A member of WordPlay T. Jay’s On The Map Music Group, Angelia M. Johnson has released a new single called “Breathe with Me,” which aims to provoke thought about the last year’s pandemic of illness in the mind and body.

Johnson said she’s excited about the project, nearly a year in the making, and she hopes the idea is shared and lingers with anyone who hears it.

“I am over the moon about this project, and it is reflective of the state of the world and how I wanted to speak to it,” she said. “My inspiration many times comes from what is going on with me, but this came from what is going on in the world at large.”

Johnson said the song was born when she was sent home from her job in March 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and she was inspired to not let the moment pass.

“I did not want the world to go by and not have On the Map or myself not speak to what was happening,” she said. “I was sent home and I allowed myself to be inundated with news, and it affected my mentals and not in a good way. So, I backed away, but I also wanted to be connected ands plugged in. I was attending my spiritual classes online still, and there was a message there about how the pandemic was respiratory and affected your breathing.”

Johnson saids a few days after that was the On the Map group meeting, and she proposed the “Breathe with Me” project to keep the moment from passing.

“Three days later, out came these lyrics that really moved me,” she said. “I felt like I had plugged into this energy so much bigger than me and through a consciousness was a conduit and channel to share this, and I wanted anyone and everyone to hear it.”

Johnson said the track employs a play on words, aiming to get people to breathe together in love instead of breathing out negativity and hatred.

“You breathe with me, and not on me, so if we take in the same energy, air and spirit, together all of the hate and anger and separatism and injustice and inequality will stop happening to a degree,” she said. “We breathe on each other with so much hate when we can breathe in with each other with love.”

Much of Johnson’s inspiration for her work comes from her background as an inner-city youth in Little Rock, Ark., and in attending and singing in church.

“I am from Little Rock, but I have been privileged to travel across the U.S. and to some other countries and see so many different cultures,” she said. “I feel like I’m a melting pot and have been blessed with the ability to understand different perspectives without judgement, even if they don’t align with mine.

“Musically, I started out singing in the church choirs, and listening to that and R&B and country and rap and so many other genres at home gave me a love for those various types of music.”

Johnson said she has written all her life, from things like poems in school to Easter speeches, and all of that has molded her into the artists she is today.

“I went from singing other people’s lyrics to putting my own thoughts down,” she said. “You have to archive and capture moments, because any moment is precious and unique, and new thoughts may come out of that. As an artist, life is your canvas, so you have to be ready to explore and explain, and you have to document all of it to see the evolution of yourself. You have to make music for you first, then you will learn how other people enjoy it because they have lived some of the same experiences.”

Johnson said she has had countless moments in her life that have sparked her creativity and molded her process, and being aware of how that happens is key.

“Now, I look for those opportunities every day and the significance in the bigger picture,” she said. “One of those moments that has stuck with me is those Easter speeches. When I was 8 or 9, I picked the longest one I could find to memorize, and I did 8 sets of 4 lines until I learned it. That helped me develop my repetition and how I recall lyrics during a performance. Those skills also allow me in my full-time job to be comfortable speaking with people and learning new information and retaining it.”

Johnson said ultimately, she has one goal in her life and with her music.

“I want to be my highest and best self, and I want to help others do the same,” she said.

For more about Johnson, visit her Facebook or Instagram pages, and find “Breathe with Me,” wherever you get your music.

For more of the interview with Johnson, and to hear some of “Breathe with Me,” check out the video below!