Kanye West, Comparisons, and Collaboration: A Look Inside the Creative Mind of Shalom Dubas
If you frequent live shows in the State College/Penn State Main Campus area, chances are you have had the pleasure of hearing Shalom Dubas perform. Hailing from Orlando, Florida, 18-year-old Dubas studies Management Information Systems at Penn State. Her shows are very reminiscent of Ed Sheeran, with a solo acoustic guitar and soulful voice, always sure to tie in acoustic covers of popular songs by artists like Fetty Wap to keep the audience smiling. A songwriter since the seventh grade, Shalom Dubas states that her biggest influences are Ed Sheeran, Chance the Rapper, Kanye West, and 2face Idibia. When performing, Dubas frequently shifts between rapping and singing, all with nothing more than her guitar to accompany her. This is a more recent development, as she first started rapping but now tries to “shift genres, but not really.” On her changing sound she reflects with “My sound has matured a lot, but at the end of the day I want to rap, sing, and play guitar. What really matters to me is that I’m arranging my words and music in a way that connects to people.” While Shalom has performed all over campus, she states her favorite place to play is in her own room. “I really like playing in the stairs of Miller Hall, and my room,” said Dubas. “I also loved playing on Old Main; two people sat with me and listened to me play after we had packed up the initial event that was there, that was really nice.”. Her songwriting process is very step-by-step – “It’s really weird. Most times I will get the song itself first, without the lyrics. I get a melody or something and then I sit down and write the whole thing” however her original songs are her favorite to perform, as well as Fetty Wap covers and her cover of “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman- an artist she has been compared to. “I don’t mind the comparison, I think when compared to another artist, you’re being likened to the greatness that they see in that artist and that’s a cool thing.” explains Shalom. When asked who on campus she would be most interested in collaborating with, Shalom continued to cross genres. “You recently did a piece on Davon, and I really want to do a piece with him and his spoken word. I’ve reached out to him and we may be working on that. I like his work. It’s real and it’s him, it’s not scared and it’s unafraid.” However, if she could collaborate with any artist she immediately cites Yeezus himself. “It would definitely be Kanye. He’s impacted so many people and collaborators that I would directly and indirectly meet so many greats. He’s really brilliant and has a cool mind.” Reflecting on the music industry as a whole, Shalom believes the most influential artists today are Beyoncé and Drake. The most influential people in the music industry for Shalom are those who collaborate with other musicians, and producers who run the show behind-the-scenes. She cites Noah “40” Shebib as a heavy hitter in today’s industry – “Drake’s producer “40” is a heavy player because he just always kills what he does. I respect producers like him a lot.” However, unlike artists like Beyoncé and Drake, Shalom Dubas in an unsigned and therefore independent artist. At a time when independent artists are now more powerful and abundant than ever, she reflects on the pro’s and con’s of being an indie musician. “The biggest con is that I’m not where I want to be yet. I’m limited in the sense that I can’t really get a studio or big collaborations, but that’s really just an obstacle you have to cross.” She continues, “the good thing is what I’m doing now – picking up a guitar and a book, and just starting to write. What’s great is that I think what I’m making is good too and people connect to the songs”. What is Shalom working on now? Expanding, branching out, and improving. “I got a keyboard and I’m trying to produce instrumentals. By the end of the summer I want to have a 5-7 track short mixtape or demo, and produce it so other people can hear it too.” She says. Where you can hear her music: https://soundcloud.com/itsshalom
