All Art is Political: A conversation with Anusha
Singer-songwriter, Anusha's poetic lyrics explore our most vulnerable moments and her zine The Burden Project. TW: The article includes content about Ableism and Sexual Harassment.
How did you start your DIY music journey as an artist?
I started my artist journey recently, before I was focused on classical singing - I was lucky to get discounted singing lessons from my aunty and studied up to Grade 8.
I never saw music as a career, due to being working class and being sickly. I am not doing music for fame but for creativity and to demonstrate progress.
Is it possible to explain more about the sickness you experience ?
In 2020, I got sick, I was misdiagnosed with a funky heart, basically the top chambers of my heart don’t pump blood. It’s believed to be caught by a virus and it causes my body to shut down. We originally thought it was a stroke but I have ectopic beats, I feel them so intensely that they cripple me. I still don’t know what it could be, maybe lupus or blood process.
“Why should I suffer for you ?” To quote your lyrics. Your lyrics are so personal and reflect your experiences. How do you or your community (organisations, friends..) around you hold space for each other especially during the creative process ?
When I was younger, Mum would play Jill Scott, Nirvana, Bee Gees and Lil Kim. As I got Older, I was able to connect more to the artist's plight, and how it informed their own artistry. In my song, “something I never wanted” was about a teacher who sexually harrased me. Writing the song helped me to express what I wanted to say something deep from my soul.
My friends and community keep me grounded, without community I would spiral. I get really good advice from friends, for example getting feedback on release campaigns. For my song “loser” I was going to record people sharing what they don’t like but friends said - STOP you will get sued. Coming from a small town, friendship is really critical for me.
What would be the first line of your artist manifesto ?
My first line would be quite similar to Nina Simone’s, to be the a great artist, I should be encapsulated by storytelling
“How can you be an artist and not reflect the times, that to me is the definition of an artist” - Nina Simone
People should be able to hang on every word or by each of the melodies like Fiona Apple and Jill Scott’s writing. Fiona's older work included a lot of repetition and chanting.
Fiona is really vulnerable with her lyrics “kick me under the table - i will not shoot up”. Listening to Jill Scott she reminds me of 90s and 00s films - her storytelling is so vivid.
Why did you create the Burden Zine and how did your Youth music Grant help you ?
Youth Music Grant was an amazing opportunity to create and document the experiences of Disabled Creatives. Having the financial support helped me to develop my project management skills, which are critical for ensuring people can be exposed to my art.
Lets try and put into a 10 page zine, what is my political and emotional stance, this became the burden zine, The zine centres immunocompromised artists, pandemic - take it or leave it.
The design and writing is intentional: poetry like songs - even with the graphics in your phase - end of the world punk - drawing people into thinking of the style of Becky Smith.
Why do you make art ?
I make art that is political and vulnerable, for some people it's a lot and they don;t understand.
A lot of people have assumed I do R&B music, but I don't. I respect R&B so much as a genre and wouldn’t miss-genre my work.Not everyone makes R&B and that's okay.
When I have people mistake me for R&B music, It makes me question if people engage with my work with integrity and just making assumptions.
I think we lost communications, when music distribution wasn’t predominantly physical but digital. Like in my last single, I am wearing a cowboy hat ?!! - but I’m not upset because my expectations for the music industry weren’t that high.
Sadly, some non-Black Artists will exploit R&B to get cultural capital, then eventually pivot. Great artists make what they want - and don’t have to do gimmicks
What would the world look like if disabled art and artists were centred and valued by all ?
It would have been great if there was an official live recording of tours such as Renaissance accessible to immunocompromised people.
Taking a DIY approach can help reduce the perceived “burden” of making places accessible to immunocompromised people, For example looking at resources you have and scaling up. Could you do a drive-by ? Could you use live streaming ? Could you use air-purifiers ? Organisations and communities like Lime Arts, Virtual Pride, Black Violet Revue, Anti-stan club listening parties and Covid is not Over are great examples of creating space for immunocompromised people.
We need to underestimate the impact Covid can still have. As Artists especially you could risk looking at your singing voice forever. When you make things accessible, they don’t just support disabled folk, but everyone.
Furthermore, we shouldn’t expect artists to perform when they are sick - we should prioritise rest. Like why is Beyonce’ performing on a broken foot or Sam Smith pushing their limit and nearly losing their voice. Disability justice acknowledges the body and the importance of rest, whilst challenging grind culture.
We also can’t forget but engage with the industry through an intersectional lens…
Music industry throughout history has been influenced by exclusionary politics such as Minstrel shows being the epicentre of Music Industry to the gradual class exclusion in Opera audiences. From segregation to copycating music.
I would recommend reading this article to further explore this:
Race, Blacksound, and the (Re)Making of Musicological Discourse: https://online.ucpress.edu/jams/article/72/3/781/107058/Race-Blacksound-and-the-Re-Making-of-Musicological
Colourism is underexplored in the music industry when it comes to workflow. Creatively not being seen as valuable and in some cases people bailing out on booked sessions without communicating.
Platforms like TikTok are based on desirability, its algorithms do use skin-tone, resources and ability as a metric of value because of how users engage with content. I don’t like playing up to that, chasing desire - no.
Thank you so much for reading this article you can Support Anusha
By streaming her music and contributing via Anusha’s Paetron