#fader interview

[seasurfacefullofclouds1]

https://www.tumblr.com/eminentzayn/133426168731?source=share

Thoughts?

I read the whole article from Fader to put this quote into the context of everything Zayn said.

Interesting paragraphs:

So you can see in the article that Zayn’s transition to RCA was brokered by Simon Cowell and he really didn’t have a choice but to sign on with a Sony label.

The next paragraph discusses the impact of Zayn’s leaving on the relationship with 1D fans. What’s left unspoken in the article is the fact that Zayn not only has to worry about the fans’ support for him, but he also needs to feel responsible for fans not leaving the rest of One Direction.

While the plastic may be off, saying goodbye to One Direction’s billion-dollar brand and global fan base means that as a solo act, Zayn will likely reach a significantly smaller audience. “A big part of why I left the band is I made the realization that it wasn’t actually about [being the biggest] anymore,” he says, unconcerned. “It wasn’t about the amount of ticket sales that I get. It was more about the people that I reach. I want to reach them in the right way, and I want them to believe what I’m saying. I’ve done enough in terms of financial backing for me to live comfortably. I just want to make music now. If people want to listen to that, then I’m happy. If they don’t want to listen to it, then don’t fucking listen to it. I’m cool with that too. I’ve got enough. I don’t need you to buy it on a mass scale for me to feel satisfied.”

Zayn — and all 1D ex-members— really cannot say anything that takes away the marketing value of 1D.

Now read the entire paragraph in context:

That’s not to say that he’ll never work with his former bandmates again. In old interviews and even in the note announcing he was quitting, Zayn always expressed a desire to remain “friends for life” with his former bandmates. So it was surprising when only weeks after his exit he got into an argument on Twitter with Louis over someone’s poor choice of a photo filter. I ask him where he and the group stand now. “I spoke to Liam about two weeks ago,” Zayn says. “It was the first time I’d spoken to him since I left the band, and I rung him, and he wanted to talk. He said that he didn’t understand it at the time, but he now fully gets why I had to do what I did. He understands that it’s my thing, that I had to do that, and that basically he wants to meet up and sit down and have a good chat in person, and he wants to do some music and work on some stuff aside from being in the band, which we always wanted to do anyway.”

You see how Zayn has framed the 1D relationships as Louis versus Liam. This means that Zayn can avoid discussing anything about Louis— he has skillfully swerved from disagreements, motivations, fights that framed the end of 1D and the reasons for his exit. This interview made it seem as if his leaving was entirely motivated by Zayn’s unhappiness with lifestyle and music genres (which wasn’t true). Remember, at the time of this interview (November 2015), 1D hiatus had been announced, but fans had been promised that they would come back. Zayn swung the discussion toward the most anodyne, neutral person in the band, to Liam— a neutral figure in the Harry-Louis-Zayn end-of-empire divorce.

The reason for that wasn’t any particular fondness for Liam (although Zayn surely felt affection for him) but because Liam wasn’t involved in the ugliness of the split.

[bantuotaku]

Jersey Club Black History Month Challenge Day 2

I want yall to run up Dj Tameil, the Founding Father of Jersey Club Music...

Make sure yall leave him positive msgs for Black History Month & Let him know How the Genre he ushered into reality has impacted your life for the better!

Feel Free to Check out Dj Tameil's Youtube Channel as well it's filled with so many gems!💖

These are Videos I also recommend viewing...

Dj TaMeiL on Rap City in Da Bassment & on 106 & Park

Dj TaMeiL Noise212 Interview

Dj TaMeiL & Brick Bandits interview w/Fader TV

DJ Technics and DJ Ayres Discuss the Past and Future of Baltimore Club

@SeratoDJ Presents DJ Tameil Vs DJ Technics (Jersey Club Music Vs Baltimore Club Music)!

“The Bridge” ft itsyamandjtameil | Episode 23

I also would like to challenge you to Listen to Dj Tameil's music too.

[myloveonherknees]

Hi, maybe I'm not entirely into the lore but what is vacillator?

sorry for sitting on this message for a while! i'm not sure entirely sure what you mean, but i'm guessing this is a follow-up to me calling vacillator gibson girl's sister when i gave my opinion on perverts?

the short answer is that there isn't an official "lore" behind perverts the way there is for preacher's daughter, which hayden has confirmed in several Q&As before its release (this is not me shading you or anyone else for not knowing that, just letting you know in case you want to fact check me / see it from hayden yourself!)

as far as i know hayden hasn't explained vacillator's meaning from her perspective yet. if you're curious to know more about the thought process behind some of the tracks on perverts, i'd recommend checking out this Q&A from her radio residency on reddit (and of course her tumblr)

having said all that, when i said vacillator was gibson girl's sister, i was comparing them thematically rather than narratively! when i first listened to it, i thought back to how hayden characterized gibson girl's meaning in a past interview. i went and found the quote because i'm neurotic like that, which comes from "the life and death of ethel cain" in fader: "At the end of the song, she’s spinning in circles. She’s like, 'You want to love me right now? You want to fuck me right now?' And these phrases go back and forth simultaneously because she gets them confused. It’s very hazy… 'Am I a man eater, or am I getting eaten?'" i kind of get that same vibe of "preforming" feminine sexuality in both songs, if that's fair to say? like i think both speakers are trying to disappear into being a sex object, but there's this underlying pain or tension or sadness there. that's all just my take, though!

