A Force of Music and Feminism: Simmone Mariah

Written by Abby Power

February 17th , 2023

TW: Human trafficking.

Simmone Mariah is a singer/songwriter from Oshawa, Ontario. She is currently enrolled in the Music Business Management program at Durham College, and works as a songwriter within the Emerging Songwriters enterprise.

Simmone aspired to be just like Taylor Swift, and also drew heavily from the music of Alicia Keys. “I’ve been singing my whole life, I think I was even singing before I could talk,” she stated. “I began to write songs at the age of 10, and thought hey, I’m pretty good at this, I can write a decent song’, and it just went from there.” Simmone writes, records, and performs her own music, and most recently performed at Breakthru Events’ Open Mic Night at Copper Branch on January 31st , 2023. She is also inspired by her father’s side of her family, as they are

quite musical. Later, Simmone began to play the guitar and the piano. Today, she frequently plays both instruments, but has some experience with the ukulele, which she picked up after learning how to play the guitar.

Spreading her talent and wisdom, Simmone works as a songwriter within the Emerging Songwriters enterprise. “Through Emerging Songwriters, the goal is to help artists create songs that are personal to them but also have lyrically strong aspects and musical aspects.

Emerging Songwriters works with other songwriters to develop these aspects. It is much more than an enterprise.” Simmone works with a variety of artists and songwriters within the enterprise, such as recording artist Najjah Calibur. “We are starting some really cool projects, all of them are really exciting! I am also working with Dante on a song. We are just finishing it up, so it should be released in a few weeks! He is an amazing songwriter; I am grateful to be working with him.

Najjah is working to get onto the upcoming CENT EP, so we are working really hard on that.”

Simmone stated that she often finds inspiration based on how she is feeling, or when something happens. She often writes from experience, but also because it is her job. “I have to make things happen,” she laughed, “Most of the time it's easy to make up something in my head. I'll think of a story, it can be made-up, or it can be real, which really helps with imagery. I pull from books, movies, story plots... anything!” Simmone has released some of her songs, such as

‘Miles Between’ and ‘Rosely’, on music streaming platforms. Her work can be found on Apple Music and Spotify, as well as YouTube, and through her Instagram @simmonemariahmusic. “Itis not easy, especially with songwriting, you need to be passionate about it. Songwriting is what drives the music industry, and it is so hard to make good quality music if you are not passionate about it. As a songwriter, it is so hard to deal with people who don't care. So, if anybody wants to become a songwriter, they have to be passionate about it.”

As a woman within the music industry, Simmone is eager about educating others. She is an advocate for women and children who have been affected by human trafficking.“ It's not only the people who are in it, but outside of it.” Simmone is passionate about women and young girls identifying themselves, their bodies, and their music. “There's enough musicians that promote women in a certain way, but I think it's important to people in the industry to promote that instead of all of the negativity.” Women within the music industry are often not properly recognized for their contributions and what they do in and out of the music industry. Simmone spoke about the importance about these issues and

how she is a strong advocate for anyone that is affected by human trafficking, and women within the music industry.

As a songwriter, Simmone believes that connecting with people through music is much more powerful than connecting with people through simple words or conversations. “Songwriting is just like connecting with people. I feel like I can express my emotions through my music better than saying it to [someone] in words. I've been able to communicate with people better; it sounds so weird but it's true. It's a nice way to hear how someone is feeling, especially when they can relate to the song. It is even more powerful to hear when somebody has personally connected through a song that you wrote. It's so nice to hear when someone else feels that way.”