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Concetta Abbate

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Violinist Concetta Abbate Talks Trauma, Empathy & The Healing Process Of 'Mirror Touch'

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The prolific musician and music teacher shares the process of creating a poignant album from candid conversations with women and people who identify as nonbinary
Robert Ham
MusiCares
Sep 25, 2020 - 9:07 am

When violinist Concetta Abbate set about writing her second album Mirror Touch, she had a clear vision in mind: to reveal the scars of some trauma from her past and how making music helped her through it. But as she started speaking about the project with friends and other people in her orbit, they started to open up to her about their experiences and struggles.

“They’d say, ‘I want to contribute something. I have some perspective on it,’” Abbate says, speaking from her home in Brooklyn. “Because when you share your own story, people feel comfortable and compelled to share their stories.”

Inspired and moved by what she was hearing, Abbate decided to open these songs up wider. She began a series of conversations with a variety of women and people who identify as nonbinary dealing with mental health issues, and learning how hard it can often be for those folks to advocate for themselves and engage in self care.

From those freeform chats, Abbate composed a suite of 12 gorgeous songs that float between the worlds of modern classical and neo-folk. Using her violin and delicate vocals as a starting point, she relied on spare instrumentation—lightly played drums, guitar, and woodwinds) and a lot of open space. That leaves a lot of room to focus on Abbate’s lyrics, which filters the many stories she heard and absorbed into poignant, poetic verses that use just enough detail to be recognizable to the people that inspired her words, but open-ended enough to allow anyone to find solace within them.

In between giving lessons at Teacup Music, the community music school she founded, and working on new material, Abbate spoke with the us about the creation of Mirror Touch, the therapeutic power of music, and why self-care is so vital to us all.

What can you tell me about the experience of interviewing people for Mirror Touch?

It wasn’t really interviews so much as conversations with people where we found the commonalities in our experiences. That was where I started to think about this concept of mirror touch, which is a really extreme form of empathy. It’s actually a neurodiverse condition—an extreme version of synesthesia where if they see somebody, say, holding a cold glass of water, they actually feel the cold glass of water on their hands. I think a lot of artists are on that spectrum and can relate to going through the world in a kind of porous way.

It can be a difficult thing for anyone to bear the weight of hearing people’s stories of trauma or anxieties. Was that something you were worried about or were you able to keep yourself at a slight remove?

A large part of my livelihood is being a music teacher. I run a private school in Brooklyn teaching adults and kids. When you work one-on-one with someone, you end up being the first person to hear about a lot of difficult situations. It’s something that, as a music teacher, you don’t really get trained to deal with because you’re not a therapist. But the reality is that there’s some overlap there. Once I confirmed it that actually made me a lot more confident when other people approached me with things that are going on. And it actually makes my music lessons a whole lot more productive. So much of that external stuff gets wrapped up in performance anxiety and feeling stuck when you’re practicing. I feel I grew a lot in terms of feeling prepared to have these kinds of conversations with people.

I feel like this record comes along at a strangely perfect time in our world. With so much extra time on our hands, people are going through periods of introspection.

I actually started working on the album three years ago and I had finished recording it last summer. Then I had a hand injury in the fall. I was going to put it out earlier, but it just so happens that it’s coming out now. It’s a weird time to be putting music out because I feel like I don’t know if I should be drawing attention to myself right now. But people really want music to listen to and I feel that, because of all the time I invested in this project, I know that it’s valuable and I know people are going to get something useful out of it.

Was there an aha moment for you when you realized how therapeutic music was for you?

I used to practice for hours and hours when I was in high school, any chance I could get. I just loved practicing violin and viola. At the time, I was not aware that that was a coping mechanism. I had to find a balance in my life. I can’t practice for eight hours a day. I have to work. I think the aha moment came from teaching other people. You see similar patterns. You’ll hear another person express something, and you’re like, “I wish I had that awareness when I was a teenager.” But it’s good. You’re given that gift, and now you might be able to do something about it. That’s why conversation and listening and empathy and validation are so important. As we share perspectives, we build and grow.

Was it a conscious decision to only speak with women and nonbinary people for this project?

It was kind of a coincidence. It wasn’t anything I actually thought out. But I think, historically, certain demographics of people feel more comfortable talking to me. I could also be because men are less likely to express personal feelings and emotions. But if enough people are willing to share their stories, the systemic problems of society start to reveal themselves. You start to see repeated patterns in these stories. Like, “The doctor invalidated my complaints about my pain.” Or “They didn’t respond quickly enough when I had this problem.” I think that’s the value of group storytelling. It’s something I think about a lot. What does that say? What does that reveal about our society?

How much did the conversations you were having inform the writing of the music? Or was the music already mapped out before those happened?

I’d say they definitely informed the way the music sounds. It wasn’t an afterthought. There were two people that I spoke to and connected with artistically that passed away, and I posthumously wrote music for them. When they were gone, it was like, “Oh, this is what I got out of this person’s story,” and it became a direct response to their life. There was one track called “Mis,” which came from a very direct interview with a friend who said, “I want you to write a song for me!” There are some that are little more vague. “Forgetful” is about a few different people. I was reflecting on their experiences and it all meshed together.

Have you played the songs for the people they were written about? How did they respond to what you created?

They loved it. They were really happy to have this collaborative dynamic. There’s one piece that I wrote for this friend who passed away. I have not shared with their family yet. I’m still holding off on it because I really want to make a video for it, and I’m not really sure how their family will react to it. It’s always a risk when you make a piece of art to see how people will interpret it and receive it. But overall, it’s been a good experience.

You've also talked about the importance of self care, and I feel like music plays a part in that.

