Queen Majeeda's "Wedding Invitation" long listed in Grammy Spoken Word category

Queen Majeeda’s latest album, Wedding Invitation has been long listed for a Grammy in the Spoken Word category. Majeeda was officially invited to become a voting member of the Recording Academy in August, and as a result to submit her album for consideration. She has been promoting the album in the United States where she now resides.

Majeeda worked with 16-Bars Multimedia to create the music for the album where Dianna Wright served as musical director and Chris Lanier as engineer. She received inspiration during the global lockdown and while it is not typically her style per se, Majeeda said she "felt almost compelled to record the poems the way they were coming out on paper" and that she wanted to "remain true to the inspiration."

At the same time, being always moved and inspired by Scripture and current events, she was heavily drawn to Matthew 24 and 25. She was also keen on creating a sense of balance.

"I wanted to highlight women in the Bible because people tend to say the Bible is patriarchal but I wanted to show that women performed acts that changed the world they were living in at the time, and as an extension, our present world," she said. "While the culture may be patriarchal, it's not so with the Creator."

At times, Majeeda puts herself in the Biblical stories as someone present at the time they were taking place, thus creating a retelling of the stories as seen through the eyes of the poet.

Her next release, the single Social Media Dilemma will officially stream on all platforms in January, which she said is written and recorded more in her usual style.

She is however quick to point out that she is not afraid to explore and even take risks.

"As an artiste, going outside of my comfort zone allows me to experience growth creatively and make new connections," she said. "If as creators we always stay in our safe space, then there's no growth."

Majeeda’s writings are included in several anthologies, including Love Letters to Our Daughters (Eden Works Publishing), Women, Poetry and Dub (Sister Vision Press), and several issues of Voices, a monthly literary magazine published by York College/CUNY.