SONG EMPOWERS GIRLS AND WOMEN TO HAVE A QUEEN MENTALITY

“QueenTone” is a song, written by Joryin Pender to inspire Black women and girls to love their complexion and serve as representation in the media for dark skin women.
“QueenTone” is a song, written by Joryin Pender to inspire Black women and girls to love their complexion and serve as representation in the media for dark skin women.

Song empowers girls and women to have a queen mentality

 BY TIA CAROL JONES
     Joryin Pender is a singer, songwriter and plays the guitar. She wanted to write a song to empower dark skin Black girls with her song, “Queen Tone.”
     Pender said growing up and attending elementary school, she didn’t see a lot of Black girls and not a lot of dark skin Black girls.
     “What I just saw growing up at school, what I saw in the world, what I saw on television and in the media, just this lack of dark skin Black women being represented. And, not only that, but the disrespect toward dark skin women. So, I was like, ‘I’m tired of this,’” she said.
    Pender said she remembered the saying, “create the world you want to live in.” She said she couldn’t wait for someone else to do something, so she created the song, “Queen Tone,” and filmed a video for the song, which is available on “YouTube.”
     “I’m a dark skin woman and I want to see love, I want to see dark skin women being represented so I thought, ‘why don’t I make a song about being beautiful, being Black and being dark and not being ashamed of it,’” she said.
    Pender said she wanted her art to be a reflection of a serious message and to start a conversation. She wanted to do it in a way that would be well received, so she wrote and produced the song. She said she was a part of the song, every step of the way, from writing the song, coming up with the beats, to the sequences of the music video.
     “Especially about this song, in particular, because it’s about something that I am and something I’ve been through, why wouldn’t I be a part of it, every step of the way,” she said.
     Pender said when she was in middle school, to get through tough times, she wrote spoken word pieces. Then, in high school, she started writing songs and singing. She performed in plays in middle and high school. She has a true love for the arts.
     Pender said the song took three and a half months to write. She said she took her time, making sure to include the right words for the message.
    The music video starts with Pender as a teacher in a classroom with  room of young girls. She said she wanted young girls in that sequence to send a message of where self-love and self-confidence can begin.
     “This self-love, this ‘Queen Tone’ mentality personality, attitude starts at a young age, and it needs to be taught at a young age,” she said.
     In another sequence, Pender portrays a performer on stage, as well as the fan in the audience. She said that shows that women should be their own biggest fan and be in their own corner.
     “It all starts within, it all comes from yourself and your team. If you don’t have that self-love, that confidence from yourself, how do you expect anybody else to give it to you,” she said.
     Pender said the name Queen Tone comes from skin tone and the hope is the song and music video will instill in young girls and young women that they are queens, and it is mindset and mentality.
     “Whenever you walk out, whenever you walk out into the world, whenever anybody tries to tell you any different.  You’re ugly, you’re loud, you’re rude, you’re this or that, you won’t even think about it, it’ll roll off you, through one ear out the other. Because this song, ‘Queen Tone,’ is letting you know you are perfect the way you are and you don’t have to change,” she said.
     Pender acknowledged the trials and tribulations Black women go through in the world. She said she wants Black women to hear the song, know the are queens and not to let anybody take it away from them.
     “There weren’t a lot of songs like this when I was growing up. And, I didn’t want girls to go through what I had been through,” she said, adding she hopes the song will gain National recognition and spread through social media. “I would love to be an example and a role model for other dark skin girls.”

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