Through His Lens: Shane Jones on Music, Authenticity and Embracing Roadblocks

By Lhea Smith | Photos by Betty Kifle |

Eager to drop everything and tour the world, 19-year-old Shane Jones is putting his all into making his dreams a reality. The musician recently dropped his first EP Through My Lens, focusing on his desire and confidence to connect with listeners. I sat down with Jones to talk about his EP, his life before and during college, and the importance of staying true to oneself.

Born in Rochester, NY – later relocating to Georgia at the age of 9 – Jones got his start in music playing the drums in church. With his mother, aunts, and uncle as church singers and musicians, Jones was engulfed in music at a young age. It wasn’t until Jones was in the eighth grade that he thought about singing. He explains, “I was in the garage in my house, and I just started. I just went in there, and I was like, I'm gonna sing today. I just tried to sing a bunch of random songs, singing, like, "Love’ by Keyshia Cole.” As he reminisced on this time in the garage and the spontaneity of the moment, the young musician expressed that now, he wouldn’t trade it for anything; it opened the door to his future. Though Jones realized he could sing in the eighth grade, he didn’t pick up a guitar until a year ago during his freshman year of college. 

Though music had always been a strong interest of Jones, he picked up a myriad of hobbies throughout his adolescence. Eventually, these hobbies lost priority as Jones zeroed in on his musical endeavors; he wanted more for himself. “I knew that there was another way for me to create, for me to express myself that wasn't photography or with the theater. It had to be something of my own. And I was like, I have this voice, so I just started trying to write last year,” says Jones as he breaks down the shift from hobby to career. He goes further to say, “I got a guitar, and I started just trying to learn some random chords so that I could back it up. Once I wrote that first song, I was like ‘this is me’… this can be something I express myself with in a way that I don't think I could have done with… any other art that I may have been [creating].” The musician from this point on would be “spewing out songs like it was nobody's business.”

  In discussing the “spewing” of songs, questions of writer’s block proved inevitable; as any artist, Jones, too, faced periods of creative roadblock. Earlier this year, Jones endured a rocky romantic relationship, which served as an obstacle to creativity. Everything he seemed to write during this period seemed subpar and inauthentic. Despite situational discouragement, the circumstances served as inspiration for Through My Lens. As a musician just starting out, being in a ‘rut’ is never ideal, but Jones learned to embrace the block. Through trial and error, the musician learned the art of waiting. “I just had to wait and just live my life without writing music,” Jones explains. “With my blocks, I go through these periods where I live, I stay away from my guitar, and I experience whatever life is relevant at the time. Then I go back to playing once I feel like it's the right time, or I'll go through some weird situation I feel I just have to write,” he said. Waiting isn’t something many eager musicians want to do, but to produce authentic art it might be just the solution they need. Jones needed to live to make the music that resonates with him, which allowed the creation of his first EP.

When Jones first started to make music, he found himself in the folk genre – or maybe to some Apple Music users, he found home under the vague genre of “Singer/Songwriter.” This was largely due to Jones’ process of picking up his guitar, creating a melody, and then recording his lyrics for an “acoustic feel.” His affinity for a childhood-favorite artist, singer-songwriter Nina Simone, also served as major inspiration to the creative process. It wasn’t until this past summer – back home in the Peach State – that Jones would break away from this folk-esque sound.

When reviewing a beat sent over from producer and friend of Jones’, Will O’Brien, the musician stepped into a territory unknown to him: breakbeat and dance music. This beat would lead to the creation of the first song on Jones’ EP, “Camera.” Jones explained that the process of creating “Camera” came about on a FaceTime call with a close friend. “I was like give me a word, any word. I was holding up a camera and she was like 'okay, camera’ …Then I just started saying to myself, ‘shoot me with your camera,’” Jones says. Coming back home to Georgia was a semi-drastic transition for Jones as he traveled from Chicago, IL. While in the South, the musician explained that he no longer dressed the same, and that he didn’t feel like himself at times. These feelings, along with the FaceTime call, confirmed to Jones that he wanted to make a song about confidence. “Camera,” just like the physical object, is flashy and fun, but also sultry wrapped in an electronic beat. 

The second song made for the EP, “Yourz,”  features a dance beat to contrast some of the lyrics' emotional depth. Singing about lust and desire, Jones encapsulates the feelings of wanting to be liked and/or loved to the point of going crazy, or as the artist put it “coo-koo.” This song was inspired more heavily around Jones’ circumstances at the time and his personal relationships, unlike “Psychotherapy.” 

“Psychotherapy,” despite being second on the track list, was the last song created by Jones for Through My Lens. Produced around a fictional story of a therapist that has an unprofessional relationship with their patient; “Psychotherapy” connects heavily with the topics of insanity found in the song “Yourz.” Jones explains that the lyrics found in the song, “Psycho to your therapy. I can lie to you to make you feel happy,” comes from the idea that “people don't know that the person that's supposed to be helping them is actually driving them insane. So, it's like that person was the psycho.” The musician, however, explained that he is not the psychotherapist discussed in the song, just that there’s a person like that somewhere in the world. 

When wrapping up the EP discussion, Jones was eager to talk about his life after.

The musician is currently working on a new song with producer Will O’Brien titled “Super Smash” which is set out to release in the coming months. Jones is also pondering where his skills can take him beyond song releases. Speaking things into existence, the musician stated with confidence, “I'm going to be on tour in these next coming years.” This want comes from not only being something to check off as an “I made it” moment but to also bring joy to others. Jones states, “I want to make some gay people happy. I know that I'm a very different person. I want to be…something that other people can look up to and admire and share experiences with that they don't often get to see. I want somebody to look and see somebody like me and be like, you can be black, gay, androgynous…” 

Representation and authenticity is something the musician prides himself on. As his career continues to grow, he wants to be a voice for other gay black artists who may have not gotten their opportunity to shine in the world. Just as the musician seeks authenticity in himself, he also urges young people who want to create in the world to stay true to themselves and to abstain from comparison games: “don't compare… your idea of success to anybody else's success. Your accomplishments and achievements are still accomplishments and achievements, no matter how little they may look or feel. Growth is growth.”