Conversations with Aurora Lloyd

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aurora Lloyd.

Hi Aurora, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Music has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Before there was ever an Aurora Lloyd, there was just a girl who loved music deeply, singing, writing, studying artists, and imagining herself creating something of her own one day. Over time, music became more than entertainment for me. It became one of the primary ways I processed my life and understood myself.

My journey to becoming an artist has taken me through several places and several versions of myself. I spent parts of my life in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Georgia before eventually moving to Washington, D.C. in 2013 to attend Howard University. At Howard, I studied English while minoring in Music with a concentration in classical voice. Those two areas of study made sense for me because I’ve always been fascinated by both words and sound. Songwriting eventually became the place where those two loves could meet.

Moving to D.C. also forced me to grow up in ways I wasn’t necessarily prepared for. My experience here hasn’t always been easy. I’ve had to navigate financial instability, difficult relationships, personal loss, changes in friendships and creative partnerships, and periods where simply maintaining my everyday life required more of me than people around me could see. I’ve had to work regular jobs while continuing to fund my dreams independently, sometimes putting music on pause because life needed my attention and then finding my way back to it again.

Through all of that, music remained one of the constants.

In 2016, I released my first mixtape, #InsideMyNotebook. The title was very literal; it was an invitation into my thoughts, relationships, insecurities, and experiences through songs that felt like pages from a journal. This year marks ten years since that project, which has made me reflect a lot on the young artist who created it. I didn’t have everything figured out. I was learning about recording, songwriting, collaboration, and even who Aurora Lloyd was supposed to be. But I had something to say, and I was brave enough to start.

In 2019, I released Anaomi, another project that captured who I was becoming at that point in my life. With every project, I became more willing to experiment and more interested in creating a complete world around my music rather than simply recording songs.

At the same time, my life outside of music continued. One thing people may not immediately realize about independent artists is how much of the work happens while we’re living completely ordinary lives. I’ve balanced multiple jobs while writing and recording music, paying for sessions, visuals, choreography, and other creative expenses myself. I’ve worked in community health, supported people with disabilities as a job coach, and worked in food service while continuing to build Aurora Lloyd. There have been days when I’ve gone from my full-time job directly into another shift and still come home thinking about lyrics, artwork, or what I want my next project to become.

That part of my story matters to me because there hasn’t been some magical moment where life cleared the schedule and said, “Okay, now you can become an artist.” I’ve had to become one in the middle of everything else.

That persistence eventually brought me to Neptune, my 18-track album released in September 2024. Neptune represented years of experiences finally coming together. By then, I wasn’t interested in simply making an album; I wanted to create a universe. The music, imagery, and storytelling all became connected pieces of the same world. Receiving four nominations at the Wammies during that era was especially meaningful because it felt like recognition not only of one project, but of years of continuing to create when quitting would sometimes have been easier.

Now I’m preparing to close the Neptune chapter with my upcoming single, “Cocoa Butta.” The song is about healing, believing in yourself, and recognizing your own worth. It’s about being able to look at your scars and mistakes without allowing them to determine where you’re going next. That message feels especially appropriate for where I am today.

When I look back at my journey, I don’t see a straight line. I see different cities, different jobs, different relationships, losses, friendships, mistakes, accomplishments, and many different versions of myself. I see an independent artist who has had to learn how to keep choosing her dream while still figuring out how to pay bills, take care of herself, and live a full life.

I’m still doing that now. I’m still working, learning, and building. The difference is that today I’m much more certain about the woman and artist I’ve become. Ten years after opening #InsideMyNotebook, I can finally look at the body of work behind me with pride while being even more excited about everything I haven’t created yet.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. I think one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that pursuing a dream doesn’t exempt you from dealing with everything else life brings.

One of my biggest challenges has always been balancing my creative ambitions with financial reality. I’m an independent artist, which means so much of what people eventually see the recording sessions, artwork, videos, choreography, promotion, and performances has to be funded somehow. At different points I’ve worked multiple jobs simultaneously while still trying to create. Currently, I work in community health, as a job coach supporting people with disabilities, and in food service, while continuing to build my career as Aurora Lloyd. There have been plenty of moments when I’ve had the creative vision for something long before I had the money or resources to make it happen.

I’ve had to learn that sometimes postponing something doesn’t mean abandoning it. Sometimes I’ve had to say, “I can’t afford this right now,” find another solution, or wait until I could do it responsibly. That can be difficult when you’re an artist because your imagination doesn’t necessarily care what your bank account says.

