To understand what drives Shona, start with her hands, not her voice. The Nigerian-born artist, born Boma Beddie-Memberr, has been drumming since she was a child in church. The drums came before the lyrics, before the beats, before the idea that music could be a career. “It started with rhythm,” she’s said before and that makes sense. Because even now, at every level of her artistry, rhythm is what grounds her.

Shona contributes to the collaborative “For Her” (deluxe) album, a collective project featuring various artists from the Voice2Rep 2020 cohort united in addressing women’s rights through music. Her two singles, “He for She” and “End the Cycle,” showcase her commitment to this important cause while demonstrating her unique artistic voice. Across these tracks, Shona transforms rhythmic foundations into powerful narratives, layering Afrobeat percussion, Afrofusion and Hip-Hop cadences into something that sounds both deeply Nigerian and borderless, contributing to the album’s broader mission of amplifying voices for gender equality.

What makes it work goes beyond the fusion, because in modern Nigerian music, fusions are not a novelty. But the intention of fusing these specific elements helps deliver the message in her music, which makes it connected to something larger: purpose.

Shona isn’t new to any of this, though to some she might seem like she’s just emerging. Her musical story started decades ago in church fellowships, long before the digital era of virality. However, she has also lived several lives outside of music — earning a B.Tech in Information Technology, a Master’s degree in Urban Design, and building a solid career with the UK’s Department for International Trade. It’s an unconventional artist profile, and she knows it. In an age that romanticizes the “all-in” creative, Shona is living proof that art can coexist with responsibility. 

On “End the Cycle,” that balance is audible. The track opens with a percussive loop that feels both global and intimate, like something you might hear at an Amapiano rave that turns into a wave of social messaging. Her delivery is calm, deliberate, and quietly commanding. She’s not scolding; she’s declaring a determination to break through the so-called glass ceiling in society that holds women back. The track’s title brings to mind the United Nations gender quality initiative, but it is Shona’s delivery that keeps it from becoming a moralizing PSA. In that sense, it transforms the message into a relatable and memorable mantra.

Then comes “He for She,” where her voice turns from persuasive to urgent. It starts as a startling story of a girl who has been disadvantaged from childhood, a tale as common as time, especially in African countries, where the girl child is groomed for domestic life as opposed to boys, who are typically raised to be catered to by the girl. The track swells slowly, anchored by a syncopated Afro-house beat and a Reggae-tinged bassline that feels cinematic. She raps, while Nanya Ijeh sings the hook, urging you to lean closer and listen to her message. The song wrestles with generational trauma, with the idea that violence, emotional or systemic, is cyclical until someone dares to interrupt it. Every bar and beat points back to Shona’s belief in art as action. You can hear her Worship Artistry Diploma training from Bethel Music College in the way she treats music like a sermon.

There’s also a subtle defiance in how she moves between genres in these two singles, which also shows the versatility in her sound. “He for She” and “End the Cycle” don’t fit neatly into Afrobeats, Reggae, or Hip-Hop. It borrows from all three but obeys none. The Afrobeat elements come through in percussion and give the songs pulse and urgency. The Reggae shows up in the opening bars of “He for She,” and Hip-Hop gives her the license to speak directly, to assert herself in a field that has historically sidelined women drummers and MCs alike. While in “End the Cycle” feels like Afrofusion and trance to an extent. You can hear both grit and grace in her sound: she’s tough, but she’s not hard. There’s warmth even in her sharpest moments, as though she’s too secure in her calling to compete.

It helps that her technical chops back up her message. Influenced by drumming greats like Tony Royster Jr., Calvin Rodgers, and Carlin Muccular, Shona’s playing is fluid and conversational. She’s got Gospel’s discipline, Afrobeats’ drive, and a Jazz musician’s instinct for space.

But the real story here is the mindset, not just the music. Shona is quietly rewriting what it means to pursue music as a woman of faith, intellect, and multiple ambitions. The music industry today appears to be hyper-focused on virality and clout. Meanwhile, music with substance (both in messaging and composition) outlasts virality every time.

In the end, Shona’s debut on “For Her” Album feels less like a debut and more like a statement of philosophy. It’s the sound of an artist who’s not waiting for permission to belong, because she’s already built her own stage from where she’s bound to reach the world.

Listen to “For Her” here.