RESPECT. Interview: The Mind of QUIÑ

The enigma of a person can manifest itself through the mediums they choose to communicate with their publics and with their peers. We’ve seen inside the minds of great philosophers, writers, and musicians not by way of the worda they speak on the day to day, but how their thoughts paint sonic brushstrokes on tracks and melodies. QUIÑ adopts a similar strategy, using her music in the same way as many others: to paint herself vividly for both self-understanding and for a message to be spoken to her listeners.

What’s evident in her lyrics, and through her sit down with RESPECT., is the power it took to not only leave school- and by extension that predetermined “safety net” many people are tangled in- but to refine her persona and her fears so as to use her mind as the paintbrush for what’ll be her artwork. QUIÑ spoke with RESPECT. about her fears (or lack thereof), her thoughts about healing mechanisms, seeing her friends make it big, and how she writes her music.

RESPECT.: What are you afraid of?

I’m only afraid of losing my mom. Other than that, I’ve beaten a lot of fears. Like, my entire life I’ve been afraid of myself. I changed my life really when I was 19. I had all these fears in my face- I was scared of attention, for example. That was a big one. I loved singing with people but I couldn’t stand any solo. I got challenged in high school because I was in choir and one of my teachers challenged me to try singing by myself for once. I always did it half assed. I graduated, went to college, was scared to share any of my ideas, and I moved to the bay, living on my own and in my feelings. I was by myself, so I experienced myself. And, you know, the only thing to do is not be afraid, and put myself in uncomfortable positions. That extended to writing, and I put myself in a position where I had to share my writing. Eventually, all that practice worked. So I beat all those fears.

RESPECT.: So was the leap to leaving college solely because you didn’t like how embedded into the social routine it was? It’s “supposed” to go: high school, then college, then career, etc.

I could’ve been in school for the rest of my life; it was so automatic. I was always in my own little lucid dream world- like if you see me singing don’t look at me (laughs). I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up, so obviously it was like, “what do I like to do,” and that went hand in hand with what I didn’t like about the situation I was in. It was very typical teenage drama that I couldn’t deal with. That’s what people meant when they said school isn’t for me. Some people know what they wanna do, but some people don’t know what they wanna do and they never actually meet themselves. And you’re feeling the negative effects of it afterwards.

RESPECT.: You described music as an “escapism” before, what are other escapisms you use to breathe?

I just like to write a lot, and it kinda goes with music. I spend a lot of time in silence, too. I just kinda escape in my mind. It doesn’t really take much for me to do. I read, I like watching my shows- sometimes I go to my mom and I’m like “what are your shows, let’s go watch them.” I also just like being in the presence of my mom. My mom’s like a genius- she knows everything, A “silent genius,” actually- with my decision, for example, she just kinda let me do me. Even through college she was just real nonchalant with it. My dad on the other hand was very like: “so…. you’re not gonna go to school?” But yeah, my mom. Definitely another escapism.

RESPECT.: You described “healing frequencies” in a tweet once, saying: “there’s hella people tuned into one healing frequency at once like yes.” Adjusting that, people obviously are on different healing frequencies plenty of times, and heal, cope, and learn in different ways. Do you those differences break solidarity or foster it?

Definitely promotes solidarity, because it’s all healing in the end. Writing and drawing and singing songs; there’s just so many gifts that people have and it’s all about turning on the switch. Just contribute to the world to be able, and it’s all in all for the better. It’s so tight that you got that from that tweet though. Same thing you were saying: perception all depends on the person listening to the album, or reading the tweet. At that moment I was listening to my friend 6lack’s album, and was thinking: “how many people could be listening to this album at that time?” If it’s coming from the soul, it’s coming out from those sound waves, and mad people are listening. It’s just crazy that it’s me and my friends out now and seeing it popular. So yeah, music’s not here to stagnant your mind and it’s there to help it flourish.

We all have like custom made “lenses,” and there’s only real two sights: it’s positive or negative. So as long as you see it positive, you’ll see it. That’s where you find healing frequencies.

$Quin$

RESPECT.: What’s your songwriting process like?

For the most part, there’s a couple ways I go about it, but they all narrow down to one simple process. I have a lot of voices in my phone but lately I’ll just go to the studio, listen to the track, go into the booth, and without writing I’ll just freestyle. Then, I’ll listen to the freestyle and so on and so forth. So then it’s just about plugging in the syllables. I have a bunch of songs that I’ve written in my phone, but for a lot of songs I simply listened to the instrumental then made the words. A good example for my writing was “Math.” I came up with the hook off top, but the melodies at the end was me recording and then recording with another thing in my head at another time. So, they were really good melodies, and I just laid them down, one after the other, no words, and then I listened to them. I ran it back and I would usually try figuring out what i was trynna say, but there I just kinda left it the way it was. You ever listened to “Gibberish” by Ryan Leslie? We all do that sh*t. That’s why I go into the booth first. I think one day I’m just gonna put out a project of all my freestyles.

RESPECT.: So you’ve never written a verse before then?

I’ve done it before but a lot of times I did I went to booth and refined it. I’m just very down with no rules, ya know?

RESPECT.: If you could be in an artist’s mind who would it be?

Prince’s mind, definitely. I wanna see how he works, but also I feel like I have a bit of an understanding of him. I sorta feel he’s the daddy of all of us and now he’s gone and we’re all making our own things.

RESPECT.: Have you seen yourself change in any way since your name appeared on people’s tongues? Any personal realizations?

I’m kinda like the “baby lady” now. I just hit 26, and 25 was just a lotttttt of realization. I feel like that fear of f*cking up is all my mind- like, my voice is not f*cking up, it’s all in my brain. Like, your brain can f*ck up for you ya know? I just have to not think. If I just don’t try I can I do whatever I want. But thinking will f*ck it up. That’s definitely been one of the biggest realizations I’ve had over the course of my music career and the past year.

Personality wise not at all; I’ve literally been the same person since the beginning of time, but I’ve definitely gained a level of perspective that I’m grateful for. And it comes and grows with situations. I’ve also just grown up into the person that I needed to be, because like a few years ago I wouldn’t be able to get on a stage and sing by myself, and I forced myself out of it, like I said before, but I really had to train myself to do so. It’s just crazy going on stage and being, just, real. Not giving a f*ck. And it’s crazy looking back on everything. The day I dropped out of college was my speech final and i was actually just like yeah I’m not speaking to y’all I’m actually just leaving for good (laughs).

Keep up with QUIÑ via her Twitter, Instagram, and SoundCloud.