Meet Mactaivious Jones | Music Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mactaivious Jones and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mactaivious, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I was born in Greenville, South Carolina, I’ve lived in Pasadena, Texas for most of my life. When I was born, I was in custody of my Mom, but she was not around, so I was really raised by my grandma and great grandma. When I was 2, my Dad finally got custody of me which was a scary experience. I remember I was scared because it felt like this was the first time I ever really met him consciously. We moved to Pasadena with my uncle right before I started Kindergarten, moved to Houston right before 3rd grade, and we moved back to Pasadena on our own before 6th grade. Everything felt like it was going so fast back then. I had very few friends and lost them every move. I’ll say for a while, it definitely made it hard to get close to people because I always thought I’d leave eventually, but still being in the same place, not having the most friends, but having all the right ones around me, I went from being isolated and fearful, to feeling loved and appreciated from people other than family.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I also go by my artist name “Phantom Senoj”. Phantom is the code name of a character from a manga that I read, and Senoj is my last name backward, but it also symbolizes that I am not the same person in my music as in real life. I am a music artist that makes R&B. I most if not all the time make love songs that are either my own fantasies of love, or my own experiences that I just want to let out. I am proud of the growth of both my music and me as a person. Looking back at every song I have made, each and every song has its own layer of growth, story, and relevance to my life.
When I started making music, it was just me copying my brother and dad’s footsteps. Before I did, though, I always made up random songs in my head whenever I took tests in school, but I never thought anything of it till my brother released his first song. I started rapping, thinking that since basically everyone else was doing it, I should also try. Now, I sing and do R&B, which is more of a style of music that matches who I am as a person. It feels free and relieving. In a way, making music is like a therapy session for me or more like a stress reliever.
I don’t think much sets me apart from others who do R&B, but I honestly like that because if you listen to other artists of the genre, you can see common things. To a ton of people, it might seem like copy and past, but to me, it shows me that I’m not alone in the way I feel, I want my music to connect to people who have similar experience, but don’t know how to address or express it in their own way. All I want to do is help people know that the world sucks, but there’s always a diamond in the rough in that there’s always something to hold on to when things feel at their worst.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Knowing my real life best friend, he’d want to go to a car meet and the mall. Literally anything that involves cars. Me personally, it may sound generic or boring, if I was with a group of friends and I had full choice and full control, we’d go to the barns and noble first to see what they have. Then we’d go to the mall to walk around, see what they have, and also eat. After that, we’d go to Kemah boardwalk, which is an amusement park, because roller coasters are always fun. Lastly, go to the movies to end the day off. There’s a lot of things to do of course, but that’s just what I’d do. Personally I don’t mind staying home all day. 🙂

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people who deserve more than a little credit. Firstly of course, my Dad who has always gave his all and did whatever he could to take care of me by himself with a lot of personal stuff that has went on behind the scenes. The friends I made moving back to Pasadena when I thought I’d be alone most of my life. My other artist friends, Jason, Mario, Bryan, etc.. who work with me and give me support when doing my music. And of course my boxing coaches, who have been more like uncles to me for the short time that I’ve been doing it.

Website: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/phantom-senoj/1502695739

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phantomsenoj/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mactaivious.jones.79

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7OL1_ZOSdaGS44RghjqCeQ

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4BSXnFxD68QRL58dXfiJj6

Image Credits
Jason Flores
Mario Gracia
Julio Cebrian
Kaynon Wyatt