Ashaari Pope - "Music is My GPS" - From Paint Store to R&B Star

“Music is more than art to me, it’s my GPS.”  — Ashaari Pope — Miami New Times shouted out Ashaari as one of "7 South Florida R&B Artists to Watch in 2024," writing that, "Her songs groove on a lustrous soundscape that transports the listener to her vantage point. Whether she’s admiring an attractive woman or tucked away on a romantic getaway, her music can easily become the soundtrack of your next rendezvous." As you can hear at the top of this episode, they're spot on; her work is sensual, emotional and straight forward, all about desire and the complicated emotional and sensual landscape in her body, heart and mind. “I just want to show people that it’s all about building a better relationship with the human condition that is within all of us,” says Ashaari. Her style has been described as melodic R&B, dark R&B and soulful with occasional Afrobeat influences. Ashaari was on track to be a star basketball player in high school when music grabbed her. She never looked back. After years paying the bills working for Sherwin Williams Paints, she quit to pursue music full time in her early twenties. "What makes me proud of the work that we put out is the fact that everything is self-produced, engineered, written and recorded from scratch in my 2-bedroom apartment. Nothing gets better than naturally doing what you love in the comfort of your home." Collaboration is foundational to her artistry, and on many of her songs she writes the lyrics while others compose. She changed her stage name not long ago from P90 and P90Pope to her beautiful given birth name, Ashaari. She says P90 represented her immature teenage self, whereas Ashaari reflects a more mature and authentic artist. “Ashaari is open to everything…,” she says excitedly. She loves words and reads the dictionary, poetry books and lyrics from other songs to familiarize herself with word structure and how certain words provoke feelings. Her vibe is about perseverance. “I just know that there’s something reserved with my name on it, and nothing can stop me from getting to it," she says. Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/49lvi7sX6PjJVzxc7wkfsG Social media - @notashaari Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us! We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: [email protected] or Stu: [email protected]