Penelope French’s Melanin opens the BLE Atlanta cohort — a soulful, genre-bending offering rooted in lineage and Black creative power.

-@penelopefrench
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Week One: Penelope French

Introducing Penelope French (she/ he/ they) — the gypsy soul healer and Soul Empress whose music carries a lineage shaped by Black struggle, memory, and imagination. Raised in Lansing, Michigan, French grew up surrounded by the sounds of Motown, gospel quartets, and soul traditions that have long carried the emotional and political life of Black communities. Those influences remain present in her work today, but they do not limit it. Instead, French moves freely across genres, allowing soul, jazz, funk, and experimental textures to coexist within her sound.

French approaches music as both storytelling and practice. Her voice often holds reflection and affirmation at the same time, drawing listeners into songs that feel intimate while still connected to something larger. This approach reflects a broader understanding of music within Black cultural life — as a way to process experience, share memory, and build connection between people who may never meet but recognize themselves in the same sounds.

Their single Melanin opens the Atlanta cohort’s musical offerings with that sensibility fully intact. The track introduces listeners to a sonic landscape that feels warm, layered, and intentional. French’s voice sits at the center, moving between softness and strength while the instrumentation builds around it. The song does not rush. It settles into its rhythm, allowing the message to unfold gradually.

At its core, Melanin is both celebration and declaration. The track positions Blackness not as something to defend or explain, but as a source of creativity, beauty, and presence. Through lyrics and performance, French reminds listeners that identity carries power — power rooted in memory, community, and the ability to create something new from what has already been carried forward.

French’s work is also shaped by her life outside the studio. In addition to being a musician, she is a spiritualist, organizer, and healing practitioner who has spent years creating spaces of reflection and support within Black communities, particularly among Black queer communities. That commitment to care and spiritual grounding is part of what gives her music its depth. The songs feel less like isolated performances and more like invitations to slow down, listen closely, and reconnect with oneself and others.

Within the Black Life Everywhere Atlanta cohort, Penelope French’s contribution introduces the sonic dimension of the project. Alongside photographers, writers, poets, and visual artists documenting life across the city, French’s music adds a layer of sound to the archive being created. Her work reminds us that music has always played a central role in how Black communities tell their stories — carrying grief, joy, memory, and possibility across generations.

As the Atlanta issue unfolds, French’s work sets the tone for what follows. The song opens the door to a series of contributions that explore care, creativity, organizing, and everyday life across the city. Melanin stands as the first note in that unfolding conversation.

More music from Penelope French and the Atlanta cohort will follow.

 

Authors

  • Penelope French (they/she/he), known as The Soulful Siren, is a revolutionary soul singer and songwriter from Lansing, Michigan whose work draws deeply from Motown traditions and the gospel quartet sound that shaped their early musical life. French’s dynamic vocal approach moves fluidly across genres — pop soul, rock soul, jazz soul, funk soul, and classical soul — creating a sound that honors lineage while expanding its possibilities.

    Beyond performance, French is a womanist spiritualist activist and community organizer committed to cultivating spaces of healing and transformation. Holding an MA in Interreligious Leadership with a concentration in Justice, Peace-building, and Conflict Transformation from Candler School of Theology at Emory University, French has spent more than fifteen years organizing spiritual communities with a particular focus on care and restoration within Black queer communities. They currently serve as Executive Director of Neighbor, a healing justice organization within the Movement for Black Lives ecosystem dedicated to liberation and creative self-expression.

    As part of the Black Life Everywhere Atlanta cohort, French’s music contributes a sonic dimension to the series’ exploration of Black life in relation — carrying forward traditions of soul music rooted in struggle, faith, survival, and joy while offering contemporary expressions of possibility.

  • A digital magazine centered in the radical spirit of resistance and hope across the Black diaspora.