Posts by Başak Yirmibeşoglu
Holly Clausius: Exploring The Transformative Power Of Music

Sometimes we pay more attention to what others are saying about us than actually who we are, and we end up getting lost in their noise. However, some people eventually can connect with their true self like Toronto-based musician Holly Clausius, thanks to music. Her social change single ‘Big Plans’ placed second in the Cross Canada Artist For Social Change competition in February 2021. This song focuses on marginalized youth and individuals who have been outcasted in society. She dedicated the song to those who felt isolated and pressured not to be their authentic self. Also, she wanted to take the idea of a tour indoors, with opening acts from people's kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms, making it a virtual apartment-wide tour to raise funds for Black Lives Matter Toronto. We talked to Holly Clausius about her latest album, BLM, the queer music industry, and more. Check out our interview below to find out more about Holly Clausius.

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Scott Magnus: Nothing Is Bigger Than Loving Yourself

Sometimes people need to hear that no mistake is bigger than us. Sometimes a song can remind us to love ourselves. Manchester-based actor and musician Scott Magnus's debut single “Diamond In The Rough” is the first in a series of singles being released from his six-track EP Comeback Stronger. It teaches us to accept ourselves and our mistakes, loving ourselves without thinking about what others say about us. Scott Magnus has amassed an ever-growing fanbase who not only enjoys his covers and original songs, but also the sketch comedy he creates and performs prolifically. He is an outspoken supporter of people with disabilities, particularly those with learning difficulties because he has ADHD, Autism, and Dyspraxia. Scott turns the experiences he encounters as someone with disabilities into music that can heal, and inspire anyone facing difficult obstacles. Check out our interview below to find out more about Scott Magnus.

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Into A Dusty Dream Where Gal Musette Reshapes Folk Music

Sometimes a song can make you feel many emotions that you don't know or try to forget. Californian indie-folk artist Gal Musette’s second single ‘Summertime’ reminds us of our old memories; happy but messy, thrilling but painful, as if it never really existed. It feels like ‘a dusty dream where the edges aren’t so tangible’, as she says in her song. The song is about the story of a broken friendship. She reintroduces this hybrid folk genre with a modern twist, including vocal layering and a melody that becomes increasingly more complex throughout. Her album Backwards Lullaby features songs like Ghost, and a single featuring Rufus Wainwright. We talked to Gal Musette about her album, upcoming concerts, and folk music. Check out our interview below to find out more about Gal Musette.

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Melissa Lamm: Finding Happiness Right Where You Are

When pandemic pessimism is back on the rise more than ever, it makes some of us more productive. Toronto-based musician Melissa Lamm is one of them. She spent last summer's lockdown on her balcony. While the pandemic upset her honeymoon plans, she wrote a song about it. Her latest single ‘Balcony’ is about appreciating every moment wherever you are. Other than her chill pop melodies, she does a lot of live-stream fundraisers on her Twitch channel. She has been raising money for different organizations such as Alzheimer's Research UK, Australian Brushfire Disaster, and NAACP Legal Defense And Education Fund with her live streams. We talked to Melissa Lamm about her music and lockdown days. Check out our interview below to find out more about Melissa Lamm.

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Erika Severyns: Raising A Voice Through Music

As we grow, we start to realize the truth about being a woman in this society — we face pain, assault, unjust gender roles, voices of judgments, and discrimination. But despite this, there are so many incredible women who fight to be strong everyday. Berlin-based songwriter Erika Severyns reminds us every woman has to be the strongest woman she knows with her single Strongest Woman. She gives courage to all women, writing a song about a traumatic event in her life and opening the door to discuss sexual assault. All the proceeds from her Bandcamp album are being donated to Good Night Out, a non-profit that’s creating a safer nightlife by training spaces, event organizers, and communities to respond to and prevent sexual violence. We talked to Erika Severyns about her music career, latest album, and the MeToo movement. Check out our exclusive interview with Erika Severyns to learn more about her.

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Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez: Reckoning With Male Gaze

We’re all familiar with social patriarchy —a social world organized under compulsory heterosexuality. Only the heterosexual male desire is accepted as “natural” and “normal,” whereas all other sexual practices and desires are considered as “abnormal” or “an exception.” It’s a structure prioritizes men's pleasure. Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez who is a Brooklyn-based singer/composer created her latest single “Better For You” highlighting how women contort themselves physically and emotionally to be more desirable. It shows clearly the impact of the heterosexual male gaze on women but at the same time, it shows us how women can prioritize their pleasure. She invites us into her unique sonic world with harmonic nuance and lyrical poetry. We talked to Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez about her music and personal life. Check our exclusive interview with Raina Sokolov-Gonzalez to learn more about her.

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Sipping 'The Tea' With Olivia Charmaine

Our screens are a place where people tell stories to each other or the world beyond our borders. But, our history proves that these screens usually don't tell the stories of all of us. Racial and gender-based discrimination is still there and what we are looking for is some diversity, equality, and inclusion. However, there are some people want to change this unjust structure by telling our stories! Olivia Charmaine is a film and television producer and she embracing her melanin, queerness, and womxn power after making her mark in the TV & film industry as one of Hollywood’s best-kept secrets, with her weekly live stream show, The Tea currently on IGTV. The Tea is a weekly IGTV series that invites celebrity guests to relax, unwind, and participate in one-on-one conversations mindfully and reflectively. It brings people of color and colorful people together every Tuesday at 8 PM EST. Celebrities who have attended the event so far are Everett Osbourne, Darius Coleman, Luke Lawal, and more. Olivia also has a production company, Black Monarch Entertainment, which is very inline with The Tea. Its main aim is to support people of color and anyone from a marginalized community with a story to tell. Check out our exclusive interview with Olivia Charmaine to learn more about her.

