Shoniqua Shandai’s Journey to Really feel My Love: A Night time of Progress, Vulnerability, and Triumph

By: Wet ” Nation Cutie” Cates

It was a type of nights that felt like a quiet celebration—a gathering of people that believed in one thing extra than simply expertise. We have been seated round a desk in an intimate Atlanta venue, the sort of place the place the power feels heat, like a shared secret between pals. The group wasn’t big, however the air was electrical with anticipation. Tonight wasn’t nearly Shoniqua Shandai, the actress. Tonight, we have been right here for Shoniqua the artist, the singer—somebody we have been about to find in a completely new gentle.

As Shoniqua entered the area, there was an plain glow about her, but it surely wasn’t the sort of glow that comes from the highlight. This was totally different. It was the sort of heat that comes from somebody who has actually embraced their journey—the sort of heat that tells you, “I’ve struggled, I’ve grown, and I’m right here now, unapologetically myself.” And that’s precisely what we have been about to listen to, from the very first observe.

She opened as much as the group, talking in a approach that felt like we have been confiding in an outdated pal. There was no pretense. She was actual, uncooked, and absolutely within the second. “In 2020, through the pandemic, I made a decision to get into the studio,” she started, her voice gentle however regular. “I used to be enjoying a recording artist in Harlem, however I used to be fearful of the studio. I can sing with out a mic, however when it got here to recording, it by no means sounded the way in which it did in my head.”

Her vulnerability struck a chord with everybody within the room. She wasn’t simply speaking a couple of track; she was speaking about one thing deeper. She was sharing the journey of self-doubt, development, and perseverance that led her to this very second.

“You’ll be able to’t play a recording artist and never really get into the studio,” she continued. “So, I made a decision to do the work. I bought intentional about what I wished to create. And with all the things occurring on this planet, I knew I needed to write one thing that spoke to me—and to the world round me.”

What adopted wasn’t only a efficiency—it was a narrative. It was a mirrored image of all the things that had formed Shoniqua over the previous few years: the challenges, the expansion, and the deep, plain perception that all of us have the facility to manifest the lives and love we deserve. 

“I consider life and demise lie within the energy of the tongue,” she stated. “So I wrote one thing that might deliver into existence the sort of love I deserve, despite the fact that I hadn’t skilled it but. One thing God-fearing, passionate, and wholesome. This track… it makes me wish to inform a person, ‘Boy, I do know your momma is pleased with you!’ And that’s “Really feel My Love.”

The track, 4 years within the making, was about a lot greater than melody or lyrics. It was the product of a journey stuffed with persistence and development. She’d began writing it in 2020, but it surely wasn’t till now, in 2025, that she was lastly able to launch it to the world.

“I wasn’t the singer I wished to be after I first began,” Shoniqua admitted. “I used to be evaluating myself to legends like Aretha Franklin, and I wasn’t positive if I may ever measure up. However I stored pushing. I couldn’t let that cease me. So, I went via a cycle of residence, practice, and report. Dwelling, practice, report. For 4 years. And that’s how I turned the singer who may lastly sing this track.”

At that second, I understood. This wasn’t nearly singing, it was in regards to the energy of persistence. The ability of not giving up, even when the trail isn’t clear and the outcomes don’t come simply. For 4 years, Shoniqua labored via her insecurities, her doubts, her worry. And the end result was greater than only a track, it was a declaration of energy and self-love.

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As she performed Really feel My Love for us that night time, the room fell silent. The music didn’t simply fill the area, it resonated deep inside everybody who was lucky sufficient to be there. It was an anthem for anybody who has ever needed to struggle via their very own limitations, for anybody who has ever doubted their price, for anybody who has ever felt that the imaginative and prescient they’d of their thoughts couldn’t presumably match as much as actuality.

However it could actually. It does.

It’s straightforward to fall into the entice of evaluating ourselves to others, particularly on this planet of social media, the place the spotlight reel is all the things. However Shoniqua reminded us of one thing easy but profound: Progress takes time. It’s okay to stumble, to really feel uncomfortable, to take issues sluggish. It’s okay to not have all the things found out instantly. However so long as you retain pushing ahead, trusting in your self and your course of, the outcomes will come.

That night time, I left with one thing greater than only a new track to hearken to. I left with a renewed sense of what it means to really consider in your self, to belief within the course of, and to embrace each second of development alongside the way in which.

Shoniqua Shandai isn’t only a proficient actress or a gifted singer—she’s a girl who has realized to like herself via the wrestle and triumph, a girl who continues to show us that the journey is simply as stunning because the vacation spot.

And so, because the night time ended, I noticed that Really feel My Love wasn’t simply the title of her track—it was the power that she had introduced into the room. Love, in all its varieties. And it was one thing all of us felt, one thing that left a mark on each coronary heart in that intimate area.

At this time, tomorrow, and without end—Really feel My Love.

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