Courtnie is a 26-year-old singer based in Brooklyn, New York releases her début single L.T.M.F. exclusively on MEFeater Magazine!  We had the pleasure of talking with Courtnie about her journey, her new visual, and the importance of black women creating.

When Did you first start singing and what inspired you?

My grandma. She should’ve been in the opera, but she was a black woman of West Indian descent in the 60s. When she got pregnant with my mom, she prioritized her family. I also grew up listening to my dad’s massive vinyl collection, as well as V103 in Chicago and 95.5 in St. Louis. I can honestly say that that type of radio is unmatched in other cities. The Midwest has something special. My soulfulness comes from there and I take pride in my roots because of that. I didn’t start singing seriously though until the end of college.

Courtnie’s art radiates black girl magic.

Melanin never goes unappreciated in any of her body of works. Over the past year, Courtnie has released music videos directed by black women, only.

What inspired you to create music videos directed solely by black women?

It’s important to be intentional. Until opportunity is truly equal, I think we need to change the conversation around nepotism in the black community and emphasize that there’s nothing wrong with choosing each other on purpose. It’s actually crucial.  We must choose one other sometimes, as a survival tactic. I know that to be in charge of who’s on set is a privilege, and people of other ethnicities and of the opposite gender consistently choose each other without a second thought when it comes to building a team. I don’t want my decisions on who I bring around to be haphazard. It’s not that I’m not interested in and willing to work with people of other backgrounds, but for this project, I wanted to give black women a special shout out.

How does L.T.M.F express the importance of sisterhood?

The video portrays the importance of sisterhood in a super matter-of-fact way. Like obviously hanging out with your girls is rejuvenating and soul-feeding, you know? A pure type of bliss and peace that’s specific to exchanging energy with people you’ve had a lot of your highest, lowest, and most tender moments with. Of course.

But I think the song, more than anything, gets my point across because when I first released it everyone assumed it was about a lover. As people do about most of what I write. But that’s actually only true like 50% of the time. I think the song seeming to be about one thing but actually being about another, is symbolic of our girlfriends being the lovers that mainstream books, music, and movies forget to tell us we need.

Women tend to be each other’s biggest allies, which doesn’t necessarily mean EVERY woman will be your best friend or that you can’t have equally amazing relationships with men. But in general, from what I’ve seen when worse comes to worst, as a woman we’ll most likely be held down by another one of our own. From both an individual and societal perspective, and especially when it comes to women of color. Not saying this is the way it should be, but it’s the way it is. And again, until opportunity is truly equal, I think we need to see as much holding down as possible. Those of us who do: I love us for it.

What do you want fans to take away from this visual?

I honestly just want this visual to make people feel warm and fuzzy inside. The holidays are approaching, so hopefully people can take this time to love on their chosen family, in addition to their family-family. Maybe shawties will even plan a sleepover or two 🙂

Watch Courtnie’s L.T.M.F visual below now!

Courtnie will be releasing more music in 2019. You can keep up with her on Instagram and Spotify @kingcourtnie.