Izanami's Playlist Now on Spotify!
Hi, I've been a bit quiet this month due to a mixture of factors (work, mental health struggles, been venturing into other art forms such a song writing) but I wanted to put out a new playlist for one of my most beloved characters of mine and give her a brand new look to celebrate Black History month and show some appreciation to artists who've done so much for the culture. I didn't go for a storyline this time like I did with Emiko's. Rather, I went more for vibes and artists that I felt made music that fit Izanami's personality, so I went with a selection that's a lot more lowkey and lyrical with songs from Juice Wrld, Tyler the Creator, Logic, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Outkast, Lauryn Hill, Mac Miller and Kanye. This playlist is a lot shorter than Emiko's, but it's a lot more focused on messages and atmosphere as I used songs that tackle topics of learning to love yourself, being comfortable in your own skin, diversity, mental health, familiar relationships, and black excellence. This playlist was pretty personal to me since a lot of these artists have had to deal with the same sort of struggle I and Izanami have had to deal with, and that's looking for acceptance from your own culture, so this one's made with love for all my black brothers and sisters in this community and for everyone else who's ever felt like they didn't fit in. This one's for you. Happy Black History month. ❤
Link to the playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3aHWeCMkEn6jpo20SDUdsa?si=xSxwMYnKRce-ekAme-0vdA
It's no secret that a few of the artists that I've been featuring music videos for as of late as part of this project to show the inspiration for my new design for Emiko have been quite controversial, a few more so then others (Kanye West with antisemitism and his outrageous conspiracy theories, XXXTENTACION for domestic violence and battery, Eminem for allegations of homophobia, Kendrick Lamar accusations of Transphobia [which putting my own hat in the ring as a trans person, I personally do not feel that Auntie Diaries was transphobic which I'll explain at a later date], etc). Certainly there's always the argument of "Why not separate the art from the artist?" which I do believe is a argument that can be debated depending on the artist and the artist's offense and even the body of work of an artist and how influential said artist is but I'm not here to really discuss either side rather I want to explore if factors in said artists's lives (particularly trauma and mental illness) should be accounted for in these discussions. Using Kanye and XXXTENTACION as examples, both are artists who have been very documented as having very intense Bipolar manic and depressive episodes that were really heavily publicized by the mainstream media in ways that (in my opinion) fed more into their downwards spirals though towards the end of X's life we did see more of a positive change in his personality and signs of getting better whereas with Kanye we're kind of witnessing someone losing touch with reality in real time. How much does the media fuel this behavior, how much does ego fuel this behavior, how much does mental illness take into account? I feel these are very intriguing and important questions that we need to ask ourselves concerning celebrities because of not only how much influence they have over the culture but also why are we so fascinated with the controversy and drama of people's lives falling apart (whether deserved or undeserved). These are topics (especially fame and mental illness) that I really look to explore in my story through Emiko albeit abit exaggerated given Emiko's job as a CIA assassin.
This is a link for a more streamlined, casual version of Emiko's Playlist with this version being 3 hours long and arranged in a way as to tell a story. The version features music from artists such as Kendrick Lamar, XXXTENTACION, Childish Gambino and more!
Emiko has her own Spotify Playlist now!
Incase anyone ever wanted to see what kind of music Emiko listens to, there's an entire day worth of music from different genres and artists all around the world! Its intended to be listened to in shuffle mode as you go about your day, just putting yourself in Emiko's shoes.
I gotta say something
I don't usually talk about these kind of things on here because we are told not to talk about these things because "it'll alienate certain people" or it's "going woke" or whatever but I can't take it anymore. I can't be silent anymore. As alot of you know, I'm a trans woman of color (Puerto Rican, Black and Polish) and like for the longest time I stayed silent on the violence going on aganist marginalized communities and I was in the whole "anti-censorship, pro freedom of speech" crowd and for the most part I do still agree with the freedom of speech but freedom of speech doesn't give people the right to be a bigot, freedom of speech doesn't mean that you can treat trans people or black people or hispanic people of muslim people or asian people or any other marginalized group of people like were not people. We bleed, we cry, we dream, we love, we hope for the future the same as everyone else and someone's gender identity, race, religion, political point of view, economical class, etc aren't reasons to be assholes to people and to wish death on other human beings who just want to live and love the same as anyone else. Discrimination isn't ok, hate isn't ok, racism isn't ok, sexism isn't ok, homophobia isnt ok, islamophobia isnt ok, antisemitism isn't ok. Being a minority and wanting equal rights isn't political and people need to stop pretending it is because real human lives are being put in danger everyday and people are dying everyday because of this evil hateful ideology that's create to dehumanize and divide and we shouldn't be about that and we shouldn't be ok with others doing it. We should all raise above it together and be united together as humans who wanna be the best they can be everyday and let's strive for equality and let's strive for peace and let's let love win over hate. Over my near decade of being on deviantart I've met so many beautiful people of all different races, genders, sexualities, religions, classes and I love each and every one of you who's stopped by my account and shown me love and shown me support in my darkest moments. It's no secret that I've been struggling alot with mental illness most specifically PTSD from my time living in the Southside hoods of Milwaukee and Chicago and growing up I've seen so many people I love have their lives cut down short to gun violence and that's not a pain that I would ever wish on even my worst enemies, losing someone in such a violent and sudden ways right before your eyes changes you and for the longest time I was in that sunken place where I just looked at the world with the most pessimistic lens of "The world is fucked, the people I love are dead, there's no point to waking up everyday to this pain." and I let that grief and pain and anger completely consume me whole until I didn't even know who I was anymore and you guys changed that for me and you guys made me feel alive again. Even if just one person reads this, you are beautiful no matter who you are, no matter the color of your skin, no matter which deity you pray to, no matter who you love or identify as, we're all human and we gotta start letting love win over hate because we're all human and we all struggle and dream together. I love you all.
