We have a lack of trans people in the music industry. Point blank. People like Kim Petras have made ripples but not anywhere near the success trans people deserve. Our music industry in America has progressed with its representation but there is still a hole that needs to be filled. Trans people have a perspective unlike any other, so their music will have that same perspective. Music is an expression of emotions and should be shared with the world. Getting more trans individuals into the music world could help bring down stereotypes we have and bring us really good music. My interviewee is Jordyn-Laurette(She/Her), a trans-woman, who is just 50% of the band Phantom Glitch Souls. The band discusses hard-hitting topics like dysphoria, depressions, suicide, etc.
Q1. Who is your biggest musical influence?
“That is so difficult! There are a lot of influences in our music. In our opening track from our album, Dead Glitches Recognize Each Other Part One, Phoebes (Who is the other 50% of the band) and I were heavily inspired by the Industrial pop group Black Dresses and metal artists. Spliced throughout the album you get inspirations from 100 gecs, Gorrillaz, The Clash, Charli XCX, etc. There are a lot of elements from the entire musical landscape of whatever we enjoy, and what we put out there. Me finding out my queer indentiy, people like 100 gecs, Rina Sawayama, and Dorian Electra, were huge ifleucnes for me to express myself unapollgetically, speak about what needs to be spoken about in a bad-ass punk way. These new hyper-pop artists are becoming the new punk rockers, by the way they deconstruct gender roles, and other social norms. They speak their minds unapologetically and just being themselves, that’s what I got from those artists.
Q2. Who is your biggest queer influence?
“I would have to say Natalie Wynn, from the YouTube channel ContraPoints, is a trans woman who I’ve always looked up to. She has incredible analytical skills from her video essays, which I admire. She’ll have this Gen-Z/ Millennial internet sense of humour spliced with, an increasingly verbose socio-political discourse. People don’t get into debates with her, she's the anti Ben Shapiro.” Quick sidebar: Everyone should go check out ContraPoints on Youtube (link will be below) but Natalie Wynn is extremely entertaining and informative to watch.
Q3. Why do you write/sing about these kinds of problems? (Anxiety, transphobia etc.)
“For the first record in particular, [Dead Glitches Recognize Each Other Part One] I kind of leaned more into what the record would sound like. But on tracks like We’re All Dead and Digital Dystopia, those defineitley have more of a socio-political edge to them, which you might not get on first listen. Like in the chorus of the song, [Digital Dystopia] I sing the phrase, “Stuck inside a body that I ain’t even asked for.” As if it’s a sarcastic bitter way to say that I should not have been born inside this body, and that it's a detriment to exist in it. Or like in the song, We’re All Dead, I describe someone who is so fake woke. They have BLM in their intrgram bio, but still say bigoted things, and will only use this pseudo-”wokeness” to make themselves look good, to look like allies. Many of them look over issues like trans women of color being disproportionately murdered. People feel that trans women are subhuman and forget that they are when they are murdered. For intstance, I had seen on one of those petitions singing websites a family was mourning the loss of a trans woman and we’re asking for signatures for a petition in relation to that woman’s murder. It only got around 2,000 signatures but you have someone trying to change the American Flag to Manny from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and you see the number exceeding far more than a real serious issue. Like I said, it is this pseudo-”wokeness.” I was just so frustrated, people deem people of color and queer people as less than. But yet they are willing to jump on the bandwagon if it makes them laugh or it’s the easiest way to go by. We’re All Dead, is essentially written from the perspective of someone who is fed up with the facades.”
Q4. How does being trans affect your life and your music?
“It’s definitely caused turbulence amongst my family. There is just a lack of queer eduaction. A lot of people don’t know another trans person or their experiences. So when we come out we start from the ground up. From the Netflix documentary, Disclosure, it is made known that most people do not have a trans family member or friend. So what people know about trans people is from the media we consume. A lot of family the only trans people they know are Buffalo Bill from Silent Hill, or all of these characters who are portrayed as predators, exclusively mentally ill, violent murders, or a punchline. It’s an uphill battle. Some people in my family are willing to accept me and they want to learn from me. Others however are far more hesitant because, being from a Portegese background in particular, it is something that is frowned upon. My father only thinks about the negative representation from the media and chooses not to listen to anything I say about the matter. He thinks that I am delusional and I am in denial or that I am insane. There is just so much opposition and feeling antagonized by people who don’t and won’t educate themselves on the matter. That comes through in my music, and music is a form of emotional expression, and that comes in the form of passive aggressive lyrics. A lot of lyrics are intentionally cryptic while others are intentionally blunt. Where it might be easier to explain my emotions in an abstract, I can have the instruments express what words can’t.”