I’ve also had to navigate the music industry as a Black trans woman. There are spaces where I’ve had to question whether I’m being seen for my artistry first, whether people understand me, or whether there will even be room for someone like me. I’ve experienced rejection and situations that could have convinced me to make myself smaller or create something more comfortable for other people. Instead, I’ve gradually learned that the things that make my perspective different are also part of what gives my work its identity.

Some of the hardest obstacles haven’t been professional at all. I’ve experienced grief, the loss of people I loved, difficult relationships, friendships ending, and creative partnerships changing or ending after years of history. There have been moments when people I imagined would be part of the next chapter of my life simply weren’t anymore. Learning how to grieve those relationships without losing myself or my love for what we may have created together has been a major part of my growth.

My educational journey has also taken longer than I originally imagined. I came to Washington, D.C. to attend Howard University, and life has interrupted that journey more than once. For a long time, I could have looked at that as evidence that I was behind. I’m learning instead to recognize that everyone’s timeline is different. Finishing my education remains important to me, and so does allowing myself to be proud of everything I’ve accomplished while that part of my story is still being written.

Probably the greatest challenge has been learning how not to measure my progress against someone else’s timeline. Independent music can make you feel like you’re constantly supposed to be doing more: more streams, more followers, more content, more performances, more releases. I’ve had to remind myself that longevity matters too. This year marks ten years since I released #InsideMyNotebook. When I think about everything that has happened during those ten years, the fact that I’m still creating means something to me.

I’ve made mistakes. I’ve trusted the wrong people. I’ve spent money I probably shouldn’t have spent. I’ve had ideas that didn’t work. I’ve had moments when I questioned whether I was moving fast enough or whether any of this would eventually become what I imagined.

But every version of me kept leaving something behind for the next version to build upon.

That’s probably why “Cocoa Butta” means so much to me now. The song isn’t about pretending the scars don’t exist; it’s about taking care of them. It’s about believing that the mistakes, losses, and difficult seasons don’t disqualify you from becoming who you’re supposed to be. I think that’s ultimately what my journey has taught me: progress doesn’t always look pretty or happen on schedule, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a singer, songwriter, and multidisciplinary creative who performs under the name Aurora Lloyd. At the center of everything I do is storytelling. Music is the foundation, but I’ve never viewed a song as just a song. I’m interested in building worlds around my music through visuals, fashion, concepts, symbolism, and the larger stories connecting one project to another.

My music pulls from R&B, pop, alternative music, and the many influences I’ve collected throughout my life. I grew up loving artists who weren’t afraid to evolve, experiment, or create an entire experience around an era. I think that influence shows in the way I approach my own work. I love vocals and songwriting, but I’m equally fascinated by the question, “What does this music look like?”

One thing that has become particularly important to my artistry is world-building. There is a mythology developing throughout my catalog. Projects like Neptune aren’t isolated ideas to me; they’re destinations within a larger universe. The visual language surrounding the music planets, celestial imagery, color, mythology, and symbolism helps tell that story. I want someone to eventually be able to look across my catalog and recognize that every era represents a different part of my evolution.

At the same time, underneath all of those concepts, my writing is very human. I write about relationships, heartbreak, confidence, sexuality, grief, healing, mistakes, self-worth, and becoming more comfortable with myself. I think that contrast is a big part of what makes Aurora Lloyd who she is: the presentation can be larger than life, but the person inside of it is still figuring life out in real time.

One of the moments I’m most proud of came during my Anaomi era. In 2019, I received my first music career awards at the Trans Trenderz Music Awards, winning Best Music Video and Best R&B Record for the Anaomi EP. That recognition meant so much to me, particularly because it came from within my own community. As a Black trans woman making music independently, being celebrated by other trans artists and creatives was incredibly affirming. It was one of those early moments that showed me the work I was creating was reaching people and that there was space for my voice.

Years later, I’m also incredibly proud of Neptune, my 18-track album released in 2024. It was an ambitious undertaking for me as an independent artist, and completing it taught me so much about what I’m capable of creatively. Receiving four Wammies nominations during that chapter was another milestone. When I think about the artist holding her first awards during the Anaomi era and compare her to the artist I became by Neptune, I can actually see the growth.

