at the forefront. A Slam Poetry baby, Hey Louder Than a Bomb, Hey Chicago!... Senite's wordplay is satisfying to the ear and rounds out her honey-infused melodies. When listening to her, she forces you to take apart the box your mind may reach to put her in. "Everyone automatically called me R&B… I was posting mostly rap records. Ya'll only see a girl that's Black & pretty and you think R&B and it was so frustrating and the only people that could help become 'successful' kept grouping me in that and that's not me."
"Everyone automatically called me R&B… I was posting mostly rap records.”
A couple of weeks after our meet-up, Senite released "If You Saw Me," featuring the beloved collaborator and friend theMIND. Another track that reemphasizes how dynamic and complex she is as an artist. She will outrap your fav, sing to you, and work on the production to create an experience that transports you right to what she was feeling. You have no choice but to experience Senite as a whole artist, a whole individual. An individual who has gone through a lot, both beautiful and soul-crushing, with the backdrop of an unforgiving yet loving city full of people just like her and people worlds apart. From the free music school not far from home, to the slam poetry events her dad encouraged her to go to, and all the way to the stages, both DIY and not, that she poured her heart out on. If you saw Senite now, the way I see her on this cold day in the city that she loves so painfully, you'd understand just how much evolution and transformation had to occur to transmute all the chaos into art and something hopeful.
Today, Senite is stepping into who she is with a smile. 2025 has proven both personally and collectively that tomorrow isn't promised, at least not a tomorrow that's anything like today. With that in mind, Senite aims to cultivate joy and happiness amidst the rubble of trauma and transformation. As an artist, she isn't chasing numbers or charts; instead, she wants to share what she's learning through it all. She knows what it's like to be at your worst and you find that one song where every lyric resonates -- a little too well -- and helps you make sense of the madness. That's what she wants to do for other people, as always: care, connection, and community at the forefront of her work. I suggest you keep up with her because the new music is too good to miss.
"As an artist, having enough music out there where people are impacted by it is important to me. I don't really care to be famous, I want people to know that there's music to represent how they're feeling."