Q5. What is your favorite song you’ve ever written?
“That will require two separate answers. As we sepak, Grace and I are already working on a second album! As of right now we are working on a track called, “I Don’t Miss You,” which is a very misleading title. The title comes from a line in the song, “I can’t pretend I don’t miss you.” That has to be my favorite one I have ever written because it's grand and emotionally potent. My favorite from the album, Dead Glitches Recognize Each Other Part One, is the song Microscopic or Used. Microscopic, in particular, is very near and dear to my heart. It describes the feelings I had after coming out of the hospital from a suicide attempt, and people who I thought were my best friends did not care if I was alive or not. I had found self love in myself internally, but eternal love was so sparse.
Q6. What has been your biggest struggle as a trans woman?
“Honestly, it's a combination of a lot of things. It’s the isolation, loneliness, the demonization of the demographic you fall into, the dysphoria that leads to a deteriorating mental state that furthers the inaqdeucacy you feel. Looking into the mirror and seeing that you are from who you truly are. Being denied healthcare can be such a struggle. A lot of my suicidal thoughts came from the dysphoria I was feeling in conjunction with the opposition I was getting from other people and the isolation in numerous factors. Trans existence is the hardest part about being trans. The whole umbrella.” When Jorydn-Laurette said this I felt a chill roll down my spine. I understood what she meant but then again not at all. Her words were perfectly crafted to fit my question. That her just being who she is, is hard. Harder than many of us could ever imagine.
Q7. What are your plans in the future with your music and the industry in general?
“Well the thing about most amazing musicians is not only that they make good sounding music, but they start a revolution in society as a whole. Like when The Clash released their album Combat Rock or Kendrick Lamar and his To Pimp a Butterfly. It’s these revolutionary projects that were interesting sonically and progressive in subject matter. I want to continue to make things that are ear candy, but also challenge how you perceive things, not just sound wise. In the new album we are working on the whole theme is unity. It’s about no matter our differences we are all human and we need more empathy. There are a lot of collaborators on the new album, most of them queer individuals and POC, who are amaizng musicians in their own right, but cultivate this idea that no matter the different struggles we have, we should embrace one and other. We want to fight without fighting at all and to spread positivity. Especially in this world that is so bleak and full of war, and murder, and homelessness. Trying to find some light at the end of the tunnel.”
Before we ended Jordyn-Laurette wanted to bring up the other 50% of the band, Phoebes. “I wanted to mention that she is an amazing musician. Her and I have discussed a lot of these issues and she is very much an ally. And the way we work off each other is perfect in constructing the sound we want. She not only is an amazingly talented musician but also an incredibly empathetic and intelligent person. I just thought I should mention that, she deserves far more credit.”
People like Jordyn-Laurette are the reason I began this blog. I met her through Inside-Out Youth Services in Colorado Springs and was able to set up this interview. The band has allowed her to establish a new kind of music. One that could revolutionize how we think, in terms of queer people. Her music has opened up a way to express her emotions while being heard. Music as Jordyn-Laurette put it is a “form of emotional expression.” She and the band are taking strides for our community but starting conversations. People like her are the reason our future will be full of acceptance, of unity.
Information:
(The Album And Where To Find It)
Phantom Glitch Souls Band Socials: https://www.instagram.com/phantomglitchsoulz/
Jordyn-Laurette Socials: https://www.instagram.com/xxjordyn_laurette_is_spicyxx/
Phoebes Socials: https://www.instagram.com/phoebes_01/
ContraPoints YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNvsIonJdJ5E4EXMa65VYpA
Cover Photo: Jordyn-Laurette
Resources:
Trans Hotline: https://translifeline.org
Suicide Hotline:https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org
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