I’m also approaching the tenth anniversary of my first mixtape, #InsideMyNotebook, which I released in 2016. Looking back at that artist and comparing her to who I am now is surreal. The resources have changed. My voice has changed. My writing has matured. My understanding of myself has changed. But the desire to communicate something real through music has remained.

My newest single, “Cocoa Butta,” represents that growth beautifully. At its core, it’s a song about healing, confidence, and learning to believe in yourself again. Cocoa butter becomes a metaphor for caring for the scars life leaves behind, taking what you’ve experienced, learning from it, and continuing forward. The idea of going from your “sole up to your crown” really captures the spirit of the record for me. It’s about recognizing your own worth from the ground up.

I also think my perspective naturally sets me apart. I’m a Black trans woman, but I don’t believe my artistry has to exist inside one box because of that. My identity informs my perspective, just as my upbringing, relationships, spirituality, education, work, friendships, and experiences inform it. I want the freedom to make something vulnerable, something sexy, something strange, something dark, something joyful, or something completely unexpected and still have all of it authentically belong to me.

Ultimately, I want people to remember Aurora Lloyd as an artist who created a universe while still telling the truth about the person living inside of it. I’m not interested in becoming a copy of someone who already exists. I’m interested in discovering how far my own imagination can go.

What’s next?
I feel like I’m entering one of the most exciting transitional periods of my life and career. For a long time, so much of my journey was about proving to myself that I could keep going. Now I’m thinking much more intentionally about what I want to build and what I want the next ten years of my life as an artist to look like.

In the immediate future, I’m preparing for the release of my next single, “Cocoa Butta,” which feels like a very fitting record for where I am personally. The song is about healing, self-worth, confidence and learning to care for the parts of yourself that have been through something. I’m developing the visual component of the record as well, and I’m excited to give the song its own moment rather than simply releasing it and immediately moving on to the next thing.

2026 also marks ten years since I released my first mixtape, #InsideMyNotebook. That anniversary has made me incredibly reflective. I want to celebrate the project and the person I was when I created it, but I’m also excited to finally share that the story isn’t finished. A sequel, #InsideMyNotebook 2, is currently in development.

Returning to the notebook ten years later feels completely different. The original captured who I was and what I was experiencing at that particular point in my life. A decade later, I’ve lived so much more. I’ve loved, lost, healed, made mistakes, experienced grief, accomplished things I once dreamed about and learned considerably more about who I am. #InsideMyNotebook 2 gives me the opportunity to open that notebook again from the perspective of the woman and artist I’ve become.

I don’t want to reveal too much about the project yet, but I can say that I’m not interested in recreating the first mixtape. I want the sequel to honor where I started while showing just how much has changed. Same notebook. Different chapter.

Beyond that, I have several musical ideas and projects developing that continue expanding the universe I’ve been creating through my work. I’m becoming more intentional about collaboration as well, working with producers, musicians and other creatives who can challenge me and help me explore places I haven’t gone yet. I want to continue strengthening my voice, developing as a live performer and eventually creating shows that feel like extensions of the worlds within the records rather than simply performances of the songs.

Education is also part of my future. Completing my degree remains important to me, and I eventually hope to pursue graduate study in anthropology. Music and anthropology may seem like two different worlds, but to me they are connected by the same thing: people. I’m fascinated by culture, identity, community and the stories we leave behind. Whether I’m writing a song or studying people’s experiences, storytelling and understanding humanity are at the center of both.

One of the biggest changes I’m working toward is creating a life where my artistry has more room to exist. Like many independent artists, I’ve spent years balancing creativity with multiple jobs and everyday responsibilities. I’m grateful that those experiences have allowed me to support myself and continue creating, but long-term I want the career I’m building as Aurora Lloyd to become increasingly sustainable. I want more of my time to be available for recording, performing, writing, collaborating, traveling, and creating.

Creatively, I’m also becoming less afraid of change. I don’t want every Aurora Lloyd project to sound or look the same. I want people to be able to follow my catalog and watch me transform. There are softer versions of me, darker versions, experimental versions, and versions I probably haven’t even met yet.

Ultimately, I’m looking forward to finding out who she becomes.

Ten years into releasing music, I don’t feel like I’m approaching the end of something. I feel like I’ve finally built enough history to begin the next chapter.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://auroralloyd.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lyricalmoonlite/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lyricalmoonlite/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoni%C3%A1-lloyd-85927a27
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lyricalmoonlite
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/auroralloyd

Image Credits
Julian Dorsey-Ruffin
Izeyah Naravez
Gabrielle Smith