Yeah! I grew up in a really competitive world with music when i was very young. I was doing a lot of concerto competitions from the time I was in elementary school. I remember wanting to quit and not wanting to play. But when I didn’t play, all of the sudden I had this big question about my identity. And this was all before the age of 12! [laughs] “Who am I if I don’t play violin? No one’s going to value me.” I started realizing that there are so many other values that I get from practicing and learning music. I realized that I couldn’t sustainably play music if winning a competition was my only motivation.

That’s the way I teach music. With all my students, we talk about what we love about practicing. I’ve chosen to devote a lot of time to figuring out how music can be the most beneficial for the person that’s practicing it, and to take away performing for other people as the ultimate goal. I have students who never perform but they play every day. There’s something really special about that—that music is a personal thing instead of a product.

What do you want people to take away from Mirror Touch?  

There’s a lot of space in the music, and silence. The instrumentation is really spare and sparse. And that’s really intentional. When we have conversations, there should be a lot of moments of silence and listening. And when there’s space, there’s room for the listener to give the conversation their own meaning. In the sense of the music, with such sparse instrumentation, you can be really creative and you can imbue your own meaning on to it. It’s only giving you the basic outline. I hope that people reflect on communication and how they communicate and how music is linguistic. It’s conversational.

Inside VAULT Productions' Real-Time Doc On Electronic Music's Evolution During The Pandemic

 

Lin-Manuel Miranda (L) and host/creator Hrishikesh Hirway (R) in "Song Exploder"

Lin-Manuel Miranda (L) and host/creator Hrishikesh Hirway (R) in "Song Exploder"

Photo: Eric Veras/Netflix

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Beat By Beat: How "Song Exploder" Unlocks The Intimacy Of Music And Creativity

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Based on the popular podcast, the newly launched Netflix series dissects classics and current hits one layer at a time, while host and creator Hrishikesh Hirway finds the human connection behind it all
John Ochoa
GRAMMYs
Oct 20, 2020 - 4:54 pm

Most people know "Song Exploder" as the popular podcast giving die-hard music fans a deep, inside look into the sonic mechanics behind their favorite tracks. A whole new class of music-heads now knows "Song Exploder" as the new Netflix series bringing the creativity behind music to the digital screen.

Originally launched as a podcast in 2014, "Song Exploder" dissects classic and current fan-favorite songs, with guest artists breaking down each individual track and element in detail to paint an intimate audio portrait of their art. The podcast, which has accumulated more than 60 million streams and downloads over the years and has hosted guests like U2, Selena Gomez, Björk, Fleetwood Mac, Solange and many others, now breathes new life as a Netflix docuseries. 

Introduced on the streaming platform at the beginning of October, "Song Exploder" adds an even deeper layer of storytelling and personal insight to the songs being deconstructed beat by beat. The show's inaugural four-episode run features Alicia Keys ("3 Hour Drive"), Lin-Manuel Miranda ("Wait For It" from "Hamilton"), R.E.M. ("Losing My Religion") and Ty Dolla $ign ("LA"). (Last week [Oct. 15], Netflix unveiled its next slate of guests for the show's second season, set to debut Dec. 15: Dua Lipa, The Killers, Nine Inch Nails and Natalia Lafourcade.

Whether in visual or podcast format, the core of "Song Exploder" remains the same: "an intimate portrait of an artist telling the story of how their artistic mind worked through creating one of their songs," host and creator Hrishikesh Hirway tells GRAMMY.com.

GRAMMY.com chatted with Hrishikesh Hirway about the human connection behind his new "Song Exploder" Netflix series and how he hopes the show will inspire others to create their own art.

You have an endless supply of songs from which to choose for any given "Song Exploder" episode, podcast and show. What needs to stand out in a song in order for you to develop it for "Song Exploder"?

The first step in the process is really identifying the artists before even getting to the song, because, frankly, I don't know necessarily which songs might have the best stories. The most famous songs don't necessarily have the most interesting stories, and the people who know that better than anyone are the people who made the songs.

But what I can try and determine is which artists seem really interesting and thoughtful, good storytellers, and who are also beloved by a lot of people. That's kind of where I start. And once I can get an artist onboard to talk about a song in this way, then I start the process of trying to narrow down which song it's going to be with them.

I feel like I don't know what the story [of the song] is all the time. There are a lot of songs that haven't necessarily been delved into, and frankly, I'm always interested in something like that ... where the backstory [of a song] hasn't been canonized and "Song Exploder" can be a place to tell it for the first time. So I really am relying on input from the artists ... The question that I ask them, frankly, is: Which of your songs do you feel the most emotional attachment to?

Ultimately, the most interesting stories, I think, when it comes to making songs or really making any kind of art, are about people and their feelings and the things that inspire them to make something at all. Even though the show is about music, it's also a portrait of each of these artists. In order to tell you something insightful, especially for it to be something that could be interesting to people who aren't people who make music themselves and also aren't necessarily even familiar with the artist or the song, it has to be something that connects to something in the human experience that feels significant.

I always try to make "Song Exploder" a show that reflected a broad range of genres and artists and backgrounds. So there's kind of almost a guarantee that you couldn't just get people hooked on the show based on who the artists were and what the songs were; I want everybody to watch every episode and listen to every episode of the podcast because I think that it's a worthwhile conversation to have. I think the creative process is something that's really fascinating in and of itself. It's an example of how people react to their own experience, to actually decide to make something based on their ideas, what they lived through, what they love ... The thing that I'm actually most interested in is that kind of emotional experience: the emotional attachment to the act of creating a piece of music.

Michael Stipe of R.E.M. in "Song Exploder"

Michael Stipe of R.E.M. in "Song Exploder" | Photo: Courtesy of Netflix/Netflix

There's a moment in the R.E.M. episode where frontman Michael Stipe gets almost emotional listening to his own voice on the band's classic, "Losing My Religion," and hearing the song elements broken down and presented to him in such an intimate manner, even after so many years since the song's release. How do you go about getting artists to open up to you and dive into their art so deeply?

