Q&A: Budding R&B star Allyn reflects on career, music and growing up in Sacramento
Growing up in south Sacramento, music was a part of Allyn Moriswala’s life since she was 3 years old. Now the 23-year-old, who simply goes by her first name, Allyn, is an R&B artist making splashes in the music industry as an independent artist with her own sound.
She’s been classically trained in music, starting with playing the violin at 3; by age 5 it was the piano. About age 6 or 7, Moriswala had already begun to play in youth orchestras. She learned gospel and jazz through singing in the choir at Shiloh Baptist Church in Oak Park.
Moriswala went to West Campus High School and then graduated from Pleasant Grove High School before going to Los Angeles for college at California State University Northridge, where she received a degree in Music Industry Studies and a minor in Africana Studies. As a graduating senior at CSUN, she decided she would make the transition to an R&B artist.
She has not looked back. She worked with many different artists, including Cozz, Reason, Dom Kennedy, Casey Veggies and Mozzy. And the list continues to grow. Allyn showed The Sacramento Bee where she’s from and spoke about her hometown’s influence on her career and more.
Note: The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: How did it feel to just come back and “tap in” with your hometown?
A: It’s always a humbling, blessed experience to come back home. Just to look and see the evolution of Sacramento, all these new things that come every time I come back. I think it’s the DOCO center, right? Like, that wasn’t there when I was growing up. So it’s always cool to see just how Sacramento evolves. It kind of reminds me where I came from every time I come back.
Q: And where we’re at right now we’re at Sky Park. Did you ever think about music coming to this park or was that too premature?
A: I think that was at that time of my life, I was really young. And at the time my grandmother had Alzheimer’s dementia and my grandfather had just passed. And I was going through a lot at that point in my life because I just felt like my whole world kind of turned upside down. So I used to come over here and think my grandparents live around the corner from here. And at that point, I kind of was just thinking, “What am I going to do in life?” I always knew music would be something that I wanted to do. I just didn’t really know how. Because growing up here, I didn’t know there was access to studios and things like that.
Q: You know, talk about that, you grew up in Sacramento, what was that like for you?
A: I will say Sacramento taught me a lot about the world, because it’s such a diverse place. There’s so many different cultures here and different types of people here. And it just kind of taught me this is the game of life. I’ve lost a lot of friends to gun violence and drugs out here. Then I have other friends that are successful, on the way to being lawyers and doctors. I grew up around a lot of different types of people.
Q: How does that translate into your music?
A: I can say that Sacramento has made me a super honest person and not to be afraid to be myself. So that definitely translates into my music because I’m very honest in my music.
Q: Out of all (your) songs so far, what would you say is your favorite?
A: My favorite song right now is probably “Temporary Feelings,” just because I talk a lot about love in my music. But sometimes love is just a feeling and sometimes that feeling is just temporary. Pain is also a feeling that’s temporary. So it was just ll these things that we have, a lot of them are temporary and I try to remind myself that not everything is forever, good or bad.
Q: So you’re telling me that you actually started singing and started making the transition as an R&B artist when you were in college?
A: Yeah, I didn’t start singing until I was in college. I always could sing because I was singing in choir and I was in the gospel choir at CSUN. But I didn’t actually start recording or writing music until I was a senior in college, like right before I graduated. I put out my first single the day I graduated.
Q: What was that like for you?
A: I think it was really scary because everybody kind of had a plan after college and I didn’t. And it was like, Okay, I have this degree, but I don’t really want to use it and get a job. I want to be an entrepreneur and be an artist. So I’m (thinking) how can I use this information and apply it to my life? And that’s kind of where I (thought), let me throw out a song to see what it does and ended up doing really well, in my small circle and at school and stuff. I was hoping to continue to do it. That’s when I dropped my first project, ”All You Need.”
Q: From ‘All You Need’ to now, can you talk about the progression that you’ve had in your music career thus far?
A: When I dropped ”All You Need” I was still learning how to songwrite, so every song that I wrote went on that project. I’ve heard some artists record 50 songs and they’ll pick the best 10. I recorded every song and put it out there because I didn’t know what else to do. Over time as my songwriting got better, I was writing for other artists, I’ve written for TV shows (such as) “Empire” on Fox, Tyler Perry’s “Sistahs” on BET, just different shows. As my songwriting got better, I kind of opened doors for myself. So it was all a blessing and it’s definitely been a progress.
Q: As an independent artist, how’s that journey been and why did you choose to take that route?
A: Being independent, for me, has definitely been one of the hardest challenges, but it’s also very rewarding. Because I don’t have to answer, per se, to anybody. I can have creative control. It’s like a job, it’s a 24/7 job that just doesn’t stop but I’m in control of what’s going on. And I’m probably going to still stay independent until I just feel like I can get what my worth is out of these labels. I’m not just going to settle. There’s a lot of times where artists sign too early, and then they’re in debt and don’t have control, they get dropped from their deal. I don’t want to be in a situation like that. So I just try to make good decisions. But it’s definitely been a hard challenge because I do everything by myself. But it’s also very rewarding, too. I’ve got to look back and be like, “Wow, I accomplished all this on my own.”
Q: Does being a woman in the industry have any part in that? Do you feel like you’d be taken advantage of, as far as getting the right deals or someone trying to take your money?
A: Absolutely. Being a woman in the male-dominated industry. I’ve had so many struggles, sometimes working with producers and others, whoever, it might not be about the music. I always have to put my best foot forward and let people know I’m about business.
Q: Your most recent project, ‘Overthinking,’ I want to talk to you specifically about that one. What was going through your mind when you were writing?
A: I wrote ”Overthinking” in the midst of the pandemic. I was sitting in my apartment. And I was literally overthinking because I’m like, “Okay, what is my next move? What am I going to do?” I didn’t know what I was doing. And you know, like everybody else. I was just kind of just nervous and I really didn’t know what was going on. So when I wrote “Overthinking,” that was coming from a really honest, vulnerable place. And I feel like that’s why that song has been so successful just because I feel like everybody can relate to that.
Q: What is it about music that, you know, that brings out this passion for you whether it’s singing, whether it’s songwriting?
A: Just doing it for my family, honestly. I’m the only person in my family that does music. So it’s like I feel like I have to do it. It’s like there’s no other option. Plus it’s like, I don’t have any other option. I don’t want to do anything else but music so I gotta do it.
Q: As far as musical influences, who are some of the people that are very instrumental to your music career?
A: I always listened to Alicia Keys because I started playing piano at a young age. So growing up playing piano, I saw Alicia Keys was classically trained, too, and studied jazz, so it was inspiring to watch her be a musician but also an R&B artist. So definitely Alicia Keys, Aaliyah, Mary J. Blige, Maxwell.
Q: What can we expect in the near future? Are you working on anything right now?
A: Yes, I’m working on new music. I plan on doing an acoustic project coming out soon. And just working on new music features. You can definitely hear me on some more of your guys’ favorite shows coming up and a lot more stuff to come.
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
