MIAMI, Fla. — As a gay, female artist in the mostly male world of hiphop, South-Florida artist Chelzzz has faced challenges that many can relate to, but music is her passion and she’s ready to unleash new music as she prepares for the 2022 SXSW festival.

Her first album, “Somewhere In Miami,” inspired by her journey from her birthplace, Detroit, to Miami, Fla., came out in January 2021. 

Her latest release, a track called “Poseidon,” is out on all streaming platforms and marks a change from Chelzzz’ past music as she opens up about her divorce from her partner of seven years.

“I’m going through a divorce right now and it’s definitely been a struggle trying to balance everything because she was a huge player in a lot of my success,” Chelzzz said. “I definitely have to give her props where it’s deserved, I can’t dog on the fact that she really helped me grow to where I am today.

“I’ve been opening up emotionally and being a little bit more vulnerable with my music and singing a lot more on these upcoming songs. I’m just kind of giving a different side of myself, a little bit more of an open, honest view of what’s just going on and my circumstances, and unapologetically so because I feel like people can relate and people can really understand.”

In Miami, Chelzzz has been an activist, event curator and promoter while shaping the underground industry with intricate beats, bars for days and a voice that can’t be replicated, but the pandemic put a halt to most events and gave her a chance to focus on her music.

Chelzzz has been making and releasing music since 2016, but music has been a part of her life since childhood.

“My whole family sang, we always had music on and it kind of inspired me at a young age,” Chelzzz said. “I started writing when I was really young, I would rap to my basketball team in like sixth, seventh or eighth grade and we were horrible. We would go out and lose every game but still had to hype everybody up. That’s kind of where it started.

“I was in different talent competitions, I did American Idol a couple of different seasons so it’s kind of kept going from there into my adult life. Coming down to Miami and really focusing on myself and focusing on the journey has kind of produced so many new topics to talk about and write about so I think the music has done nothing but improve since being down here.”

Chelzzz said some of the producers in those shows and contests tried to push her toward pop music, but she refused to give up her passion for hiphop.

“They were telling me you need to stick with pop and you need to just do it up,” she said. “I got really defensive and I was like, ‘hell no, that’s not me, I don’t want to do that.’ I was to the point where I was so angry yelling at this person that tears were streaming down my face.”

And could have been because she was a woman in hiphop which dominated by male artists?

“I think yeah, and I’m gay as well so at that point in time there was really no one like that in hiphop,” she said. “Now we’re seeing Lil Nas X and Young M.A and some people are paving the way and that’s great, but there’s really no homosexual influence and I feel like that’s something that we really need to change.”

Chelzzz said “Poseidon” is part of a new album that she hasn’t named yet, but will be released in 2022. 

Another single from that album, a song called “Monster,” dropped the week of Oct. 10. The video for “Monster,” will come out on Oct. 22, just in time for Halloween.

“It’s just in time for halloween and it’s reeky kind of a creepy vibe,” Chelzzz said. “The video for it is sick. So I’m super excited to be showing that to everybody. That’ll be coming out on Oct. 22. Everyone stay tuned for that.”

To listen to Chelzzz’s music, or to follow her on social media, please visit the following links:

Instagram.com/therealchelzzz 
Twitter.com/therealchelzzz 
YouTube.com/therealchelzzz 
www.therealchelzzz.com
Pandora.com/artist/chelzzz 
TikTok.com/therealchelzzz
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ShTj0KNdpRFwBZqtrnp2p
https://youtu.be/KKD2odUIoQA