Sound of the City: Softieshan
The DJ also known as Shanique Kelly chimes in on home-cooked meals, safe spaces for marginalized folks, and the boom of the bass beneath her feet
SOUND OF THE CITY is a chance to discover and explore Vancouver’s incredible and diverse music scene created in partnership by the City of Vancouver and Stir.
We hear from different local artists or acts, what’s in heavy rotation on their playlist as well as what’s happening in their world amid COVID-19—in their own words.
We ask each artist or act to curate and share a Sound of the City playlist that features some of their favourite Vancouver musicians.
Sound of the City is a way to celebrate local talent, highlight BIPOC and underrepresented artists, and connect with creatives and each other. It’s time to crank the volume on the music that’s all around us, right in our own backyard.
Softieshan
SHANIQUE KELLY, aka Softieshan, is a DJ, event producer, inclusion and equity consultant, and community organizer.
Born and raised on the unceded, ancestral lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, Shanique works passionately to carve out safe and inclusive spaces for folks who exist within marginalized communities.
An advocate for equity in the arts, Shanique is a member of lululemon’s diversity and inclusion advisory board and was a primary driver of the Vancouver chapter of Intersessions, a grassroots organization aiming to bridge the inequality gap facing women and LGBTQ+ folks in the music and nightlife industries. She works passionately to carve out safer community spaces for marginalized folks to connect, create, and celebrate in. Shanique founded LEVEL UP, Vancouver’s only QTBIPOC-centred hip hop dance party. LEVEL UP continues to be a fixture for queer people of colour and a true example of cultivating community.
Shanique is also co-founder of For Everyone By Us, a series of art and live music shows centred around Black joy and liberation.
She has DJd all over Vancouver, with residencies at the Fox Cabaret, Fortune Sound Club, the Boxcar, the American, and East Side Studios. She has played for crowds of thousands, most notably at the 2019 Breakout Music Festival with headliner ASAP Rocky and at Lululemon’s 2019 Sunset Festival, as opener for headliner Kaskade.
Shanique believes that music can play an important role in community healing.
Listen to Shanique’s picks on her Sound of the City playlist, below.
Softieshan’s Playlist
How are you feeling about life right now?
Wow—a big question! You know what, maybe it’s because I just curated a playlist of music I love for this article, but in this very moment I am feeling rooted in gratitude. Life is so hard and it is also so beautiful. That may sound sort of cliché, but I truly do find myself pulled between the dichotomy of overwhelming sadness and robust joy. I feel like each day, I am getting better at accessing the freedom to move between so many different and often conflicting emotions with ease and compassion.
What did you have planned in 2020, and this year, and how has the pandemic changed those plans?
I planned on doing a lot more DJing and event planning this year . Prior to the pandemic, I was organizing a month BIPOC-centred, queer, hip-hop dance party called LEVEL UP. The party had just turned one year old and I felt like I was finally starting to get my footing. Organizing a once-a-month event is a lot of work, but it was so rewarding. Creating community space, especially community space where Black folks feel safe, is so important to me. The pandemic did a fantastic job at messing everything up, but it led me to my job in equity and inclusion consulting and for that I am so grateful. I am able to apply my passion for creating safer and more equitable spaces for marginalized folks in a whole new way, and I don’t think I would’ve leaned into that as much had it not been for the pandemic. I look forward to the day that my work as a DJ and work as an educator can work in tandem with one another.
What, or who, do you miss most about pre-pandemic life?
I miss full, jam-packed rooms of smiling faces, singing along to the songs I’m playing. I miss looking out from the DJ booth at a sea of sweaty, dancing bodies and I miss the boom of the bass under my feet. I miss saying “Oops, sorry!”, as I slide my way up to the bar for a tequila soda with lime and a cup of water, and then squeezing back up to the DJ booth juggling the two filled cups with focus and precision.
What gives you solace and comfort?
Listening to music, regular sessions with my therapist, and my loving partner, Paige, are a few of my top comforts these days. My partner has become quite the chef over this past pandemic year, and seeing as I used to eat solely in restaurants before COVID-19 hit, I am finding such comfort in enjoying home-cooked meals made with love and care. I also have phenomenal friends. I couldn’t ask for a better support system. I feel so lucky.
Can you give a shoutout to one of your favourite Vancouver musicians or artists? What about them inspires you?
I will never pass an opportunity to gush about my beautiful sister, Desirée Dawson. I call a lot of Black women my sister because it's just what we do, so just to clarify, Desiree is my actual, blood-related, big sister and I say that with so much pride! The vulnerability that exists within not only her music, but in how she shows up in the world, inspires me consistently. The amount of love that she puts into everything she does has made me a better artist and human being. Shoutout to Desirée Dawson for having the voice of an angel, a laugh that is contagious and for navigating the music scene with such authenticity and integrity.
If you could change one thing about Vancouver, what would it be?
Vancouver needs more affordable housing and an increase in affordable mental-health care. I am deeply disturbed by the state of crisis this city is in. The amount of privilege many of us live in needs to be acknowledged. We are all deserving of housing and mental-health resources and the disparity between those who have access to these basic necessities and those who do not is not at all okay.
What are you dreaming about?
I am dreaming about hugging my friends! I am dreaming of prosperous, equitable futures for Black, Indigenous, trans and disabled people. And I am also dreaming of travelling somewhere warm and being wrapped up by the sweet rays of the sun.
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