Storm Reid has been acting since she was 9 years old, but a true creative rarely stops at one outlet. After spending much of her life on film and tv sets, the Atlanta native has reached a point where she wants audiences to hear from her without a character standing between them. Now, she’s aiming to take the music industry by storm, no pun intended.

Most people were first introduced to Reid in 12 Years a Slave, before later appearing in Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us. Then, she became a fan favorite as Gia Bennett on HBO’s Euphoria, followed by an Emmy-winning performance as Riley in “Left Behind,” the seventh episode of The Last of Us. As an actress, Reid explains that it’s her “duty to bring the writers’, producers’, studios’ and everyone else’s vision to life,” but music gives her a different kind of freedom.

Reid is entering this new space because she wants to, without waiting for outside approval or treating the pursuit like a temporary experiment. “I think what’s been the best for me is not asking for permission, but just doing what I want to do and what my heart desires,” Reid says. “I’m really excited to see where the music goes.” Her debut single, “Clean Sweep,” introduced listeners to another side of her, while “SHOTTY,” released through her label 1720 Music, continues her early run as a recording artist. She also co-directed the accompanying video with Bennyflash, bringing her experience in film into the visual without allowing acting to overpower the song.

Reid still has several projects ahead, including Netflix’s Roommates and Teyana Taylor’s directorial debut, Get Lite. None of those plans change what she hopes to build in music. For multihyphenate, both careers can exist together as long as each receives the focus it deserves. Ahead of her new release, ESSENCE caught up with Reid about trusting her instincts, launching an imprint, and introducing listeners to Storm Reid the artist.

ESSENCE: I wanted to congratulate you on your new music endeavors. I wanted to ask you, after years of acting, what made you want to pursue music seriously?

Storm Reid: I’ve always loved music. I say that I was an A&R in my past life, and music has always been a constant love in my life. I just didn’t know how to go about it. Like you said, I am an actress, and people know me and love me as an actress but don’t know me as an artist. So trying to intersect the two, not make a segue, but just add that as a part of my life was a bit scary and daunting. But there were a few situations where I went to the studio with some friends in college, and I just fell in love with, or re-fell in love with, being in the studio and have always just loved that environment. So one day I was like, “Hey, let me try to take this seriously.”

And how have you been feeling about the response to “Clean Sweep?”

SR: Yeah, I mean, I think it was a great response. A lot of people loved the song, a lot of people listened to it, and people are entitled to their own opinion. So whether you liked it, whether you didn’t like it, I loved it, and I still do love that single. I put a lot of hard work and effort into it, and so did the people who helped me make the song itself. So I’m proud of “Clean Sweep” and will always be.

With you in the recording studio now as opposed to being on film sets, what are some of the challenges, I guess, and the differences you’ve faced being in the studio as opposed to being on a film set? Because I know they both can be long hours. What are some of the differences you’ve noticed between the two?

SR: Absolutely. I wouldn’t say I have had any challenges thus far in the studio. Obviously, not every song you make is going to be an amazing song or a hit record, per se. So that might be a little frustrating, just trying to find what sound you’re looking for that day and what you’re trying to write about, what you’re trying to say. That can be a little bit challenging, but being in the studio itself, it’s just so much fun. And I think the biggest difference between being on a film set and being in the recording studio is I have a lot more autonomy in the recording studio. I am doing what I want to do, what I want to say. On a film set, you have people you have to collaborate with. You have to collaborate with your director and your producers. As an actress, it’s my duty to bring the writers’, producers’, studios’, and everyone else’s vision to life. In the recording studio, it’s a bit more of my vision, even though it’s still collaborative with the producers and the writers. It’s more about what I want to say and who Storm is rather than playing a character.

I know “SHOTTY” is the new single. I was looking at some of the teaser videos too. It’s very cinematic. I want to talk about the actual video for “SHOTTY” first, though. What was the collaborative process like working on the video? Did you have a big hand in the treatment?

SR: Yeah. So I co-directed it with Bennyflash, who is an amazing videographer and video director. He sent over his initial thoughts after listening to the song, and it became a real collaborative process from that point. We had a meeting in Miami before the shoot, and we went through the shot list and every shot. They did location scouts before I got there, and they were sending pictures and ideas. Even on the day of the shoot, we were collaborating on set, and he made sure that I was comfortable and liked every shot. We were talking through the shots, and it was just a really good time. So I’m so glad to have gotten that experience. It was a learning experience for me, but it was a lot of fun doing the video. We wanted to make it feel like a movie, make it feel cinematic, because I am an actress. I am still an actress. I still do act. I’m not just putting acting on the back burner for my music career. I’m doing them both simultaneously. So to be able to bring that cinematic vision I have into the music video was really important to me, and I think we pulled it off well.

Why was having your own label—1720 Music—important to you?

SR: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s an opportunity to develop my sound and have a label that is my label so I can take my time. I feel supported by the people who are within the label now, and that’s only going to grow. Not only to support me, but hopefully in the future we can sign other artists, songwriters, and producers to help them move the needle in their careers, support them in meaningful ways, and really become a powerhouse independent label one day.

What would you want people to learn about Storm Reid as an artist as you release more music?

SR: I hope people just get a glimpse of me, of who I am. Like I said, as an actress—and I’ve been doing it for so long—people know me as specific characters or from specific projects, which I’m so grateful for and forever indebted to because of the support from those things. But you don’t really get to see me. You don’t experience what I’m thinking or how I’m feeling. I’m a girl from Atlanta who has to deal with the same BS that a lot of young women are dealing with in the world now. So I just hope it connects people to me and people get a better sense of who I am, how I see the world, and how I see certain situations.

ESSENCE: You will be starring in Teyana Taylor’s directorial debut, Get Lite, next year. Talk to me about that project and how it came about.

Storm Reid: I’m very excited. We have been on a long journey with Get Lite. We’ve been working on it for about four or five years, and it’s been a labor of love, just trying to get the script right and the cast right. I think Teyana is the perfect director for this film. Not only is she having an amazing moment in her career right now, but she does this. She directs her music videos. She creative directs for other artists. She can do this with her eyes closed while she’s sleeping. So I’m really excited to be able to collaborate with her and learn from her. She’s from Harlem. The movie is about young people coming of age, wanting to dance, falling in love, and making mistakes. I think we haven’t had a really good dance movie like this in a really long time, so I’m really excited, and I can’t wait for people to see it.

Lastly, as your music career grows, how do you see acting and music existing together in your life?

SR: I feel like acting and music totally coexist. I have no plans of stopping acting anytime soon, and I have no plans of stopping trying to create music. So they’re going to live in the same world. When I’m on set, I’m focused on being on set and being the best actress I can be. When I’m in the studio, I’m focused on being the best artist I can be. I was filming a movie a couple of months ago in Oklahoma, and I took some time off from the studio. After we wrapped the movie and I took a little R&R, I was able to get back in the studio. So it’s all about balance. It might not always be easy to figure out the schedule and be on set and in the studio at the same time, but it’s a priority that I put my best effort into both of those things.