Inspired: Adoring Maya
It took me a while to fall in love with M.I.A. Two years ago, my ears weren’t trained to appreciate the explosion, the bodacious chaos that combusted unapologetically from Arular. I guess my taste for music back then was pretty “safe”, teetering only to the unconventional side when I started trying to like Radiohead and Ratatat (I love them now).
I’m not sure when it was, but hanging out with Adriel and his music, I eventually caught myself “weirding” out(for the better). I was warming up to Bjork, hypnotized by the magic that is Michel Gondry, began my ATLien journey and followed Andre 3000 a lot closer, craved the spaz of Daft Punk, fell into trance with Portishead, and finally started to get what the fuss around M.I.A. was. (Gee, I guess I was the one that was M.I.A.) Then came singers like Janelle Monae and J*Davey, artists who bridged the hybrids of soul, rock, and weirdo so seamlessly, that my ears began to fine tune itself to a new beautiful radar.
But it wasn’t just Maya’s music that had me. It was her fearlessness, her bold defiance to the norm, her audacious sense of adventure in her art and her style, her daring quest for revolution, and her goofy eccentricity that charms with a girly allure and a boyish playfulness at the same time. To be honest, (and I know its quite ambitious to say this), but I fell in love with her because I saw a lot of myself in her. Okay, so I know comparing myself to M.I.A. is a stretch- (I mean, the audacity, I know) but perhaps what I see in her is what I aspire to become. Until her, I never before saw another brown girl rip it the way she did; so unabashedly uninhibited in a i-don’t- give-a-fuck type way, talked of revolution like it was toothpaste, and made the entire world pay attention. For the first time, I saw someone in popular media that identified with my first generation immigrant upbringing, my struggle as a non-typical Filipina daughter (who would rather chase after dreams than settle into nursing school) , my politics, my Pasay City childhood, my ideals of change, AND she did it with an unfuckwidable fashion sense that has gained her respect from streetwear labels to Marc Jacobs.
above: what home looks like, Manila, Philippines.
I guess in a lot of ways, she reminded me of where I came from, relived memories in my head of growing up in the chaos and raucous streets of Pasay City, and reignited my vision of how to be my best self to represent for myself and for my people. I feel that, in 2009, I’m going to begin finding myself all over again, and its comforting that I at least have an example, a living proof of how dope I can aspire to grow. Stronger, more informed, more able to provide a kind of inspiration that can allow people to find their own power.
It’s funny, because in her article on Spin Magazine, she talks about a fortune teller her read her cards and told her, ‘When you were born, your parents thought you’d be a boy, so you came out with a lot of male energy. You can do a lot of things that men can do. You’re brave, like a dude.’
When I was in my Mama’s tummy, they were prepared to name me a boy’s name. My dad being the only son of a Chinese father, they expected to birth a boy to carry on the Ching family name. A Chinese fortune teller told them they’d have a son- yet, I came out, pink, rosy and girl! I suppose in the same way, I came out with a lot of male energy too, constantly challenging the traditional female role by insisting on my independence, being bold in adventure, and rolling as a sole female in many male-dominated spaces. 2009 is another year to own and rediscover courage. And well, as audacious as it can be to compare likelihood to M.I.A., because of her, I know I’m brave, like a woman. Representa, ladies. Its your turn to shine.
“Boyz”, MIA feat. Jay-Z: 01-boyz-remix-f-jay-z
SHINE IN 09 SNITCHES!!
[...] I always felt like I had a connection to MIA. Proof? She lived in Bedstuy too: [...]