Today we’d like to introduce you to Noori Belai.
Hi Noori, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. Growing up outside of Washington D.C. in Silver Spring, Maryland, I constantly had melodies and lyrics stuck in my head, belting them out for whoever was around—even when they didn’t want to listen. When I was a kid, all I remember was singing and everyone telling me to shut up! Lol…But it stuck with me.
As the daughter of Ethiopian immigrants in a predominantly white suburb, I often felt caught between multiple worlds. At school, I couldn’t really identify with American culture because I didn’t grow up with it. So I turned to music – eventually experimenting on my own, combining my piano skills with songwriting. Music is spiritual for me. It started off as an escape, evolved into a vehicle for self-expression, and is now my way of life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not. Pursuing a music career has been a very long, turbulent road for me, but well worth it. Where I’m from, it’s pretty uncommon for people to pursue careers in the arts (let alone music). No one really understood what I was doing or believed in it at first. I honed my craft for several years in the DC area and started to grow there. I was recording, doing my own shows, and started to gain a following online. After a while, I found proper management and relocated to Atlanta in 2020 during the pandemic.
2020-2021 were the hardest years of my entire life. But, when you’ve gone through the worse & come back, you come out with something indescribable that you just cannot buy. I was battling with my mental health and going through some really tough times personally. I was also having problems with my management and was prohibited from releasing my own music. I was working hard, but going nowhere. Things got so bad after last September around my birthday that I started to get physically ill. I was the saddest I’d ever been. I was throwing up every day, losing weight, losing hair, losing myself….
It was then that I took a huge leap of faith to leave my old management with no backup plan. This ended up being the best decision I could have ever made for myself and for my music career. I made the decision to take my power back into my own hands. I re-committed my life to God, made lots of personal & spiritual changes, and took my career back into my own hands. No fancy manager, no fancy label — just me and my best friends. Together, we have started to release music that I’m SO proud of. “The Motion” was the very first song I released independently this year, and I’m gearing up to release another called “Pon Mi.” When I left my old team, I buried myself in the studio and recorded an arsenal of songs that I’m so thrilled to be releasing. I can’t wait to give the fans more music. I have discovered a side of myself musically in the Afro R&B, Afro Pop, Alte R&B, and Pop lanes that resonate both spiritually and sonically. I am re-writing my story with my Almighty Creator in the way that we see it fit. And I get to do it with my best friends! I’m so blessed. But if I hadn’t gone through what I did, I don’t know if I’d be here. I’m very grateful.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Right now, my song, “The Motion” is buzzing heavily online. Every day I am shocked at how many new people are streaming it and dancing to it on TikTok/IG Reels. It brings me so much joy. I can see that people are really starting to live with my music and make it a part of their lifestyle, which is amazing to see. People cook to it, dance to it, do their makeup to it, paint their nails to it, meditate with it….etc. The song is an upbeat, vibey Afro-Caribbean bop about making peace with my past, releasing my inhibitions, and breaking free from oppression.
Most of the music I make these days is a means for me to empower, uplift, and speak life over myself and others. In the past, I used music as a coping mechanism built around my destruction. I would make tons of sad stuff about heartbreak & pain because I didn’t know what else to do with those emotions. I’m an empath & they overwhelmed me. Because I chose to internalize all of my pain (instead of feeling and releasing it) I attracted more awful things.
These days music is no longer who I am. It is what I do. In the past, I struggled to differentiate between the two. I’d find myself looking for validation in my music career to fill holes in my heart left by my past & those in it. Because I leaned on my musical accomplishments to define who I was, I was constantly chasing the next level of musical success and left feeling lost/depleted even after it started to come. I’ve come to realize that my life had to change before dropping the music I’m starting to drop. I didn’t realize it before, but I’ve learned that my true calling is more about WHO I’m becoming than WHAT I’m doing. My music is my vehicle and merely a reflection of that.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
That I’m really the biggest hippie. I just love to meditate, pray, write, read, sit in the grass, sunbathe, and hang outdoors.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://withkoji.com/@nooribelai
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nooribelai/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nooribelai/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nooribelai?lang=en
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/NooriBelai
Image Credits
Brooke Fucito