[thewalrusespublicist]

Wait what is the dead rat story?

Ah the dead rat story, gather round children as Jack Douglas regales us with the tale of the time Yoko brought a dead rat into the studio to record.

Douglas began hanging out with Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono. He helped produce some of Ono's music, heavy on experimentation.

That's putting it kindly. The strangest moment involved a track called Dead Rat. In the middle of the song, Ono left a 20-second gap. "I had a bad feeling about that hole - I kept thinking of it as the dead rat solo," he says.

Sure enough, he recalls, when all the tracks were cut, Ono's assistant showed up with a shoe box. Inside was a dead rat. Ono wanted it incorporated in the recording. So Douglas had his assistant place it on a stool and set up an expensive mike inches away.

"Yoko wanders in like nothing, and says, "I see you have the rat ready to go - let's get right to it,"' he says. "When the 20-second dead spot comes, I push up the fader. I'm listening. There's no noise, and I stop tape, and say to Yoko, "It's not quite right, is it?' And she says, "No, Jack, there's something wrong.' "

Douglas had his assistant, stifling laughter, move the mike closer to the rat. "We do it again. I push the fader up, this time with a little smile and I say, "I think that's much better.' And she says, "That's a take.

-- Interview with Jack Douglas

Jack Douglas told Richard Buskin of the SATB podcast that John was in the background of this absolutely pissing himself laughing which lead me into an absolute tailspin of 'how much of all of this has just been a massive joke to John? How much is this a joke to Yoko? Does John really respect Yoko's work or does he mostly appreciate it as one big wind-up?' I don't know the answer to those questions but they made me mad at John on behalf of literally everyone lmao.

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

OC intro - Gwen Amante

I'm enjoying finally making these. Feel free to ask anything about Gwen!

Basics

Cis girl she/her

At the start of the series, Gwen is 12

Gwen has thick dark brown hair that stops at her waist. Usually, she'll braid it, but she tries many styles. She has light brown skin and brown eyes. She's 5'2 and has an athletic build from nature hiking with her family and running in the morning.

She's straight (I know, shocker)

Gwen is a fader, or someone who has invisibility. This causes her to have not-great eyesight and she needs glasses.

Despite her powers, neither of Gwen's parents know of Alium, the dimension like ours that is populated by superpowered individuals. Her main theory is her late paternal grandfather was probably Alii. She was born and raised in suburban Texas in the Houston area.

Character/Personality

Gwen is very quiet, soft-spoken, and a little shy, though she is fearless. She's incredibly compassionate and will do whatever it takes to protect the people she loves. She mainly keeps her problems to herself to not burden others, though she puts others' burdens on herself. She goes out of her way to show that she cares.

Gwen appreciates nature, so she loves hikes and morning runs outside. However, she's also bookish and enjoys settling down for the night and reading in the corner of her room, though this doesn't mean she won't combine the two and read outside. She does sometimes go down internet rabbit holes and occasionally journals.

Gwen is her middle school's band class, where she plays percussion, and she loves music, mainly listening to alternative rock. Speaking of which, she does play the drums in her own band with a few classmates and they make an after school band club. She played soccer as a younger kid, but discontinued it in middle school and joined the track team.

Gwen likes to stay on top of things, and is constantly thinking ahead. She is very reliable and responsible; she will get things done by any means necessary. She's got your back.

Other Notable Things

Gwen has to get glasses in Part One, due to eyesight as I mentioned. She likes wearing tank tops underneath cable knit sweaters and boy's pants (pockets!!!!) and running shoes.

Gwen lives with her mom, dad, sister, two brothers, and a cat named Biscuit.

Before meeting her boyfriend Akash, Gwen's closest friends were Lexi and Ash, though she does value her band members. She really likes Rose, and they get closer with time, and while she likes Noelle, she's always felt like Noelle doesn't like her (she does).