I think one thing that helps is that I'm not really approaching [the interview process] head-on, certainly not right away. The questions don't start off front and center in like an emotionally investigative way. I think I have to earn their trust first, and part of that is from talking about the mechanics of the process first. That's the entry point in all these conversations. One of the reasons why having the [song's] stems is important, not just in terms of letting the listeners know what's going on in the song, but in terms of being able to facilitate that conversation with the artist.

Of all of the questions, the hardest one to answer is probably, "Why?" "Why did you decide to make the song this way? Why did you write this lyric? Why did you choose this chord progression?" That's the hardest [question], but it's also the one that I'm most interested in. But it's a little easier to start off with, first of all, "What?" "What are we listening to?" And then to ask them, "OK, how did you make it? And when did you make it?" All those basic factual questions are a way to just let them and me submerge ourselves into the memories of making that song.

Once they're there and able to relive some of the experience of it by hearing the actual evidence of the stuff that they did on that day—hearing their voice, hearing the instrument, hearing the actual track that they recorded around that time—it's a lot easier to ask them to then dig a few layers deeper and ask what was going on in their lives and how that might've fed into some of those creative decisions.

Read: Rhyme & Punishment: How NPR's "Louder Than A Riot" Podcast Traces The Interconnected Rise Of Hip-Hop And Mass Incarceration

You're now juggling the show and the podcast. How do you decide what songs go on the podcast format and what goes in video format?

Well, the podcast is a lot of work for a podcast, but that means that I'm still able to turn around an episode in a few weeks, whereas the TV show takes a much longer time to put together. There are just so many more components to it, and it's so much more work.

Part of the pitch for doing the television show is that I was trying to ask these artists to take a leap of faith, [like,] "This is something that's going to take a while to make, so you can't tie it to your promotional calendar, necessarily. I can't guarantee that it'll come out on such and such date to coincide with your single release or something like that." It was really more like, "Would you like to participate in this thing where there'll be this really meticulously crafted mini-documentary about this work that you did, and it's sort of evergreen."

That's a different pitch than with the podcast. Although with the podcast, I say all those things, too. I say it's evergreen and it's always better when it's not necessarily tied to your release schedule and more like when people have had a chance to live with the song a little bit. But one of the advantages of the podcast is it can be a little more nimble because it's a little easier to put together.

So this is a long way of saying that a lot of times that question is answered by the artists themselves or their publicists or managers, who are looking for a very specific outcome or timing, or they have something in mind, and that could be a matter of scale. It really depends on the circumstances of the artist and what works for them.

Fans who've been following the podcast for a while will find a totally different experience when they come to the show. There are two types of storytelling when I hear "Song Exploder," the podcast, and when I watch "Song Exploder," the docuseries. The podcast is very audio-heavy: You get to really hear all of the isolated bits and pieces of the song. The show has a lot more historical and cultural context, sort of like a mini-documentary for a song, and you also hear from a lot more voices beyond just the recording artist. Beyond the visual element, what do you gain in terms of storytelling through the show?

I think one of the things that you mentioned is absolutely key to the TV show, which is that often on the podcast, it's just a single voice or maybe two voices together … But with the TV show, because the timeline was so different, there was a chance to stop and say, "OK, who do we really want? Who are all the voices that are involved in the creation of the song?" Maybe not just the artist, but also the collaborators that were essential to making the song. 

Having that kind of breadth and depth, it isn't always afforded to the shorter turnaround time and the scale of the podcast. But here, to really immerse the audience and give a really full picture of what the song was, having those other voices in there was really important. For [the] Alicia Keys episode [about the song "3 Hour Drive,"] we traveled to London to film with [the song's guest vocalist and co-writer/co-producer] Sampha and the [song's] co-writer/co-producer Jimmy Napes because we knew that they were going to only expand and flesh out the story.

I think a part of it is also a matter of craft, too. When you're working in audio, you're kind of only working in one dimension, which is time. You're just relying on one sense, hearing, and you're just basing everything on how long things take; the rhythm comes from just that one sense. But with TV, you have to also give a rhythm and complexity visually, too. You can't just transliterate the podcast into a TV format, where it's just one person talking, mixed with the isolated stems, because it wouldn't work; it would get very boring very quickly. So in order to have that kind of texture and nuance, we wanted to involve all those different people and try and give a little bit bigger of a picture than maybe what comes out in the podcast.

Do you see the podcast and the show as separate entities or related in the same family? Do you need to engage with both formats to fully appreciate or understand what "Song Exploder" is trying to do?

Oh, I don't think you have to engage with both. Of course, I would love it if people did, just because they're both things that I've put a lot of work into, and you want people to enjoy the stuff that you've worked on. This is not a great analogy, but I think it's sort of like reading a book or watching a movie that's been adapted of that book. I don't think you need to read the book to enjoy the movie, and vice versa, you don't need to have seen the movie to have full enjoyment of the book. But maybe you'll get something out of the experience of taking both in. Maybe it changes the way you feel about both.

This is, of course, a little bit different, because it's not even the same story that's being told. It's really just taking the core concept, which is an intimate portrait of an artist telling the story of how their artistic mind worked through creating one of their songs, and taking that concept and expressing it in these two different media. So it's much looser even than something like an adaptation of a book to a movie.

What artist or what song is your holy grail for the podcast or the show or both?

I don't have one holy grail—I think I probably have about a thousand. Anytime I start listening to music, I start wondering about it. That's not new since I started "Song Exploder"; it's the other way around. That's always been the way I listen to music. When I fall in love with a song, I want to hear it from the inside out. I want to hear what the individual tracks, what the individual stems sound like. I want to know what the ideas were that inspired all of these things that I'm falling in love with. "Song Exploder" was just a way of me being able to actually make that happen for myself. So anytime I'm listening to music and I hear something great, you could put it on the list.

