Chrystal Campell creates music with a message
MYSTIC BOWIE’S DAUGHTER, CHYSTAL CAMPBELL, WRITES MUSIC TO OPEN COMMUNICATION
For Chrystal Campbell, communication is key, which is one of the reasons she chose theater performance as her major in college. “In every show that I’ve been in, it’s the underlying meaning or underlying core to the show always has an impact,” said Campbell, who’s in her senior year in the drama department at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. “I love that theater puts narratives forward that are really in people’s faces.”
Campbell stars in WestConn’s upcoming virtual production of “Dognap on Dekalb,” a contemporary play set in the Bronx, N.Y., which streams Nov. 28 and Dec. 2.
Along with her love of theater, the 22-year-old has a strong musical background — she’s the daughter of reggae star Mystic Bowie — and she possesses and is comfortable talking about her passion for fighting racial injustice.
“I’ve always been drawn to making change and having a conversation that people don’t really want to have, and putting myself out there to be that person to start the conversation,” she said.
Campbell recently released her debut single, “Jamming on Justice,” inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s available on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon and other platforms.
“I was going to protests and marching peacefully and trying to open up more conversation about the issues that we’re facing about systemic racism and social injustices, but it didn’t feel like anything was changing,” she said. “I was starting to feel powerless even though I was making these efforts. I knew I had this ability to do more.”
Her song originated in a jam session with a friend, “and I started singing what naturally came to my head, and of course there was no justice, no peace. This was when everything about George Floyd had first come out, so I was super-saddened by that and super-frustrated that people still weren’t making an effort to make a change. I knew that if I made this song, even if people didn’t like it, it would start a conversation.”
Campbell decided to show the song to her father. “When I brought
“I WAS STARTING TO FEEL POWERLESS EVEN THOUGH I WAS MAKING THESE EFFORTS. I KNEW I HAD THIS ABILITY TO DO MORE.”
it to my dad, it was really just to show him. I wasn’t really thinking this was the first stepping-stone into my music career. I just wanted more people to hear it, and he ended up falling in love with it.”
Bowie not only loved the song, two weeks later he produced “Jamming on Justice” as a single for his daughter, recording it in Hartford’s Global Music Production studio in July.
“To me, it wasn’t a song but more an expression,” said Bowie. “It is a poem of expression of what she’s feeling, and about the situations of the current time. She brought it to me and said, ‘Dad, listen to this thing that I’m writing.’ And I said, ‘Chrystal, this is not just as simple as you think it is. I know you think that way, and you’re very humble, but this is amazing. Do you mind if I produce it?’ Proud is not a word that is enough to describe how I feel about her.”
Campbell was born in Norwalk and schooled in the area. She attended Lordship Elementary and St. James schools in Stratford, and was a freshman at St. Joseph High School in Trumbull, before moving to Florida. She graduated from high school in Melbourne, Fla., and attended two years of community college there before coming back to her home state. “I moved around a bunch, but I seem to always find my way back to Connecticut,” she said.
Many styles of music appealed to her, too, something she attributes to her upbringing. “Growing up, there was always music in the house. I was no stranger to dancing and singing just in the kitchen alone. Because I’m mixed, my mom’s white and my dad’s Black, I really got a good spectrum of music to bring into my life, which I appreciate. Besides reggae music, that I got from my dad, I heard and fell in love with artists like Amy Winehouse, Danielle Balbuena, Freddie Mercury and Stevie Wonder, which my mom introduced me to. It was really eclectic.”
She also credits her parents for encouraging her artistic talents. “They have always supported and encouraged my creativity and my artistry, which has been amazing,” she said. “I know a lot of people don’t get that kind of support from home. I’ve been so lucky.”
Campbell hopes to continue making an impact with her music and her acting career, but she recognizes that whatever her future holds, changes need to be made in today’s world. “I think that the most simple solution we can take is knowledge,” she said, “because knowledge is power. If we could all learn things like introducing Black history into our American history books in school and not cutting funding to education, things like this, we would help everyone of every color. We would also help our movement. Opening a conversation, learning things we didn’t know, admitting when we’re wrong, and really just talking and learning and having the knowledge is going to make a huge change, if we could all start to do that.”