Tag Games for More Gwen

OC in three

OC in fifteen

Interview

Bag

Picrew

Two Truths and a Lie

Fun facts

Origin

Questionnaire One

Questionnaire Two

Questionnaire Three

Kiss

Deep dive

Outfit

Cuddleability

[genderisareligion]

It is fatal to be a man or woman pure and simple; one must be woman-manly or man-womanly.  It is fatal for a woman to lay the least stress on any grievance; to plead even with justice any cause; in any way to speak consciously as a woman. And fatal is no figure of speech; for anything written with that conscious bias is doomed to death. It ceases to be fertilized. Brilliant and effective, powerful and masterly, as it may appear for a day or two, it must wither at nightfall; it cannot grow in the minds of others. Some collaboration has to take place in the mind between the woman and the man before the art of creation can be accomplished. Some marriage of opposites has to be consummated.

--Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own 

“Paradise” has been called a “feminist” novel. Would you agree with that?

Not at all. I would never write any “ist.” I don’t write “ist” novels.

Why distance oneself from feminism?

In order to be as free as I possibly can, in my own imagination, I can’t take positions that are closed. Everything I’ve ever done, in the writing world, has been to expand articulation, rather than to close it, to open doors, sometimes, not even closing the book — leaving the endings open for reinterpretation, revisitation, a little ambiguity. I detest and loathe [those categories]. I think it’s off-putting to some readers, who may feel that I’m involved in writing some kind of feminist tract. I don’t subscribe to patriarchy, and I don’t think it should be substituted with matriarchy. I think it’s a question of equitable access, and opening doors to all sorts of things.

--Toni Morrison, Salon interview

No because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance. With myself, I’m very in touch with my masculine side. And I’m 50 percent feminine and 50 percent masculine, same as I think a lot of us are. And I think that is important to note. And also I think that if men went down and women rose to power, that wouldn’t work either. We have to have a fine balance.

--Shailene Woodley, Time Interview 

For me, the issue of feminism is just not an interesting concept. I’m more interested in, you know, SpaceX and Tesla, what’s going to happen with our intergalactic possibilities. Whenever people bring up feminism, I’m like, god. I’m just not really that interested.

--Lana Del Rey, Fader Interview

I appreciate the sentiment expressed here and respect Virginia Woolf and Toni Morrison but personally I don't agree.

Feminism isn't an equality movement. It is not and should not have the goal of liberating men from the trappings they created for themselves as well as us. Feminism is a women's liberation movement, us from individual males as well as the patriarchy.

In fact imo the world could actually use a patriarchy replaced by a matriarchy for a while a la the SCUM manifesto to level the scales and get some revenge before we're liberated. All the violence we've suffered we deserve it at this point

[babyjujubee]

Alden Ehrenreich photographed by Jason Bell.

Link to Fader Magazine - Alden Ehrenreich can be your intergalactic hero - The Star Wars actor on taking cues from Bruce Springsteen, playing Halo with Chewbacca, and his long, secretive journey to become the next Han Solo. March 24, 2018 >>> https://www.thefader.com/2018/04/24/alden-ehrenreich-interview-new-han-solo-solo-a-star-wars-story

[hypers-of-music]

Alejandra Ghersi Rodríguez: Moniker 2.0

Alejandra Ghersi Rodríguez is a Venezuelan musician and record producer, but works professionally under the name Arca today.

Very little material is published on Nuuro, but The Fader published an interview between Arca and writer Emilie Friedlander in 2014 which (notably) was prior to her gender transition and right as she began to produce for high profile artists, which I’ll have more on later! Friedlander’s article, “Cover Story: Arca Finds Xen” focuses more on Rodríguez’s upbringing and the influences that contributed to creating music. Rodriguez was born in Caracas, Venezuela before immigrating to the United States as a toddler. Her father Henrique Ghersi Rossón, is an investment banker and founder of VIP Capital (Venezuelan Investment Partners Capital), a Venezuelan banking firm founded in 2001. It was right before the investment bank was established that the Rodriguez family moved back to Venezuela and stayed there, and it was in Venezuela that Alejandra Ghersi Rodríguez released music as Nuuro. However, she studied music in the United States and has lived in New York, London, and Spain since then.

The moniker of Arca was born in the United States, after Rodríguez came out as gay, and the description of her thoughts in this interview with Friedlander is very telling of the development of her music style, “‘In fact, [s]he says the bizarre, combative voices that populated [her] early work under that moniker were literal sonic echoes of what was going on in [her] head in the aftermath.’” Arca is known today for her unique production style, one which combines seemingly random noises and sounds (like that of a lawnmower, as mentioned by Friedlander), with heavy distortions, traditional Venezuelan instruments, and the general pacing of a reggaeton song. These are niche combinations that typically take quite a few listens to become accustomed to (or at least that's what it took for me), but when you get it…you really get it.

Arca’s music may possibly be better understood as a cacophony (in reference to the words definition of an atypical combination of sounds and not its negative connotation) rather than a blend. She doesn’t blend the sounds she uses, not because she can’t, but because she doesn’t want to. Each sound is sort’ve representative of a different thought, a different emotion, all of which she preserves in the ultimate musical product.  