Ty Dolla $ign in "Song Exploder"

Ty Dolla $ign in "Song Exploder" | Photo: Courtesy of Netflix/Netflix

What is your ultimate goal with "Song Exploder"?

I wish people would either watch the show or listen to the podcast and come away with a feeling that they want to make something themselves. Part of my aim with the show is to democratize the act of creation a little bit. I think it's easy to look at very successful artists or very successful songs or any kind of art in any format, where it has reached a certain level of success, and think that there's some uncrossable boundary for everyday people that keeps them from making something as great as those songs …

I think the best feeling that I always get from finishing working on an episode is something akin to that. That like, I just want to go make something, and it doesn't just have to be music. I think that anybody who is interested in making anything at all, to get something from the show, just the idea of going from nothing but an idea and following that all the way through to a finished piece of art, I hope that might be inspiring to everyone.

Glen Ballard On How His Netflix Show "The Eddy" Puts Music, Jazz And Performance First

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Fantastic Negrito

Fantastic Negrito

 

Photo: Lyle Owerko

 
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Fantastic Negrito On How His New Album, 'Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?', Is A Timely Commentary On American Society

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The two-time GRAMMY-winning singer-songwriter tells GRAMMY.com how he tackles the many forms of mental illness, including racism, on his latest release and how he continues to use his music and art as a form of protest
Joshua M. Miller
GRAMMYs
Jun 25, 2020 - 5:41 am

"Focusing on what can be done not what cannot be done." 
 

Two-time GRAMMY-winning artist Fantastic Negrito, the moniker of Oakland, Calif.-based singer-songwriter Xavier Dphrepaulezz, tweeted out those words earlier this month while reflecting on the ongoing injustices he sees in American society. For the past five years, he's used Fantastic Negrito as an outlet to speak out musically against social issues like gun violence, opioid addiction and homelessness—parts of what he considers a broken political and social system. But as a lifelong optimist, he feels there's a solution to each problem if we work together to solve it.

On his new album, Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?, out August 14 via Cooking Vinyl/Blackball Universe, he scales down the scope of his songwriting to ground level, writing about mental health in America and reflecting on specific people he knew growing up who have impacted his life. That includes "I'm So Happy I Cry," a collaboration with Tarriona "Tank" Ball of New Orleans-based Tank And The Bangas, which the artist premiered today (June 25). 

The song was inspired by the death of rising rapper Juice WRLD in late 2019 due to an opioid overdose. Dphrepaulezz feels too many young artists fall victim to overmedication, especially recently due to stress from coronavirus-induced social distancing and the fear of dying unjustly at the hands of the police.

"There's something very sick and wrong with a state-sanctioned police force that arbitrarily murders people disproportionately," Dphrepaulezz tells GRAMMY.com in a recent interview. "I feel that there has to be a significant movement against this and something that's tangible that people will be able to hold onto after this is all said and done and quiets down. I think Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? is completely in step with our current situation because people—yes, they have lost their mind. They expressed it in the streets, and as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, 'Rioting is the voice of the unheard.'"

Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? sees Dphrepaulezz voicing encouragement for those struggling with their form of mental illness. Sometimes it's found in untraditional places, such as "How Long?" where he pleads for the shooter to stop their violence. The album also features collaborations with E-40 via "Searching For Captain Save A Hoe," a remake of the rapper's 1993 hit, as well as Masa Kohama on "Your Sex Is Overrated."

Much like his previous releases, including his pair of GRAMMY-winning albums, The Last Days Of Oakland (2016) and Please Don't Be Dead (2018), Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? continues Dphrepaulezz's timely commentary on American culture and the nation's most urgent issues.

"My music is just my social commentary as a human being and an artist living on the planet, and there's such a wide spectrum of issues," he says. "I just try to feel the pulse. It's exciting to feel the pulse, make an assessment and then write material and create art around that pulse. It's what inspired me to come back as a musician after years of layoff and become Fantastic Negrito. It's OK to write about injustices and inequalities. This is a great position to be in as an artist."

GRAMMY.com chatted with Dphrepaulezz about his new album as Fantastic Negrito and how he's combating the various forms of mental illness, including racism, through his music.

How are you doing today?

Well, I'm better than some. I'm not as good as others, but I still like my chances as a human being.

You've been using social media as a way to start conversations about everything, from rappers getting back to political and social commentary in their music to your thoughts on the fight for equality. Why are these real-time conversations important to you?

Twitter is like a nice, warm, safe place for me. I like that I can really just express a million views. My view is, if you have a platform, use it. If you're living in the world and society, be a contributor. That's just something I believe in philosophically. I see Twitter and Instagram and all these [platforms] as a way to contribute. You could get up on your platform and scream out stupid things, or you could get on your platform and try to connect and engage. Be a contributor, a positive force in the world. Be a voice of reason. Be in that tribe, the voice of reasonable people. I like that tribe.

On your first two albums as Fantastic Negrito, The Last Days of Oakland (2016) and Please Don't Be Dead (2018), you took a bigger-picture approach in talking about issues plaguing the country such as gun violence and homelessness. Why is it meaningful to write about those topics?

My music is just my social commentary as a human being and an artist living on the planet, and there's such a wide spectrum of issues. I just try to feel the pulse. It's exciting to feel the pulse, make an assessment and then write material and create art around that pulse. It's what inspired me to come back as a musician after years of layoff and become Fantastic Negrito. It's OK to write about injustices and inequalities. This is a great position to be in as an artist.

On your new album, Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?, you scale things down a little bit to a more personal level, with songs about people you know. Why did you take this approach?

