The Rise of the Conscious Music Artists

NEW YORK - March 7, 2016 - PRLog -- It is said that being socially outspoken in music is "career self-sabotage" but today we see an underground movement occurring as a shift in popular music takes on a political and spiritual renaissance.

In an age where social media has become a platform for the everyday Joe, political and social issues now have a strong soapbox to be heard from. Politics and social issues have always existed but now they are getting harder to hide and pop culture can no longer ignore the issues.

In the mainstream world, we see Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar speak out on the #BlackLivesMatter movement. We also see Sarah Bareilles' song, "Brave" for the LGBT community and Katy Perry's "Roar" for self-empowerment, so more and more artists are showing the industry that it's time for deeper lyrical content and creative freedom.

In the Independent scene, two emerging artists are creating their own revolution in the New York underground community. Jessie Standafer and Natalia Segura are "Conscious Pop" singers that are paving the way for independent pop starlets and shifting the paradigm from what the industry usually expects beautiful pop singers to sing about. The two songbirds are collaborating on a #LoveIsTheMovement project, which is a series of music events across New York that focus on "spreading Love" and collaborating with different boutique non-profit organizations that are making big leaps in helping people around the world.

"We wanted to bring to attention the smaller non-profits that are really creating change and that may not have the best exposure or marketing capabilities for their efforts."

MADRE.org is the first to collaborate on the #LoveIsTheMovement concert series. MADRE is a non-profit organization demanding rights, resources, and empowering women around the globe. Jessie and Natalia will donate 10% of all sales of their music and merchandise during the concert series to MADRE. They have teamed up with Grizzy Loves Conscious Wear, a fair trade and independent spiritual clothing line based out of Northern California, to create beautiful shirt designs which will only be available at their live shows.

"The idea is to bring together all of the everyday revolutionaries that are making change in their own special way, from entrepreneurs and non-profits to fashion designers and musicians and all of the above"

Jessie Standafer is a Southern California girl raised by musician parents. They taught her to be an independent thinker who is curious about the world around her and loves everyone. She moved to NYC in 2006, fell in love with a woman for the first time, experienced a spiritual awakening, and took a dive into writing her own music about the experience of building world peace through inner peace.

"...in order to be a catalyst for any sort of positive change in the world, we have to first acknowledge the ways our love is ignited and let that love out", says Jessie in an AfterEllen (http://www.afterellen.com/music/474461-exclusive-jessie-s...) exclusive where her music video "Love ShineOut" debuted this past February.

 The two solo artists met in New York City in 2011 when Natalia crashed a party in Hell's Kitchen where Jessie happened to be at. "Once we learned that we were both not only singers but were passionate about making conscious content, it was a no-brainer to collaborate on this project", says Natalia. Since then, the two have been a big part of the female singers causing a stir in the vastly growing conscious community scene.

"We realized the need for female voices to be heard in this genre, we were inspired by artists like Michael Franti and Nakho and knew it was time for the female voices to step forward and be heard", remarks Jessie.

   Natalia hails from Sydney, Australia, of Salvadorean descent and has been singing in latino pop bands since the tender age of 13. At 19, she was scouted by a New York manager and in 2008, she was handpicked to take part in Univision Radio's "Emerging Artist" campaign in conjunction with Garnier. After conflicting ideals, the singer took on the independent road

"...most industry executives see me and have a cookie cutter vision for my image and sound, truthfully, none of it ever resonated with me", says Natalia of her self-love, empowering and positive lyrical content.

Socially conscious consumer trends are one of the fastest growing demands on the market, and Music is no exception. This once niche market is easily becoming the revolution that was never going to be televised.

Catch the two perform Saturday, March 12th a Rockwood Music Hall at 5 pm. FREE entry.