[mushi-shield]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman who authorities say fatally stabbed her partner at their Los Angeles apartment Monday then threw her two children from a moving SUV onto the freeway, killing her infant daughter, was an astrologer who called the impending solar eclipse “the epitome of spiritual warfare” in an online post days earlier.

Los Angeles police believe Danielle Cherakiyah Johnson, 34, posted on X as an astrology influencer and recording artist with the moniker “ Ayoka,” in the days leading up to the violence, which began hours before the eclipse peaked in Southern California, said Lt. Guy Golan.

While detectives have reviewed Johnson’s posts, police are not considering the eclipse to be a precipitating or contributing factor to the slayings “because we just don’t know why she did what she did,” Golan told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

“We’ve taken all the facts we can, but without being able to interview her and without having something more tangible than a post on X, I don’t know how much weight you can give to somebody (saying) there’s an apocalypse and attribute it to one of the most horrific murders we’ve had in LA,” Golan, who is head of the homicide unit investigating the case, said.

Authorities say Johnson and her partner, 29-year-old Jaelen Allen Chaney, had an argument around 3:40 a.m. Monday in their apartment in Woodland Hills, about 25 miles (42 km) northwest of downtown LA. Johnson stabbed Chaney and fled with her kids, an 8-month-old girl and her 9-year-old sister, in a Porsche Cayenne.

Johnson then drove along Interstate 405 in Culver City and threw her daughters out of the moving SUV around 4:30 a.m., police said. The baby was pronounced dead on the road, but the older daughter — who witnessed the stabbing — survived with moderate injuries.

Johnson traveled southwest to Redondo Beach, where a half-hour later she was driving over 100 miles per hour (160 kph) and crashed into a tree. The LAPD is investigating whether the solo crash was an apparent suicide.

The Los Angeles Times first reported on Johnson’s social media activities in connection with the killings.

“Get your protection on and your heart in the right place,” she posted April 4 to more than 105,000 followers on X. “The world is very obviously changing right now and if you ever needed to pick a side, the time to do right in your life is now. Stay strong you got this.”

On April 5, she posted in all caps, “Wake up wake up the apocalypse is here. Everyone who has ears listen. Your time to choose what you believe is now.”

Her social media also included a mix of antisemitic screeds, conspiracy theories about vaccines and warnings about the end of the world alongside astrological predictions and positive affirmations. Also on April 5, she posted the word “LOVE” dozens of times. Her personal website offers a variety of services including “zodiac healing work,” “alcohol balancing system” and an “aura cleanse.”

Johnson’s internet presence and online following dates back years. The Fader, a music magazine, interviewed her in 2016 as an astrology personality.

“She was very standoffish,” said Norman Linder, a Woodland Hills neighbor. He only saw Johnson and her daughters a few times before in the apartment complex.

Another neighbor, Anita Mazer, told the AP that when she saw the family, “I just said ‘hello.’ The baby was really cute,” she said Wednesday. “It’s horrible.”

Golan said there were no calls for police to respond to the couple’s apartment prior to Monday’s killing, when neighbors called 911 after seeing the door open. Johnson did not have a felony criminal record in California and there were no indications of reported domestic violence.

Detectives did not immediately link the Woodland Hills slaying to the daughters, Golan said. He was in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood when he started getting push alerts from news organizations on his cellphone about the infant’s death on the roadway in Culver City. Investigators realized there might be a connection between two missing children from the family’s apartment and the tragedy on the interstate.

“I was like ‘Oh, there’s two young girls who were stranded on the 405 Freeway.’ That is such a random and terrible thing to hear about. And we knew there were two young children,” Golan continued. “We were setting up an Amber Alert.”

Golan said detectives discovered candles and cards inside the apartment, but he was not sure whether they were tarot cards.

“They didn’t look like your standard deck of cards that you would play poker with,” he said.

The solar eclipse’s path of totality stretched from Mazatlán, Mexico, to Newfoundland, Canada, a swath approximately 115 miles (185 kilometers) wide. Revelers were engulfed in darkness at state parks, on city rooftops and in small towns when the moon blocked out the sun, though Southern California only saw a partial eclipse that peaked at 11:12 a.m.

Across the globe, the celestial event spawned fears of the apocalypse and other suspicions rooted in religion and spirituality. But Golan noted that others who posted online about their eclipse-related worries did not commit violence like Johnson.

“How many people wrote about it,” he said, “and didn’t go out and murder somebody?”