I think it's important because if you really want to change the world, we got to start with ourselves. If we want to effect change and make really positive and good things, then we have to start with the people in our circle. Community is a word that people like to throw around, but it really starts with ourselves: It starts with our brothers and our sisters and our cousins and our co-workers, and we have to build coalitions with these people. I thought it was interesting to just write [about] the state of people around me. There seems to be so much [of] what I call just an attack on the brain, this mental illness that we're all living with. We're functioning people in the society every day, but we're living with this disease—whether it's depression, the proliferation of too much information, racism, slogan-isms ...

I thought just the dependence on social media and the internet—man, it's a mental illness. And so it was interesting to write an album from that perspective and talk about real-life people. Because, of course, the people walking down the street talking to themselves, that's the easy part, like, "Wow, they're mentally ill." But what about your friend in the cubicle? What about your brother or your cousin? How are they coping with the challenges of modern society? 

[Our society] is so technologically advanced and yet it's so far-removed from the emotional context of a one-on-one [conversation] with a person and looking into their eyes rather than staring into our so-called smartphones and looking to get validation—likes and followers. That's our value system, when in fact, you can buy likes and followers. So what does that say about our value system?

For me, this is a mental illness. I've been doing social commentary now for three albums. I'm happy and proud to know that my fingers are on the pulse. We're in the midst of [the] COVID-19 [pandemic] and everyone is stuck inside; this is interesting. They keep knowing what's going on and being right there.

Do you find it's important to put a face to an issue when you're writing a song?

I think on this record, I did particularly put a face to each song and that's what made it probably the hardest record that I've ever done, to be that transparent, like in [album tracks] "Chocolate Samurai" and "How Long?" 

[On] "How Long?" I was really writing about the shooter, the perpetrator of violence. I was writing about the guy who lost his humanity so much that he chokes out a Black man in Minnesota on the street. I was writing about the kid who went into a church and shot up nine Black people. I was writing about the Las Vegas shooting. I was writing about Sandy Hook still. I mean, where do we go and where do we lose it mentally to where we feel like that, that we can justify murdering children?

Something is very wrong in our society where we take it as, "Hey, it's rainy today and there [were] 25 people killed in Las Vegas. Hey, so what are you guys doing later?" I mean, it's just become so casual. And again, I felt like, "Wow, this is more mental illness." So I wrote that song from the perspective of not the victim, surprisingly. I'm saying, "How Long?" But it's the perpetrator of violence, the shooter.

How do you think the album relates to the recent nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice?

I think it relates 1,000 percent because there's no other mental illness that destroys, decapitates and deconstructs communities as much as racism. It's perhaps the greatest mental illness of them all. I feel like on "Chocolate Samurai," I ask and I say, "The whole world is watching, get free tonight, my people, my teachers, my soldiers." It's like a rallying cry … in my view that we seek freedom. Freedom and peace go hand in hand, like brothers and sisters; they need each other because you can't really have one without the other.

"I'm So Happy I Cry," which I did with ["Tank" Ball from] Tank and The Bangas … "Searching For Captain Save A Hoe," which I portray myself as the whore with E-40, who's one of my favorite rappers of all time. But songs like "King Frustration," because people are frustrated and I wanted to write about that. 

All of this tied together to me with this proliferation again of a mental illness that seems unchecked. There's something very sick and wrong with a state-sanctioned police force that arbitrarily murders people disproportionately. I feel that there has to be a significant movement against this and something that's tangible that people will be able to hold onto after this is all said and done and quiets down. I think Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? is completely in step with our current situation because people—yes, they have lost their mind. They expressed it in the streets, and as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Rioting is the voice of the unheard."

Read: Fantastic Negrito On Studio Magic, Chris Cornell, "Dark Windows" & More

Despite the tough subject matter, you often are able to find a glimmer of hope in your songs and provide encouragement that people aren't alone facing these various issues.

I've always been an optimist. I'm the eighth of 14 children. For whatever reason, it made me an optimist. I had to be a survivor from day one, like, "Hey, will you get that glass of milk or water? Will you get a clean pair of socks? Will you even get some acknowledgement from a parent with so many children?" It turned me into an optimist, and I've always walked towards the light. I lost my playing hand in [a car] accident. I was in a coma for three weeks and I lost my playing hand. But you know what? I just always walk towards the light and I try to write from a very positive place. There's enough destruction in the world.

I've watched a few interviews recently of African American celebrities and politicians who have talked about how their celebrity or status has impacted how people viewed them. As a GRAMMY winner, how has that applied to you?

As a two-time GRAMMY winner, I just don't live in that world. I live on a small farm. Oakland is a small town. I don't live in L.A. or New York, and I just don't really have any interest in that, so I don't pay attention to that. I'm really focused on growing food, being part of a community and creating albums, making contributions to the world that I live in. 

I don't live my life like a celebrity or any of that; I'm not looking for that. I guess you are what you think you are. I'm just a regular guy. I'm one of us, but that's my honest opinion, that I live in small media markets. It's wonderful. Small-town mentality, big aspirations.

Where Fantastic Negrito Keeps His GRAMMY

Do you have any personal stories regarding the recent protests?

In this current phase of protesting, I'm a person that believes that we can all protest, but that doesn't mean that they have to be in the streets necessarily. I'm only speaking for myself, personally. That's something that you may have done at one time. But then as you get older, you evolve from the streets and you can start your protests in other ways, or it can turn into a photo op. I'm not really interested in doing that. The greatest protest against tyranny, oppression, police brutality is to make sure you have the tools to fight against them. If you have the tools, make sure that you're sharing those tools and teaching people younger than you how to use and apply those tools.

I really love that form of protest. Having a platform and just writing and creating music that means something and that is a contributing factor—to me, it's all protest. The news, the cameras will all go away. I'm not into being someone's flavor of the month. What I can do is support and encourage peace and justice and try to be the voice of reason. 

