Bels: Give us a little background about your musical experience, where you get the inspiration and the desire to be in the music industry.

Karyn: Well, coming from Alabama…I started out singing in the church. I wasn’t the girl that led all the songs in church because my voice was very different. I wasn’t the person where they were like ‘oh yeah get her cause she’ll blow it out’. Nah! Then my family, both my mom’s and dad’s side are pretty musical people. With my mom we used to go to the gospel music workshops and that kind of thing. So, as I look back on it…my musical foundation was always there even in writing it was always there as a kid. It started there and kind of turned into where I am now.

My album really came out of a love for writing and growing up listening to Teddy Pendergrass. Every time I hear Teddy Pendergrass, I think the name of the album is Love is a Song Worth Singing, it reminds me, ironically, of when my parents got divorced. Even back then as a kid, I knew all the words and I was like 5 years old. Words always stuck with me. Music was always present in my life. I can tell you what was out when my oldest son was born…when I was at Alabama State (University) and I can remember specific things about it.

When I started doing this and I started writing my songs is when this guy that works with EMI was like ‘hey your voice is different’. For me it was kind of that thing like ‘oh okay well maybe I should do something’ and that’s really kind of how I got to this point. I’ll be honest and tell you it wasn’t necessarily an intentional thing, but it happened that way…real estate closed down and I’ve been writing forever. So it just came…it happened.

Bels: So with this album that you’re putting out independently, what is some of the feedback you’re getting from listeners?

Karyn: Things like…’it’s old school…something that’s been missing, but it’s new’. How different my voice is, but in a good way this time like ‘man your voice is different, I’ve never heard anything like that’. The thing that I think trips me out the most is for people to make a reference to my sound as beautiful. They might say…’you remind me of an Anita Baker’. Not necessarily because we sound alike, but because of our styles, the way we sing with the raspiness. I even had a few people tell me that it’s a Gladys Knight kind of thing. But you know just to say that I have a sound is what everybody says consistently…how much they love the lyrics and how it just sounds like something that’s very grown. It’s very grown…I get that a lot too.

Bels: So was it intentional for you to write these “grown” or more adult, mature songs for the album? What was your guidance or plan going into the album?

Karyn: Life situations honestly. The song The Way Life Goes, it’s very personal, a very personal song. I started writing it from a poetry standpoint more so than songs. Unbearable wasn’t even supposed to be on the album. In May, we were getting ready to get everything printed up and this girlfriend of mine was with this guy for 2 years even though he was married. So when he sprung it on her…he really told her I’m done with you and it was so painful for her that the first word that popped in my head was unbearable. So that’s kind of how I write. A lot of the stuff doesn’t apply to me, but if I hear a story, oh my goodness, that’s like material for me. I’ll be like ‘ooh girl for real…I’m writing about that’. I got a song called The Other Woman about a girlfriend of mine. The dude is good as hell to her but it’s a shame that nobody knows my name cause I’m not the woman they see him with when he’s in public.


Bels: Do you have any songwriters that you look up to in the business?

Karyn: Oh Yeah! My greatest inspiration is Lionel Richie. I think a lot of people especially the newer generation like our generation and younger, kind of sleep on him. They don’t realize the depth of his writing ability. It’s like awe man, if I could just meet anybody and just say thank you for just inspiring me to listen to words and to understand how you take the words and create something based on how you’re feeling or whatever emotion either that person has going on or you have going on…it would absolutely 100% be Lionel Richie.

Bels: What are your plans once this album is out?

Karyn: Well, I don’t have my official release date. The goal is to, of course, first to do self-promoting because it’s very important. You know how the entertainment business is. When they look at me, they only see green anyway. I understand what my demographics are, what my fan base is…I get that everybody is not going to like my music. It’s almost surreal to me that I have an album coming out and that I wrote all these songs. I definitely want it to be an experience. I love the way that Motown artists and a lot of the older artists really, really rehearsed and they believed and they fought and they knew it was good music so it wasn’t difficult for it to spread. That’s kind of what’s happened. I’m overwhelmed by the response I’m getting. You have no idea and I’m humbled by it. I’m so humbled by it because people don’t have to like your stuff.

Bels: What can people expect from this album…is it all love ballads, or some up-tempo and slow songs?

Karyn: All of it. The thing I realized when I wrote Forever Lover was that everybody ain’t in love. One thing that’s always been synonymous with me was being real. Don’t nobody want to hear a whole show full of love songs.

I think that what I’m doing with this album…you’ll get a little bit of it all. You’re going to get the joys of life. You’re going to get the pain that comes along with it. You’re going to get that kind of in-between stage…you know that where are we right now.

Bels: Okay so, there aren’t any collaborations on the album but what about producers, did you use independent producers?

Karyn: Yes, yes I did. This guy name Soulman Mathemattix (Matt). He’s the one I did Shawty Shawty with. Also, he’s on It’s Over. When I heard Shawty Shawt, I was like dude this song would be the equivalent to Larry Graham’s Just Be My Lady with a twist and he was like I know what you mean. I said just let me re-write it from a female perspective. So from there Matt and I collaborated on most of the stuff on the album and kind of developed a sound because his stuff was just fitting. Aaron Bennet, we call him Charles Black, did Unbearable and It’s Over and then one of his partners Great Scott did Good Loving.

Bels: Where can people check you out or contact you for shows?

Karyn: Definitely at www.karenallenmusic.co
m and I’m on MySpace, Facebook and ReverbNation. The website is going to be the best way because there you can listen to my music, leave comments, purchase CDs, book for shows and stuff like that. We’re also in the process of printing t-shirts and putting them on the site.

Bels: Lastly, give our readers who may be sitting at home with a gift or a talent they’re ready to use an idea of how much it would take them to at least get a CD ready.

Karyn: Awe man, you better be ready…because when I tell you blood, sweat and tears and every dime you have. The greatest lesson I’ve learned in this is that money can not and should not be a hindrance for doing whatever you need to do. The lack of money motivated me to learn how to do it on my own. Because see when we had a substantial amount of money back before the real estate market crashed, I could’ve done an album then. But it forced me to be more creative and figure out more ways. So I think financially you’ve got to be prepared to invest in yourself. Just prepared and know that if it’s your dream. Yeah people might co-sign on it, but you got to be willing to make all the sacrifices to make it to how you want it to be and knowledge is power. We have a publishing company also that’s registered with ASCAP. We didn’t know anything about a publishing company until we started reading and researching. You got to know your craft because if you don’t, you get got, for real. So if it’s important to you, you’ll do it. If it’s not important to you then why should it be to somebody else?

karynallenmusic.com