On returning to my own artistry

I've thought about sharing about this for a while, and it's been a long journey to get here and feel ready, but here I am. And by "here", I mean finally coming back to myself, to my love for making and playing music, and maybe most importantly, to the core of what informs all of what I do in music - expressing my imagination, making sense of the world, and creating with my community. That is, being an artist.

The first photo was taken the summer of 2022, the last summer I performed on festival stages, and did so with a DJ and full band. The last time I was in deep love with being an artist. Then somehow, in the blink of an eye, things happened and 3 years passed. I released a couple of albums (HEATCHECK! and The Sound of Healing) and EPs (Room to Grow w/ Newselph, and Fire Work ) in that time, and as much as I love and am proud of the music, I didn't feel able to do much in the way of promoting, performing, and being in public as an artist. I wasn't aligned and was avoiding myself. I even felt like giving up on music altogether. A combination of shame, health challenges, and my own mistakes stalled my progress such that I would talk myself out of even trying, so I needed to step off the path for a while, and pause my pursuit.

The second photo was taken last year. I usually don't keep what fortune cookies give me, but this one stopped me in my tracks. I took it as a sign that there would be a next chapter of my artist journey in the near future. I held onto it while I prayed, worked, and felt through what I needed to. I felt like this one might be true.

Through so many personal, creative, and professional changes and lessons, I am thankful for the fans, friends, and family who have been with me all this time and seen me through all my ups, downs, and various iterations of living, working and playing in music.

I've become a different person many times over, but the core of me remains the same, and I hope you can hear both the transformations and steadiness that comes out of the music from this life. I look forward to how my stepping back into my artistry fuels my other roles and endeavours too.

Thank you for reading. Let's keep it moving.

- FA