I'm not getting out to the streets at 52 years old and taking on the cops; that's not my thing. You got to evolve past that. You want to boycott some stuff? I love that idea. It's got to be organized. We just can't scream out slogans over and over again. I mean, what do you do after that? What do you do the day after that?

Obviously, through my music, I'm not one to follow trends. I'm here to support meaningful, long-lasting reform. That is interesting to me. The first opponent I get to face is me every day. You have to let these young people speak, too, man; I've done my damage. Let these 20-year-olds speak, let them have the mic for a change, let them rally in the streets. It's their time. 

I'm going to write music. I'm going to use my art. I'm going to use my platform as I have in my last three albums, The Last Days Of Oakland, Please Don't Be Dead and now Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? I've been doing it very quietly in a small town in Oakland, and the GRAMMYS have recognized it, [for] which I'm very grateful.

J. Ivy Talks Making Music For Social Change, Leading With Love & The Importance Of Supporting Black Artists

GRAMMYs

Liz Brasher

Photo: Jarrod Anthonee

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Liz Brasher Opens Up About Memphis, Mental Health & Her New "Sad Girl Status" Video

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The tough and talented emerging artist talks candidly about her career journey, how Memphis' "grit and hustle" inspires her, and what went into her powerful and personal new video
Robert Ham
MusiCares
Jun 23, 2020 - 10:19 am

Singer/songwriter Liz Brasher definitely took the backroads to discover and develop her distinctive style of Southern music. Influenced by everything from the spirituals of Mahalia Jackson to the crafty harmonies of the Beatles, Brasher honed her self-described mix of "garage rock meets the Delta blues meets gospel meets soul," along the winding personal and musical journey from her hometown of Matthews, NC, through Chicago and Atlanta. 

The backroads eventually led her to the home of legendary labels Stax and Sun Records, Memphis, Tenn., where she began her career in earnest and found her new creative home.

"It’s a really healthy place to write and to exist as an artist. There’s no feeling of industry or competition here," she says. "I came to Memphis to record an album and hopefully get signed. And literally the first weekend I was here, those things happened for me."

Fast success awaited Brasher in Memphis. She was snapped up by Fat Possum Records and soon found herself on the road, opening for the Zombies and the Psychedelic Furs, and making her highly acclaimed first appearance at SXSW in 2018. She released her debut album Painted Image in early 2019 and even earned a place in the hallowed halls of the Stax Museum, with one of her stage outfits and guitars on display, further celebrating and cementing her connection to the "Home of the Blues." 

But soon, Liz started to see her promising young career stall out just as the lights were turning green. 

“You’re promised that things are going to go one way,” she remembers, “then you see yourself fall to the wayside because... things aren't the way you were told they would be.” 

Instead of succumbing to adversity, Brasher poured her disappointment into her music. She sat down at her piano one day and out came a heartfelt ballad called “Sad Girl Status.” The song is a powerful expression of personal anguish and fiery determination written with ample room for her wall-shaking vocals to boom out. Appropriately, it’s matched up with a video featuring the wildly talented artist walking with purpose through Memphis—both guided tour and a reminder of her place in the musical history of this legendary city.  

While she waits for the quarantine to lift and for her touring life to begin again, Brasher spoke with the Recording Academy about the hard times that led to the creation of “Sad Girl Status,” inheriting her work ethic from her immigrant mom, and what her adopted hometown of Memphis means to her. 

Let’s start off by talking about your new single “Sad Girl Status.” In the notes for the song, you talk about how it was born from a really low point in your career and your life. What was going on at that time? 

We had just released my debut album Painted Image. Everything in my whole life had been leading up to this moment. Like, it’s your first record. You really want it to do well. I had just come off a really good previous year of touring. Then suddenly I watched everything fall into this stalemate. It didn’t matter how many songs I was writing. It didn’t matter what I was doing to get better, I couldn’t propel anything forward. That was just so frustrating because I’m not a person who sits still very well at all. That’s what I was now forced to do for almost a year. I found myself in this cycle of frustration. I knew what my potential was, but I couldn’t get myself to where I wanted to go. So, in that really low state, I sat down at the piano, and in a few minutes, the song completely came out of me. It was really melancholy, but I thought it was beautiful at the same time. I think it was really what I needed to make this mental switch. It was the catalyst for me to be able to make changes that needed to be made in my career. 

What changes did you make to help you move forward? 

I took my career into my own hands. As an artist it’s easy to feel like a lot is out of your control. You write the music, perform it, record it, but you can feel so disconnected to everything from the business side – like it’s something that’s happening to you. Some artists are okay with being hands off, with just getting informed as things happen, but I realized that’s not what I wanted. That forced me to take a step back and see that, while I have help with my career, I ultimately needed to own the fact that it’s up to me to make sure it’s driving forward in the way I want it to go.

Is it normal for you to start with the piano to write a song? A lot of the material on Painted Image is very guitar-forward. 

Aside from singing, piano was my first instrument. My mom started me on piano lessons when I was four. When I began to join bands, I would just sing. Later on, I picked up the guitar and that kind of overtook everything for me. It’s so much easier to lead a band as a guitar player. I’ve got some songs that are more piano-based but not like this. Not stripped down—just vocals and piano. 

Your hometown of Memphis is such a huge part of the video for “Sad Girl Status.” What does the city mean to you? 

The thing that attracted me most is that Memphis refuses to conform. There’s this very unique grit and hustle to this city. This constant mindset that Memphis is going to do whatever it wants to do. It’s a really healthy place to write and to exist as an artist. There’s no feeling of industry or competition here. I came to Memphis to record an album and hopefully get signed. And literally the first weekend I was here, those things happened for me. I don’t know if I’ll be in Memphis forever, but it’s always going to be the place where my career began. 

