India.Arie SongVersation

Hi guys! I just had the most spiritual experience when I attended soul singer-songwriter India.Arie's show in Northampton, MA two weeks ago. I was introduced to India's soulful music when I was a sophomore in high school and she has had me hooked ever since. My best friend Sam bought us tickets as an early Christmas present and I was ecstatic. We began planning immediately even though it was close to five months away. Sam was going to take the bus to campus from her school in Boston, we would spend the day in Northampton shopping and spending time together - what we call our "twin soul" time. Everything was planned from the minute her bus would arrive to when it would take her back to the Bean.

Me and my "twin soul"

The day of the show finally arrived and we could not be more excited about what we were about to experience. The venue, the beautiful and historic Calvin Theater, could not have been more empty. It was surprising. I had though that the theatre would be packed with people, but we didn't give it much thought. Maybe we were just early. Reggae royal Grayson Morgan opened for India and really got every pumped up, which is ironic because India's songs are the opposite; they're ballads filled with soul and raw emotion that hit you to your core and open your eyes to the feelings you were most likely subsiding. The lights dimmed and the filler music ceased; the crowd grew silent. Goosebumps began to form all over my body - and the show had barely begun! India walked out from behind the black curtain dressed in all white with a blue and white headdress. When I say she was glowing, I mean glowing. She was radiating light. She began her show by praying, which we all took part in. After our prayer, she told us the meaning behind SongVersation. SongVersation is the blend of speaking and singing. Behind India and her band were three large screens that would display images and quotes that were pivotal to the SongVersation. The show was all about connecting the dots and cleansing the soul; it's about healing. India was interviewed by The Dapper Bloggers saying that SongVersation is "the manifestation of an artist transformed and is standing on the other side...a person who was on the journey to healing and SongVersation for me is a person who has come out the other side."

For me, it was definitely a healing experience. A lot of the things India sang about, were things I am struggling with. "Break the Shell" is one that really hit me hard. I have always been someone who second guesses herself and never acts on impulse for fear of getting hurt or disappointing someone. I am my own worst critic, I really am.

Child it's time to break the shell, Life's gonna hurt but it's meant to be felt. You cannot touch the sky from inside yourself, You cannot fly until you break the shell...It's time to peel back all of the layers you put between who you're meant to be and who you are and go be who you are...Do with these words what you will, It's time for us to be for real, you'll be stuck on the ground until you finally break the shell.

Talk about empowering. I had goosebumps all over for the entirety of the show. I walked away from the SongVersation feeling completely different than how I went in feeling. I felt better. I felt changed by it. I felt like I had been healed in a way. In her opening statement, she told us, "My highest prayer is that God will touch you with this music in whatever way you were meant to be touched. Because who knows? We don't know each other or what each other go through but if we are all here at this moment...I don't believe in coincidence...I believe everybody who was called to this moment was meant to be here." Sam left the show crying and I left it in complete awe - mouth wide open and everything. After the show we joined up with some friends and some older women they knew. We left the theatre close to midnight and went out for food and didn't get back to campus until after two in the morning. It was by far the best day of my life.

I felt that a lot of her songs, the ones I could relate to the most, validated what I was feeling. It validated that it is perfectly okay for me to be feeling the things I am feeling but I have to push through them. I can overcome anything. I wish I could personally thank India.Arie for kind of waking me up and making me go through that three-hour emotional roller coaster. Life's gonna hurt but it's meant to be felt.

Here is my podcast - take a listen! Listen to this episode.

For more information and music from India.Arie, click here to view her website!

Sincerely yours,

Amanda