Ever since Shenna Somsmieh dropped out of Howard University in 2013 and moved to New York to pursue music, she’s put pressure on herself to make it. The 25-year-old pop singer from Woodbridge says she has a strong support system, but feelings of self-doubt can quickly spiral.
Rather than bottle up her feelings, she channeled them into songs on her new EP, “Blue Memories,” which drops Oct. 11. “I feel like I’m really free now,” she says. “Finally, I get to let the walls down.”
On the EP’s title track, Somsmieh overtly sings about her struggles with depression over a pulsing beat and heavy guitar riffs. “Addicted to commotion/ I’m stuck inside my head,” she sings. “I’m crawling cuz I’m broken/Outside I pretend.”
“It’s about dealing with depression, different stages of depression,” Somsmieh says. “I really want to get that across to my listeners and want them to see that. … I get what they’re going through because I also go through this.”
Somsmieh timed the self-released EP to come out just after World Mental Health Day and just before she opens the second day of this year’s All Things Go Fall Classic . The festival performance is a homecoming for Somsmieh, who has family flying in and friends from Prince William County driving up. Despite the pressure, she’s excited to unveil her new music to the people who have supported her along the way.
“I feel like I was trying so hard to make a Top 40 song,” Somsmieh says of her debut album, 2016’s “Made of Gold.” “I was just trying so hard to break into the industry and get heard by millions of people. Now I still want to be heard, but with a message behind it.”
Show: Oct. 13 at 12:30 p.m. at All Things Go Fall Classic at Union Market, 1309 Fifth St. NE. Festival takes place on Oct. 12-13; doors open at noon both days. allthingsgofallclassic.com. $70-$159.