[officialtayley]

hi ash do you happen to know where hayley talked about taylor saying he would support her even if she wanted to form a new group, etc?

zane lowe interview, fader, the guardian, just to name a few

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"THE RECORD THAT WE MADE – THE SOUND, THE AESTHETIC, EVERYTHING – WAS SONICALLY BASED OFF OF THE RESOURCES THAT WE HAD."

PIC(S) INFO: SXSW Music Festival -- Day 2: Spotlight on singer/guitarist/songwriter Bethany Cosentino of BEST COAST posing for a portrait backstage at Levi's Fader Fort as part of SXSW 2010 on March 18, 2010 in Austin, Texas, plus a shot of she and Bobb Bruno playing Fader Fort on the same date. 📸: Roger Kisby.

"The first BEST COAST record was recorded in two weeks. We worked with this producer Lewis Pesacov, who we knew in LA, and we recorded it in a studio space that was in a practice space in LA, which is now, I believe, being torn down to put high-rise apartments or some shit. But we literally made it in two weeks. We did not have a lot of money. We were not signed to a label. We just were like, “All right, we’re going to go in, we’re going to do this.”

Then we left for SXSW, and we were one of the big, hyped bands that year. The record that we made – the sound, the aesthetic, everything – was sonically based off of the resources that we had. Part of it was intentional because we were trying to replicate a sound that we liked, and we were huge fans of Phil Spector – Phil Spector’s music, not horrid Phil Spector [the person]. So when the record became as successful as it did, nobody expected that. None of us. I don’t even think our label expected that. I think Mexican Summer was, and they were such a good label, because they were boutique. It wasn’t like signing my life over to a major label that was going to do the thing that I worried about when I was 16."

-- STEREOGUM, "We’ve Got A File On You: Bethany Cosentino," by Rachel Brodsky, July 27, 2023

Sources: www.stereogum.com/2231105/bethany-cosentino-best-coast-solo-debut-album/interviews/weve-got-a-file-on-you, Flickr, & Rolling Stone.

[zot3-flopped]

In a 2016 interview with radio station Beats 1, Zayn claimed he wanted out of One Direction for a long time. "I think I always wanted to go from like the first year, really," he said. "I never really wanted to be there, like in the band."

The same year the "Dusk Till Dawn" singer left One Direction, he threw shade at the group’s music in an interview with Fader, calling it “generic as f—k.”

Malik went on to describe creative differences he had with the band. “Whenever I would suggest something, it was like it didn't fit us. There was just a general conception that the management already had of what they want for the band and I just wasn't convinced with what we were selling,” he told the outlet at the time.

The “As It Was” singer gave some insight into why One Direction went on hiatus during a 2017 interview with Rolling Stone.

Styles told the outlet that he and his band mates “didn't want to exhaust [their] fan base,” adding, “We all thought too much of the group to let that happen.”

The Grammy Award winner also didn’t rule out the possibility of a reunion, saying, “I love the band and would never rule out anything in the future. The band changed my life, gave me everything.”

Styles also responded to comments Malik had made about not enjoying the group’s music.

"I think it's a shame he felt that way ... but I never wish anything but luck to anyone doing what they love. If you're not enjoying something and need to do something else, you absolutely should do that. I'm glad he's doing what he likes, and good luck to him,” the songwriter said. 

Niall Horan has been speaking about the reasons behind the One Direction hiatus, putting it down to a gruelling schedule.

Now, Horan has shone a light on the reason they took a break, telling The Sun: "It was a long time to keep going at that intensity and that pressure, touring that much and bringing out albums at that pace."

We felt like we just wanted to either chill or do our own thing. When we called it, it was kind of a release in a way so you could go and see family, see friends, go backpacking."

“Still talk to them all the time,” Horan stated. “We still keep in touch. Everyone’s having their own success on their own like that. I’m enjoying what I’m doing.”

One of the things that would have to be present for a One Direction reunion, Horan said, is agreeing on the musical vision.

“It’s always hard to tell, everyone having the same opinion is gonna be always hard,” Horan commented. “Unless everyone was completely in, I wouldn’t want to do it. I wouldn’t want to force someone into doing it.”

___

Liar Liar pants on fire Zayn. The only ones who didn't change their narratives to suit them in the moment are Harry Niall and Louis. Louis always said and keeps saying the band breaking up and Zayn leaving took him completely by surprise. Harry and Niall both said the guys and the fans were exhausted. Zayn and Liam just lie too much. Always changing the story to milk the ot5's. But the fans didn't forget no matter what lies Zayn is telling now.

******

Niall and Louis both lied about the hiatus in 2016, saying they would only be gone a couple of years. Niall even said that none of them were going solo!