GRAMMYs

Liz Brasher's stage outfit and guitar on display at the Stax Museum in Memphis
Photo: Shane Trulin

Was it easy for you to get into the grind and hustle of the city? 

That’s something that was ingrained in me from childhood because my mom is an immigrant. She had to work her ass off to support me, including having multiple jobs so that I could take piano lessons. She’s one of nine siblings that came from the Dominican Republic where they all lived in a one room shack with dirt floors. My family came here seeking a better life. I grew up seeing how many things they had to balance and struggle with just to make ends meet. For me, it was like, how could I not work as hard as my mom?

How has your family responded to your music and your career? 

They just kind of stay out of it. Some will ask or keep up with how things are going, but most just act like it doesn’t exist. I have a very strict religious family. I grew up singing in the church and I wasn’t allowed to listen to secular music. I had to sneak out to go to concerts and had friends burn me CDs so I could hear what was going on. I had to literally hide in my closet with my radio because I was so addicted to music and wasn’t allowed to hear it. I grew up singing and was always playing some instrument, so it really shouldn’t be a shock that I turned out to be a musician. It can be an issue of contention because a prevalent thought within my family is that any time music is used outside of the church it’s automatically evil or negative. I think it’s a cultural and age difference, more than anything. My mom had me at 40, so that’s a huge age gap. You combine that with a different mentality from a different country and a legalistic view on faith, it just makes for a melting pot of misunderstanding. But I think all artists feel that way to a degree. My family’s response actually drives me. I want to be even more successful because I want them to see that this is a valid career and way of life. 

Do you have any ideas about what comes next for you – once you can get back on the road and onstage? 

I'm going to take over the world. I’ve written so much, even from the time of my first record. I’ve got multiple albums just waiting to be recorded right now. We’re having the conversations and discussing what the best options are. Is it building our own team independently or is it working with a label that’s going to be fully on board? Right now, we’re sorting through all of our options. I want to ensure we avoid repeating what I just went through. We’re just taking it one song at a time right now.   

Learn more about how you can donate to or apply for assistance via the Recording Academy's and MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund.

Learn more about the financial, medical and personal emergencies services and resources offered by the Recording Academy and MusiCares.

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Photo: Edwin Remsberg/VWPics/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

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How Musicians Are Staying Positive & Productive Amidst A Pandemic

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The inside scoop on how stay-at-home livestreams, being in nature, trying new things and simply surviving are keeping music people going...
Jordan Blum
MusiCares
May 20, 2020 - 10:14 am

Inarguably, COVID-19 has had devastating effects on the music industry. With dozens of album releases and live music gatherings indefinitely postponed, the ultimate ramifications may be as unfavorable as they are unforeseeable. Despite those fears and doubts, however, there are plenty of reasons to feel reassured, too. After all, countless artists are finding optimism not only by enhancing their creative and personal lives, but also by building deeper relationships with fans, promoting awareness of those in need, and much more. As such, they demonstrate endearing levels resilience and resourcefulness that signify how we’re sure to bounce back from this crisis even more in tune with ourselves and each other.

Here are a few inventive ways musicians are staying focused, positive, and productive during these trying times

Promoting Positivity Through Online Presence

One of the most immediate and widespread ways musicians are overcoming the pandemic is through their virtual platforms. Specifically, many of them are becoming more invested in using social media to interact with their followers. Katatonia drummer Daniel Moilanen views such tactics as equally necessary and beneficial, saying, “I see this as something that will be a new standard for ways to reach out to fans... I’ve seen many artists going further with that idea by doing regular podcasts.”

Case in point: six-string virtuoso Steve Hackett, who’s frequently been recording videos in which he plays a bit of music and/or discusses a fan favorite Genesis or solo tune.

Some of these creators are pushing themselves to adapt to previously unfamiliar mediums. “Before the lockdown began, I wasn’t even aware of platforms like Twitch, but over the last couple months I’ve noticed an influx of bands using it as a way of staying engaged with fans,” Haken guitarist Richard Henshall observes. Rock supergroup Flying Colors held a four-day “Backstage Summit” at the start of May via Zoom, wherein they offered Q&A sessions with each member, discussions of songwriting and production techniques, critiques of fan-submitted original music, and more. Clearly, they, like so many others, are keen to reciprocate the love and appreciation that their admirers have always shown them.

Elsewhere, numerous groups have uploaded either music videos, achieved stage shows, or collaborative tributes to those affected by the virus. Naturally, Queen + Adam Lambert recently issued “You Are the Champions,” a touching tribute that sees them reworking the beloved “We Are the Champions” over footage of people all over the world sustaining joy and togetherness amidst the turmoil.

Alternative rock trio The Used just put out a similar video for their track “The Lighthouse (feat. Mark Hoppus),” while OK GO—whose lead guitarist, Damian Kulash, recovered from the illness—produced a video while self-quarantining to raise donations for Partners in Health. Beyond that, greats such as Bruce Springsteen, Wilco, and Radiohead have posted older concerts in their entirety to comfort fans stuck at home. On May 9th, The Prog Report hosted “Prog from Home,” a three-hour YouTube hodgepodge in which over twenty artists came together to raise money for a few charities and bring viewers together.

