No life lesson was left unsaid as Syreeta Martin interviewed recording artist Deleqúa for the virtual conversation as part of Love Now Media’s Lunch & Love: Love Ambassador edition. In the hour-long event, the singer touched on recurring themes such as identity, love, and self-care along with personal anecdotes that inspired and uplifted listeners.
At the time of the interview, Deleqúa was days away from the release of her new single, “New Me.” The anthem was created as a self-love anthem and is a song that the singer hopes allows listeners to “live a softer life.”
Deleqúa seeks to create bodies of work that allow all listeners a “moment that you can live in–that’s free, that’s safe, that’s peaceful, and that brings you joy.”
Empowerment serves as a common theme throughout anything Deleqúa produces. Inspired by her own experiences, the artist iterated her hopes to convey a sense of security during any and all of her performances.
“When I go to certain concerts and events, it’s a safe space…that’s how I want to continue to make people feel,” she said.
As a Black transgender woman, Deleqúa creates music to motivate herself and her community. She cited Beyoncé, whose recent album and subsequent tour share similar ideals of both Black and queer empowerment, as a major inspiration. From the way Deleqúa performs her tracks down to the meticulously planned release of her projects, the singer aims to create a deep connection with her audience, detailing that “we all have love languages, mine is my art.”
Love for both others and herself was something that came with a learning curve. Deleqúa explained that it took time to process how many of the people in her life show love in varying ways.
“However way they show up, they showed up. Some people call it a love language, I just say it’s how they were able to show up,” she said.
Deleqúa also focused on boundaries and expectations in relationships, highlighting her journey to understanding what she can ask from those around along with the type of support she can expect from herself. Specifically, she made sure to affirm that, “If I can’t show up, I can’t expect other people to show up.”
“Showing up” was a large topic of conversation throughout the interview. Using the term as a means to describe any form of support for those around her, Deleqúa also focused on what it meant to show up for herself, whether it be through rest, patience, and other forms of self-care.
“I have a lot planned but I’m not gonna turn around and grind out and tire myself out because then the love that I’m trying to exude, the energy I’m trying to exude throughout the project won’t really come through,” she said.
As for what she has planned in the future, listeners can expect more music to come. She assured those tuned into the interview that “New Me” is the start of many individual parts to the project that she describes as “acts,” each one recorded over the course of the pandemic that she intends to release over the upcoming years.
You can find her music streaming on Spotify and Apple Music along with more content via her social media (@iamdelequa).