[introspectiveretrospective]

Mitski - A Pearl "But for me, it was actually about when you have some kind of toxic relationship to yourself, or to another person, for so long that it becomes your identity. Even when you don't need it anymore and you've stepped away from it, you still hold on to it because it's scary to let it go — because if you actually let it go, it feels like erasing yourself. That song is about likening that sort of toxicity to a pearl. Even though you're in this great relationship with somebody who loves you and wants to take care of you, you still don't talk to them about what's toxic in you. You just roll around this pearl in your hand every night and just look at it, like it's a pretty thing."

Interview - The Fader

[batfan00]

An interview David Berman (of Silver Jews and Purple Mountains) did with "The Fader" in 2005. He would later die by suicide in 2019. I miss you, and I didn't even know you.

[riensansintention]

Noname : radicale, intime et révolutionnaire

De Telefone à Sundial, Noname et sa plume radicale questionnent et taclent l'industrie, la suprématie blanche et nos contradictions individuelles dans ce système.

Certains concerts de rap doivent-ils se faire sans public blanc ? Pourquoi l’intime est-il profondément politique lorsqu’on est une femme noire ? Jusqu’où peut aller la radicalité dans l’industrie musicale ? Le public est-il prêt à être aussi engagé que l’art qu’il consomme ? Pourquoi l’urgence de faire communauté est-elle une question de survie ? Quel rôle les artistes doivent-ils jouer dans cet élan ? Être une artiste politisée et engagée, est-ce renoncer au droit à l’erreur ?

Autant de questions auxquelles on peut trouver des réponses en étudiant l’œuvre et le parcours de Noname. Et c’est précisément ce qu’on va tenter de faire ici.

(C’est long mais promis, y’a de l’âme et du coeur)

Fatimah Nyeema Warner, dite Noname

De son vrai nom Fatimah Nyeema Warner, Noname a choisi ce pseudonyme pour se libérer des étiquettes et exister sans limitation. Dans une interview accordée à The Fader en 2016, elle expliquait :

"Pour moi, ne pas porter de nom me permet d’étendre ma créativité. (…) Je ne suis pas limitée à une catégorie d’art ni d’existence."

À travers les années et les projets, elle n’a cessé de confirmer cette volonté : exprimer sa multiplicité, affûter ses idées et livrer sa vision du monde avec une plume brute et aiguisée.

Téléfone (2016) : ne crains pas la lumière !

Noname est une rappeuse, parolière et poétesse, qui fusionne avec justesse rap, néo-soul, jazz et gospel dans un univers profondément porté par les mots. Passionnée d’écriture depuis l’enfance, sa première mixtape, Telefone, est la concrétisation d’années passées à mettre en mots ses expériences et ses émotions.

L’intention derrière Telefone ? Raconter les conversations téléphoniques qui l’ont marquée et transformée tout au long de sa vie. Une œuvre sortie l’année de ses 25 ans, cette fameuse charnière du quart de siècle, et qui résonne comme un instantané de cet âge flottant, entre doutes et éclosion.

L’album traverse les thèmes de l’estime de soi, du deuil, de l’amour, de la nostalgie de l’enfance et du dépassement de soi. C’est un projet où la joie et le désarroi coexistent, un miroir poétique de l’expérience noire dans un monde façonné pour l’invalider. Dans ce monde, nos luttes et nos joies deviennent révolutionnaires. Comme la musique de Noname.

Le morceau Reality Check m’a accompagnée dans toutes les phases de renouvellement de ma vie. Avant mes craintes et après mes doutes. Une ode à la capacité de transcender la peur pour accueillir les meilleures versions de soi.

Room 25 (2018) : “Y’all really thought a bitch couldn’t rap, huh?”

Avec Room 25, premier album studio sorti en 2018, Noname pousse l’introspection encore plus loin et s’affirme encore plus politiquement.

Dès le premier morceau, Self, le ton est donné :

"My pussy wrote a thesis on colonialism In conversation with a marginal system in love with Jesus And y’all still thought a bitch couldn’t rap, huh?"

Religion, patriarcat, succès, capitalisme, sexualité, masculinité toxique… Elle tacle tout et tout le monde, sans filtre.

Dans Room 25, elle navigue entre gentrification, violences systémiques et amour, entre la complexité des relations et la quête de soi. Un parfait équilibre entre expériences intimes et réalités politiques

Le morceau Blaxploitation, par exemple, porte le nom du courant cinématographique des années 70. Noname se joue des stéréotypes incombés aux personnes noires dans les représentations culturelles et historiques. Le morceau se conclut d’ailleurs sur un extrait du film The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973), qui raconte l’histoire d’un homme noir infiltrant la CIA pour former des combattants de la liberté et planifier une révolution

"Do you hear me man? Do you understand? I am Black. I’m a nigga, do you understand me? I was born Black, I live Black, and I’ma die probably because I’m Black, because some cracker that knows I’m Black better than you, nigga, is probably gonna put a bullet in the back of my head."

