Muni Long: From Songwriter to Singer

    Priscilla Renea Hamilton also known as Muni Long is an upcoming R&B singer with a Grammy for R&B Performance (2023). She was born on September 14, 1988, from Gifford, Florida. Muni Long was first discovered on YouTube when she was in high school and used her birth name Priscilla. She would release her solo debut album, Jukebox, in December 2009 under Capitol Records. She describes her creative process and how being a songwriter for others and singer are mutually exclusive and creativity needs to be focused on songwriting. Muni Long would spend the next decade in the music industry as an accomplished songwriter. She wrote songs for Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Mariah Carey, K Michelle, Chris Brown, Madonna, Kelly Clarkson, Mary J Blige, Demi Lovato, and Pitbull to name a few. Her top songs that she wrote for other artists are “Worth It,” “Timber,” and “California King Bed.” 

After a decade in songwriting, she was deeply unfulfilled. Her songs she wrote did amazing and won Grammys but still was dissatisfied as a creative. She felt ungrateful for wanting more but recognized those songs she wrote fed her physically but not mentally. She wanted to be a limitless creative and could not accomplish that goal with songwriting. Muni Long used an analogy (a system for comparing the structure between two systems of knowledge to make inferences) to look inward to see why she was dissatisfied. She describes songwriting for others as being an interior decorator which is a service done for other people. Muni Long as a songwriter was an interior decorator and could not add whatever she liked because she was writing for another creative. The restrictions that are placed by being a songwriter upset her as she was not able to fully express herself. Through analogy she discovered what the problem was which is another important part of the creative process people struggle with. It is interesting to analyze her decision to switch to a singer when it appears she was extrinsically motivated (motivation from the external rewards and praise) for a decade in songwriting. She was getting paid and had recognition with several plaques for the successful songs she wrote. However, her intrinsic motivation (motivation from the direct enjoyment or satisfaction of the thing itself) was lacking and was the root of her dissatisfaction. This proves that there needs to be a balance of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to boost creativity and satisfaction especially in the music industry. 

    Muni Long married her husband Raysean Hairston in 2014 and supports her at every step of her career. He plays an important part in not only her life but also her creative process as many songs are derived from their private relationship and the love they share with one another. He helped her come up with the stage name Muni Long (Pronounced Money Long) which is really an affirmation when people say it because saying money long is another way of saying someone is wealthy. Her husband also played a role in her decision to make the jump from songwriting to singing. It was challenging because the music industry works in a 2-year cycle which means when an artist creates a song they do not get paid until 2-years later. Transitioning from a songwriter to a singer would mean she would not be making an income for 2 years but after speaking to her husband about the decision he supported her and she made the leap in 2018.

    Muni Long’s second studio album “Public Displays of Affection: The Album” was released on September 23, 2022. The inspiration behind this album was the love that was absent in R&B and this was a problem Muni Long sought to remediate with her music. She is a self-proclaimed lover and wanted to express the ebbs and flows of a relationship and the mechanisms (thought processes that get a creative person to the creative process) she uses are from within her personal life and marriage. Another large inspiration behind her album was the pandemic and during the times you were not able to hug and kiss your loved ones. The pandemic affected the entire world and this is where Muni Long’s creative process connects to my focus book Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan. Cave describes an intense burst of creativity that was fueled by the pandemic as he had “the time to do a whole lot of stuff I wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to do” (Cave 131). Both artists had the time to write music that intrinsically motivated them and in Muni Long’s case it was the love that was absent from life and for Cave it was the loss of his son and mother. The pandemic was an unfortunate circumstance but Muni Long and Cave decided to make the best of it and when they focused on themselves they created amazing music to share with others. 

     The most popular song from “Public Displays of Affection: The Album” is “Hrs and Hrs” which has garnered over 1 billion streams across all platforms and a Grammy. It is exactly what Muni Long sought to accomplish and brings love into R&B. She wrote the song while washing the dishes and it is a very intimate song. She has clarified the love expressed in this song is much more than sexual and is in fact spiritual. The song expresses the time spent with her husband and how they experience love in a very unique way. She was married for 8 years while she wrote the song and actually did not write the song for her husband, even though he subconsciously influenced the song because it is about the love she experiences in their marriage. Muni Long and Cave also relate in their approach to songwriting especially as they are both in loving marriages. Cave also never sits “down with the intention of writing a song about Susie [his wife]” (Cave 137). However, this does not mean she does not have an influence on his music. Susie at this point in Cave’s life is so deeply rooted in his personality and thought process that she will always have an influence in his music. Cave describes it perfectly as he tries “to manage several voices in [his] songs-[his] voice, Susie’s voice, and [their] shared voice…” (Cave 137). What this accounts for in the creative process is the inclusion of external forces that influence the creative process. For Muni Long and Nick Cave, their spouses are very deeply embedded in their spirits and their creative processes. People have a variety of influences that subconsciously make their way into their creativity from family members to idols. Muni Long will continuously break records in the music industry and I look forward to seeing her creative process develop as a singer this time as opposed to a songwriter. 

Sources:

Cave, Nick, and Seán O’Hagan. Faith, Hope and Carnage. Canongate Books, 2022.

Home - Muni Long. (2022, April 13). Muni Long. https://www.munilong.com/

Honore, Pretty, and Pretty Honore. “Meet ‘Hrs and Hrs’ Singer Muni Long’s Husband!” Distractify, 27 Mar. 2023, www.distractify.com/p/muni-long-husband.

Mina SayWhat. “Muni Long Talks About Writing ‘Hrs and Hrs,’ JT Defending Song Trolls and Songwriting for 10 Years.” YouTube, 13 Mar. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE_-iMLG09k.

“Muni Long Age, Hometown, Biography | Last.fm.” Last.fm, www.last.fm/music/Muni+Long/+wiki.

MuniLongVEVO. “Muni Long - the Making of ‘Made for Me.’” YouTube, 5 Oct. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq1z_rx43_I.