On Monday, I released ILY a song that I wrote about love energy and moving forward towards utopia. You can read more about it on Billboard.
Music as an ethereal construct always has its place within the spiritual realm. Once created, recorded and archived in the infiniteness of time and space – also known as digitally in the palm of our hands, in our ears and even inside our now quarantined homes – sound is forever fully omnipresent in our reality.
Despite major artists pulling their albums at this unprecedented time, and the majority reporting streaming numbers have dropped because of COVID-19, I’ve actually noticed a lot of listeners coming through during this time who are actively looking for songs that can help with self realisation to navigate us as a collective through this dystopia.
We are what we consume; and we’re under no disillusion that popular music has had its unconscious moments, from creating violence, sexual violence, division and bias that has been driven by a systemic ideology that existed as a framework for years, which is now being deconstructed. This had to change across every industry and we can be grateful for the movement towards conscious lyricism and sound design in music, and using art to manifest a utopian future.
Unavoidably and like most working performing artists, I lost quite a few gigs internationally (shows, club PAs and Pride events) because of the virus. They were meant to take place now to support the releases of ILY and Y – two interconnected songs that I wrote and created with the intention of amplifying love energy and curiosity at a time when we need to be asking questions and going inward the most.
I joke about my art being prophetic, but all of my jokes are kinda serious at the same time. ILY even has a lyrical reference to “the crown”. Corona means crown in Latin and has been spiritually described as the virus blasting open of our collective crown chakra. Did I manifest the virus with my Feedback Loop artwork? Did Grimes? Who knows. Stans on Twitter seem to think so. The concept of the multiverse is so intense when you allow yourself to spiral in thought.
The timing for ILY and Y coming out at this time is a curve ball for sure, but couldn’t be more apt in terms of the message, and I am grateful that they are songs and stories that I can share with our community and planet at a time when we genuinely need healing.
ILY is a song that I wrote one the piano late last year for everyone around me, with the intention of all of us making active decisions to move forwards and progress. The sitar is played by Tommy Khosla and the song was produced with Teddy Jackson.
Y (out April 7 – full moon) produced with S.B.O who also made Stan Yourself with me, is an ethereal curiosity banger which marks a notable increase in BPM for me, but I still think it remains undoubtedly NEO 10Y, so I am glad to experience this evolution within myself. All of the post-quarantine festivals that I play it at will be grateful too.
There is so much power in a song and a frequency, and ideally both at the same time. In the right moment, a track can totally transport us. Take us to another dimension. Calm the soul. Help us manifest. Connect with the universe.
I just hope my discography can help us overall to navigate a rapidly changing reality.
Single artwork photo by Yanny Tokyo with design by Akin-Can Akkus