En résumé, Room 25 est une jointure parfaite entre le personnel et le politique. Un album qui parle autant à une jeune femme noire en plein questionnement existentiel qu’à une communauté qui subit collectivement les violences systémiques.

En parlant de Chicago…

Noname a fait ses armes dans les open mics et les espaces associatifs de Chicago. Notamment via YOUMedia, un projet de la Harold Washington Library où elle a rencontré Chance The Rapper, Saba ou encore Mick Jenkins.

C’est d’ailleurs sur le titre Lost de Chance The Rapper, en 2013, que Noname commence à se faire remarquer par le grand public. Et c’est là qu’on s’arrête deux secondes pour notifier : Un seul espace associatif bien structuré a permis d’émerger plusieurs artistes majeurs de la scène rap internationale.

En France, dans les quartiers populaires, les MJC ont eu le même impact sur toute une génération d’artistes. Ce parallèle en dit long sur l’importance d’avoir des lieux dédiés aux cultures noires et populaires.

Ghetto Sage !

Noname, Smino et Saba ont toujours eu une alchimie musicale forte. En 2019, ils officialisent leur trio sous le nom Ghetto Sage avec un seul single, Häagen Dazs. Et depuis… pas grand-chose. Le groupe a annoncé qu'un projet était en cours mais on attend toujours. Ça m'a quand même fait chaud au coeur de les voir tous ensemble pour le seconde Tiny Desk de Noname en 2024 ! C'est déjà ça...

Comm.u.n.i.t.y

Ce qui fait de Noname une artiste intemporelle, au-delà de la musique, c’est aussi ses prises de parole tranchantes et son engagement pour la justice sociale. Elle dit souvent, tout haut ce que beaucoup pensent tout bas et n’a pas peur de froisser les sensibilités. D’ailleurs, elle ne fait pas que parler, elle agit et son mot d’ordre c’est : la communauté. En été 2019, elle fonde le Noname Book Club, un club de lecture centré sur la libération. Au-delà des lectures mensuelles d’auteurs non-blancs, le Noname Book Club envoie également chaque mois une sélection de livres aux personnes incarcérées dans le cadre de son programme pénitentiaire.

Trois ans plus tard, à l’automne 2021, le Noname Book Club trouvera un siège à travers l’ouverture du "Radical Hood Library", une librairie située à Los Angeles, dans lequel on retrouve des sections de lecture telles que "Fuck the Police" ou encore "Black Capitalism Won’t Save Us".

Plus jeune, Noname passait pas mal de temps dans la boutique de livre afrocentrique de sa mère. L’ouverture du Radical Hood Library dessine la concrétisation d’un full circle moment pour l’artiste militante.

Pour soutenir le Noname Book Club et la Radical Hood Library, c’est par ici.

La radicalité qu’on ne peut plus fuir

En 2020, Noname exprime publiquement son ras-le-bol : elle veut arrêter la musique, fatiguée de performer devant un public majoritairement blanc.

Dans une série de tweets, elle lâche :

"Je crée constamment du contenu qui est consommé par un public blanc, un public qui préfère me critiquer plutôt que de remettre en question son libéralisme, parce qu'il pense qu'aimer la musique de Lizzo les absout de leurs tendances racistes (…). Ce qui est drôle, c’est que la plupart des artistes noirs sont tout aussi mal à l’aise de se produire devant des foules majoritairement blanches, mais ne le diront jamais publiquement, par peur ou par fidélité à l’argent. Quand je vais travailler, des milliers de Blancs crient le n-word* en chœur. Et non, je ne vais pas changer mon art, donc c’est comme ça et puis c’est tout. Je ne vais pas continuer à me produire devant des foules majoritairement blanches."

Ce coup de gueule provoque un séisme sur Twitter, ravivant d'éternels débats. D’un côté, certains regrettent de ne pas avoir pu "gatekeep" à temps les musiques noires, de l’autre, on voit émerger les arguments universalistes sur la musique comme art "destiné à tous".

(F.U.B.U. = “For Us, By Us” = “Pour Nous, Par Nous”)

Mais… comment ne pas comprendre Noname ?

Elle n’est d’ailleurs pas la seule à revendiquer un espace musical communautaire. Lors de son passage à Afropunk Paris en 2019, Solange avait exprimé sa gratitude de pouvoir chanter son titre "F.U.B.U." devant un public majoritairement noir. J’y étais, et c’était un moment transcendant, autant pour l’artiste que pour nous, spectateurs. Une énergie qui aurait été bien différente devant un public mixte.

Solange avait d’ailleurs poussé cette logique plus loin : lors de son concert à l’Opéra de Sydney, elle avait délibérément cherché dans l’audience des personnes noires avant de performer ce même titre.

