Slay in My Lane: A Modern-Day Aria for Every Musetta

By now, you may have heard my debut T.R.A.P. Opera single, Slay in My Lane. (And if you haven’t, this is your moment to press play and join the movement.) But this isn’t just “trap” opera—it’s global. It’s a fusion of opera’s grandeur with the pulse of today’s music: R&B, jazz, hip-hop, and beyond. It’s a sound that refuses to be boxed in, just like the women it’s made for.

The Puccini Effect

My favorite composer in opera has always been Giacomo Puccini. There’s a freeness in his vocal writing that resonated with me from the start, especially coming from a background in jazz and R&B. Puccini’s use of portamento—that glide between notes—felt like freedom. It gave the voice elasticity and sensuality, almost like breathing through sound.

During my time in Italy, I studied the role of Musetta from La Bohème. She wasn’t like the other women of opera—Musetta was flamboyant, confident, fully alive in her skin. Her aria, Quando m’en vo (“When I walk”), is literally about commanding attention with every step. Vocally and character-wise, I embodied her, but I kept asking myself:

Where is the anthem for the modern Musetta? The modern woman who struts, who owns her lane, who isn’t afraid to shine?

That question birthed Slay in My Lane.

The Spark

I first teased the idea in 2021 during my appearance on The Terrell Show. I did an opera-inspired beatbox—half play, half experiment—but it struck a chord with people. What many didn’t know was that this was the first spark of what would become Slay in My Lane.

I later sent the idea to producer Jordache Grant and co-writer Alan Evans. Together, we created a track that I envisioned as bold, operatic, edgy, and unapologetic. A resounding chorus of “Slay, slay, slay” became its heartbeat—an operatic war cry. Risky? Yes. But it was also the making of every elegant hot girl’s anthem.

The Process

Recording wasn’t simple. My normal studio time doubled as I fine-tuned every layer. At one point, I threw out all my original vocals and re-recorded from scratch because I wanted the rap passages to capture the same rapid-fire brilliance as the famous Figaro, Figaro, Figaro from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. I wanted the track to be as intricate as an aria yet as infectious as a beat drop.

The Runway Moment

The moment everything came full circle was at New York Fashion Week. It was the opening walk for designer Yvette Crocker, and halfway down the runway, it hit me:

Wow. I’m strutting in 5-inch Louboutins… to my own song… opening a show at NYFW. What is life?

It was surreal—like a modern echo of Musetta’s Quando m’en vo. She had her aria to walk to. And here I was, in 2023, walking to mine. At that moment, I thought, maybe this is exactly what Puccini would have wanted.

Why This Song Matters

Slay in My Lane is more than music—it’s a movement. It’s for every woman who knows her worth, who commands attention when she enters the room, who refuses to shrink herself to make others comfortable. It’s for the ones who balance elegance with edge. The ones who don’t just walk, but slay every step of the way.

Gratitude

I’m deeply grateful to Jordache Grant and Alan Evans for crafting this track with me, to The Terrell Show for giving me the platform to plant its first seed, and to Yvette Crocker for making it the soundtrack of her runway at NYFW. But most of all, I’m grateful to every listener who has embraced this anthem as their own.

This is only the beginning. Slay in My Lane is the first of many reimagined operas. An aria for today. An anthem for tomorrow.

Stay tuned—the best is yet to come.