June 3rd, 2025
HEALING with Ashanti Eva Davenport
Ashanti Eva Davenport (AED), who performed her latest release in East Cambridge, MA last month, unapologetically takes her soulful sound wherever she goes. Recently, she connected with Kevin Small Jr. (KSJ), the President of SNAKE Magazine, elaborating on the purpose behind her newest project, HEALING, as she continues to fully embrace her story.
KSJ: WHERE ARE YOU FROM AND WHAT ORIGINALLY INSPIRED YOU TO SING?
AED: I'm from Warren, Rhode Island originally. Berklee College of Music brought me to Boston. My mother sang in different wedding/reggae bands when she was pregnant with me. My mother and my father singing so much is really what inspired me to sing. When I was younger, I would watch a lot of music videos on TV and go to a lot of concerts with my parents. When I was really little, I just always sang. I was always inspired and encouraged to sing and I always knew it was something that I wanted to pursue. So yeah, even as a kid I was like “I wanna be a dancer, a singer, I wanna own a restaurant, I wanna…” But I always knew that singing was going to be a part of it. It's funny now because I used to reflect on that question and see “yeah, I became a singer,” but now I realize I'm running my whole career. I'm dancing. I'm doing all of these things that I envisioned myself doing as a little girl, so following that childhood dream.
KSJ: THIS ALBUM SEEMS DEEPLY PERSONAL. WAS IT CHALLENGING TO BE SO VULNERABLE AND SHARE SUCH AN INTIMATE EXPERIENCE WITH YOUR LISTENERS?
AED: Yeah, it's definitely been a challenge. It's been a really beautiful one. But it was definitely hard. The way that I release music is, oftentimes I perform the song before putting them out onto the platform. So I performed a lot of these songs before anyone ever heard them, before I even recorded them. And performing them was really challenging, especially sharing some of the poetry that I wrote about the pain of grieving my father and people not showing up for me the way that I wish that they had. For instance, people always say “I'm sorry for your loss” when someone they know loses someone they love. And for me, I hated that saying. After my father died, everyone said to me “I'm sorry for your loss.” Everywhere I turned it was “I'm sorry for your loss.” It kept feeling so heavy and I'm like “why is everyone saying ‘I'm sorry’ over and over again? ‘I'm sorry’ and telling me that I've lost something and reminding me of the weight of the pain? Why aren't people uplifting me and sending me love?” So now whenever someone dies in someone's life that I love, that I'm connected to, I tell them I'm sending them blessings and love ’cause I know that so many people are saying “I'm sorry for your loss” and I wanna offer something different to people. It was really hard to put that out there because I didn't wanna make people feel like they were doing something wrong or hurtful in trying to be supportive of me. But at the same time, it's so necessary to be vulnerable about those things that are really hard to say out loud because that's what makes these gigantic shifts and helps the majority of people to realize “oh wow, maybe we can go about this thing differently.” Instead of weighing on people’s pain through grief or death, maybe we can say things that uplift them and help them to heal. That's just one example, but yeah, it was definitely tough and I'm really glad that I did it.
KSJ: WHAT IS THE BIGGEST TAKEAWAY YOU WANT FOR STREAMERS UPON LISTENING TO THIS ALBUM?
AED: I want them to know that they are not alone, that we are all experiencing this divine balance of life and death in existence. I also want them to feel more comfortable to speak about death, because we're so comfortable in what feels comfortable to the majority of society, which is life and joy and happiness–all of the things that bring positivity and laughter–but then when it comes to crying in front of each other or speaking about our pain or losses, we tend to hide those things. I want people to realize that sharing those things only brings us closer together, and it's going to exist whether we share it or not, so we might as well live in vulnerability because we're all experiencing the same stuff. People are hurting and hiding it under a rug because they're afraid of being “negative” when we need the balance of both positive and negative, we need the balance of both death and life–the yin and the yang–to exist. We can't have one without the other. So I want people to feel empowered to speak about what's hard to speak about and know that they're not alone.
KSJ: TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR "HIGHEST SPIRITUAL AWAKENING" AND HOW THAT CONTINUES TO IMPACT YOU.
AED: My highest spiritual awakening came from my deepest pain. I questioned everything: my purpose, why I was here on this earth–I questioned all of it, and I felt really alone and scared. By moving through that and by being supported by my friends and my family and God’s Spirit, I was able to come out on the other side and realize the opposite side of it was this incredible everlasting, infinite gratitude. It's beautiful to be able to witness that and understand why some people come to a place of feeling suicidal and questioning their existence and not wanting to be here anymore and now I understand what that feels like, so I'm able to level with all people and be a support system for them throughout different stages of their grief and their healing journeys. That's what I'm most grateful for. But yeah, I wouldn't be where I'm at today If I didn't experience the most painful experience I ever have, which is my father dying. And so as crazy as it is to say, I'm grateful that I experienced my father dying, and I say that with tears in my eyes because it hurts, I miss him so much. But it was meant to be, and I wouldn't be where I'm at now if he didn't love me the way that he did and teach me what he taught me and leave this earth, and for me to experience the pain that I did to grow into who I am to be able to help others to heal as well. So everything comes back to the yin and the yang, which has really supported me on this journey, knowing that I cannot have one without the other, and the divine balance of the distance is here for us and as much as we feel pain, there’s just as much love on the other side, if not more.