En somme, si Noname veut résonner en live avec le public qui l’a inspirée et pour qui sa musique est destinée, c’est un souhait plus que légitime.

On peut comprendre l’inconfort que ça représente pour une artiste engagée de voir des Blancs crier des paroles qui leur échappent totalement, ou pire… hurler le N-word, comme si c’était un simple divertissement.

Mais est-ce que c’est une radicalité qui peut se tenir dans la réalité économique et sociale de l’industrie musicale aujourd’hui, surtout pour une artiste indépendante ?

Et bien...

En 2023, à la surprise générale, Noname annonce qu’elle se produira à Coachella. Coachella. Festival ultra-capitaliste, ultra-blanc. Dirigé par un milliardaire pro-Trump, anti-LGBT, anti-avortement et pro-armes... L’annonce ne passe pas inaperçue. Internet s’emballe : n’est-ce pas en totale contradiction avec ses prises de position passées ?

Noname assume et répond cash :

"Je vais jouer à Coachella parce que j’ai besoin de cet argent. Mais si TOUS les artistes noirs refusaient de partager leur travail tant qu’il n’y a pas de changements radicaux dans nos conditions ET qu’il y avait un boycott collectif, j’y participerais immédiatement."

Elle se montre vulnérable, mais n’hésite pas à montrer un miroir à ceux qui la pointent du doigt. Elle sait qu’elle joue un jeu qu’elle a elle-même dénoncé. Mais elle rappelle aussi que la responsabilité n’est pas uniquement individuelle : elle est collective et systémique.

Et c’est avec cet état d’esprit et ce contexte qu’elle dévoile, la même année, son deuxième album studio : Sundial.

2023 – Noname, Sundial : nous sommes tous hypocrites.

Et quoi de plus Noname qu’un comeback dans la controverse ?

Mi-juillet 2023, elle annonce son nouvel album, Sundial. Quelques jours plus tard, elle se prend une sauce : le projet inclut un featuring avec Jay Electronica, un rappeur accusé d’antisémitisme. Internet s’enflamme, les débats explosent. Ça prend une telle ampleur que Noname envisage d’annuler la sortie de l’album.

Finalement, l’album voit le jour et devient, en soi, une réponse à tous ses détracteurs.

Dans Sundial, elle continue d’attaquer le capitalisme, la bourgeoisie noire et l’allégeance aveugle de certains artistes à la suprématie blanche.

Le morceau Namesake est une démonstration de force. Noname appelle à la barre Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar et Beyoncé, leur reprochant de glamouriser les institutions impérialistes, notamment à travers leurs liens avec la NFL et le Super Bowl.

"I ain't fuckin' with the NFL or JAY-Z Propaganda for the military complex The same gun that shot Lil Terry out west The same gun that shot Samir in the West Bank We all think the Super Bowl is the best thing"

Elle ne s’épargne pas non plus. Elle reconnaît son propre paradoxe en ayant joué le jeu de Coachella, malgré les valeurs du festival et de son propriétaire.

“Go, Noname, go Coachella stage got sanitized I said I wouldn’t perform for them And somehow I still fell in line."

Dans Namesake, elle casse le mythe de la représentation comme solution absolue. Elle interroge : la représentation, oui, mais à quel prix ? Celui qui finance l’impérialisme et les pires atrocités de ce monde ?

Cette réflexion rejoint celle de George Jackson, qui déclarait :

"L’ordre établi s’efforce de détourner la rage révolutionnaire vers des exutoires vides, conçus pour canaliser des désirs qui deviendraient dangereux s’ils allaient jusqu’au bout."

Namesake aurait pu n’être qu’un pamphlet moralisateur. Mais en se mettant elle-même dans l’équation, Noname rend le discours plus puissant.

Elle ne pointe pas les autres du doigt en prétendant être au-dessus du système. Elle nous met tous face à nos propres contradictions. Nous sommes tous pris au piège du capitalisme. Et c’est peut-être en l’admettant, en osant nommer cette dissonance cognitive, qu’on peut commencer à être un peu moins hypocrites et plus effectives.

Et c’est avec justesse qu’Alphonse Pierre a écrit pour Pitchfork à ce sujet  : "Être aussi sincère envers soi-même ne fait qu’aiguiser les fléchettes que vous lancez sur les autres."

Et c’est sur cette gamberge que cet article prend fin, les copains.

[babyjujubee]

Alden Ehrenreich photographed by Jason Bell.

Link to Fader Magazine - Alden Ehrenreich can be your intergalactic hero - The Star Wars actor on taking cues from Bruce Springsteen, playing Halo with Chewbacca, and his long, secretive journey to become the next Han Solo. March 24, 2018.

>>> https://www.thefader.com/2018/04/24/alden-ehrenreich-interview-new-han-solo-solo-a-star-wars-story