Obviously, those prerecorded placations and interactive conversations are wonderful. But what about the thing that people seem to miss most: live music? Well, innumerable musicians working tirelessly to replicate the concertgoing experience through the internet. Dozens of bands, brands, organizations, and publications—such as As I Lay Dying, Magic Giant, Alanis Morrissette, Phish, and Katy Perry—are participating in digital festivals and formal performance streams within the next couple of weeks alone. Likewise, there are just as many musicians doing less official stints, like Ben Folds’ “Saturday Apartment Requests” series and Devin Townsend’s multimodal “Quarantine Project” (which has already garnered nearly $200,000 for hospitals). In fact, Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess just finished his 60th consecutive day streaming casual recitals on Facebook, and The Pineapple Thief frontman Bruce Soord “did an acoustic show recently and was amazed how many people tuned in and enjoyed it.” He adds, “When I finished and turned off the stream, it felt very similar to walking off stage after a ‘real’ show. I was buzzing.”

Whether at-home variations like those previous discussed or the fledgling yet promising notion of drive-in gigs, artists are visibly keen to put a positive spin on whatever options are available for concerts. Marjana Semkina—vocalist of Russian art rock duo iamthemorning—sees these alternatives as a permanent part of our lives: "More people will turn to live streaming and platforms like Patreon. . . . I’m sure a lot of [creators] will embrace the powers of community that they can build [that way]. It almost has a family feeling to it.” Correspondingly, Alter Bridge singer/guitarist Myles Kennedy says, “For me, the silver lining has been seeing how this has forced artists to think outside the box in order to perform and engage with their fanbase, as well raise money for those in need.” Atreyu guitarist Dan Jacobs concurs, relishing how such new tactics “will make all bands a little bit smarter and stronger . . . to survive.”

“When I finished and turned off the stream, it felt very similar to walking off stage after a ‘real’ show. I was buzzing.” -Bruce Soord

For Gazpacho keyboardist Thomas Andersen, online shows actually “make more sense that an actual concert in many ways.” He continues, “We get lots of requests from places that we have no chance of touring, and there is always a sense that we’re letting those people down.” Doing sets virtually would be a clear solution in that respect, and “an online ‘tour’ makes more financial sense, too, as you eliminate the cost of travel, so you can sink that money into production on site,” he explains. As already evidenced by the aforementioned examples, online shows can also bring a more personalized flavor to the experience. “Instead of getting a haggard group of guys on your local stage who have been travelling for the last month, you can get into their actual living rooms and get a better sense of who they actually are and what they are like,” Andersen concludes.

Using Downtime for Development

Offline, musicians are staying just as busy and adventurous with their artistic endeavors. In addition to completing already established projects, people are finding time to try new things and work with new people. For instance,  singer/songwriter Ben Lee mentions that the present conditions allowed him to “reach out to people [he’s] wanted to work with for a long time to make some magic with no rules or expectations.” So far, those collaborators include Sarah Silverman and Shamir, whereas his Radnor & Lee partner in crime—actor Josh Radnor—has remotely produced material with Molly Tuttle in-between meditating and “doing the daily dance party at @FORWARD_Space on IG Live.” On the technical end, Neverending White Lights mastermind Daniel Victor has been working on his latest sequence, Act IV, by “trying to mix the album entirely alone while testing plug-ins and recording software.”

For Phideaux Xavier, the past few weeks have been all about revising material that he’s either forgotten about or never released. He clarifies: “The process of going into the past has been cathartic and helped me realize how to go forward.” For sure, they’ve found fresh ways to keep active creatively.

“Anything culinary is just as creative as the music process. It allows flexibility and experimenetation.” -Daniel Victor

Outside of that, they’re pressing on by staying in touch with loved ones, relishing nature, instructing others, and discovering new talents. Renaissance singer Annie Haslam reveals that painting and surrounding herself with “Canadian geese, foxes, raccoons, squirrels, and lots of bird varieties” has furthered her well-being, while Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson is enjoying “walking, bike riding, shooting, and photography” as he stays “very busy with desk projects.”

Read More: How To Use Music Techniques To Prepare Healthy Food

Fascinatingly, Victor has taken up “an online Masterclass in mixology” because “anything culinary is just as creative as the music process. It allows flexibility and experimenetation.” Jacobs has gone a more pedagogical route by “talking with School Of Rock about teaching some lessons, as well as taking lessons [himself] during the quarantine.” He expounds: “It’s important to inspire our next generation of musicians so we have some great music to look forward.”

Security and Solace

As these musicians prove, there’s hope, empathy, perseverance, and courage in simply making time for yourself and others.

Haslam surmises, “The future holds promise, with a new understanding and compassion for people,” which is a sentiment that Andersen echoes: “We should use this situation to right societal wrongs.”

As for Bowling for Soup vocalist Jaret Reddick, he reminds us that “human beings are survivors and music is a staple in all things,” whereas Semkina urges us to “not push ourselves too hard. If you feel uninspired and stressed and sad, let yourself feel those things. All you have to do is keep yourself and your family safe, sane, and happy.”

“It’s about progress, not perfection. When you get irritable and overwhelmed, do something positive ASAP." -Scott Stapp

Lastly, Creed lead singer Scott Stapp—who’s certainly overcome a lot in recent years—has a comparable take: “It’s about progress, not perfection. When you get irritable and overwhelmed, do something positive ASAP. The smallest things can help you overcome any obstacle, so stay focused on growth even when things feel stagnant.” Indeed, if we can just concentrate on the welfare of ourselves and those we love, then—as Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson once sang—all of the rest will flow.

Jordan Blum resides in Philadelphia, holds an MFA in Fiction, and teaches at several colleges and universities around the area. He’s also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Bookends Review, an independent online creative arts journal. He’s the author of two books—Jethro Tull: Every Album, Every Song and Dream Theater: Every Album, Every Song­—that are a part of Sonicbond Publishing’s On Track series. Beyond that, he’s an Associate Editor at PopMatters and a contributor to PROG, Kerrang!, Consequence of Sound, Metal Injection, and more.

Learn more about how you can donate to or apply for assistance via the Recording Academy's and MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund.

Learn more about the financial, medical and personal emergencies services and resources offered by the Recording Academy and MusiCares.