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Crys Matthews Makes Us Believe America Again

Due to recent political events, we cannot stop asking ourselves these questions these days: What kind of country do we want to live in, work in? What kind of America do we believe in? There are many social justice issues in the country, but social-justice singer-songwriter Crys Matthews feels like all of these issues are human issues. Even with all that happened in the country, she is hopeful for this country, which is why she made ‘Changemakers’ which is her latest, hope-fueled, love-filled, social justice album. "Call Them In" the second single off of the album and a very powerful song, is meant to honor John Lewis. Crys Matthews reminds us America is going to get a chance to be America again no matter what happened in the past and she makes us believe in a brighter future. We talked to Crys Matthews about her music, politics, and personal life. Check our exclusive interview with Crys Matthews to learn more about her.

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The Emoji Story: Emojis As The Voice Of The People

Have you ever spent hours thinking about an emoji that was sent to you? Trying to make sense of it and/or attaching new meaning to it? Trying to see symbols within symbols or personal meaning of you who are in character form. Maybe it is about who you are and sometimes who you aren't. In the current digital age, emojis are the voices of people. These little visual symbols have a big world which consists of infinite meanings. They aren't just for communicating, they’ve become an accessible symbol of activism, sexual identity, and politics.

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Becky CJ: Losing Your Perspective, Finding Yourself

A loss of perspective makes us feel many different emotions, but, sometimes, we can learn that it is ok to lose something to help us discover new doors in our lives. South London-based Queer artist Becky CJ reminds us with her song Losing Your Perspective that we should lose our perspective to finding ourselves. The song is about falling in love with your best friend because when she and her current partner lost their perspective, they started to explore their relationship again. The song shows Becky CJ’s velvety vocals and her music that blends glitchy electronics and soft hues. We also knew her from hilarious Tinder Nightmares TikToks that she created from the awful tinder messages of people. We talked to Becky CJ about her music, TikTok videos, and queer representation in the music industry. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about her.

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Avianna Mynhier: Don't Wait For Inspiration To Come

While some people wait for their inspiration, actress Avianna Mynhier creates it. She landed her first gig on the hit series The Walking Dead as Rachel Ward in season 10. Then, more recently, she finished filming, during the middle of the pandemic, the Amazon Prime drama series 'Panic' where she can be seen starring as Abby. But this is far from the only thing she has done during the lockdown. Feeling dishearten by covid she decided to create a place for people to connect, her podcast 'Uprising.' In every episode, she aims to speak with a different kind of inspirational person. She is passionate about women empowerment and frequently participates in conventions including the Women Deliver and Professional Businesswomen of California conventions. We talked to Avianna Mynhier about her career, podcast, and women empowerment. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about her.

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Tsu Nami: A Party You Just Don't Want To Be In

You are at a party. The music is loud and you are surrounded by many strangers. The anxiety wave is coming to your body. With Covid-19, we forget this feeling with the craving of socializing, but this feeling of anxiety has always been there. Producer Tsu Nami makes us feel this emotion with her recent song 'Party'. It is not like any other song about partying; it reflects the social anxiety of not wanting to be at a party, and even the energy of the song holds the anxiety. In addition to her music, Tsu Nami inspires other women, especially women of color, who want to pursue a career in electronic music, which is a male-dominated industry. She has some very illuminating ideas on the topic. Currently, Tsu Nami is sharing her music to thousands with the emergence of virtual festivals. We talked to Tsu Nami about her music career, anxiety, sexism, and being normal again. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about Tsu Nami.

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TROY: Transforming Pain Into Music

Many people have felt the pain and grief that can remain from an old relationship. However, many of them ignore their emotions and tend to reject their pain. Nashville/LA/Artist/Songwriter TROY turned everything upside down and created his latest song Foolish by showing his vulnerability. It makes us feel our heartbreaks, and at the same time, embrace our flaws, and realize that it is natural to suffer. TROY’s music is like a medicine for healing heartache. TROY got his start in New York City musical theatre at age 12, and he continued his acting career in many shows like Victorious, The Last Ship, This Is Us, and New Girl. While he wrote music for himself, one day he decided to pursue music with more purpose and wrote Foolish, which is produced by Marti Frederiksen. We talked to TROY about his acting, music career, future of music, and voluntary works. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about TROY.

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Brooklyn Michelle: Finding Your True-Self With Music

Now more than ever, we need music as an expressive outlet for moving forward in our life more than everything. It can heal us, it can hurt us, or it can help us through the worst of times. San Antonio, Texas-based musician Brooklyn Michelle who recently released her long-awaited single & music video “Retail Therapy” used music as a channel for her emotions. She wrote “Retail Therapy” while going through a breakup and used her music as a coping mechanism. After years of struggling with undiagnosed diseases, she used music as a creative outlet. Her songs focus on inner-self battles, and we can easily feel how she finds true-self with her music. While she is set to release her long-awaited second album, Placebo, she is also in the process of starting her own production company, Waffledog Productions, for bringing her vision to life. We talked to her about her music, production company and future plans. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about Brooklyn Michelle.

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Re-exploring Photography From The Queer Lens

Art is most enjoyable when it represents us, much like our favorite clothes to wear. There are many labels in society that assign gender to people according to their appearances, especially with how they choose to dress, and the same can be said for art. Binary gender is pervasive in the art industry, and often times queer artists have been systematically excluded. It needs to be changed. And we will change it. There are artists that are challenging the industry standard through their art. Queer, non-binary, Latinx, fashion photographer Daniel Roa is one of them. They created a fashion photographic series on 120mm film where they photographed queer people who were assigned male at birth as representations of themselves so that we can see what Non-binary representation outside of the cis gaze looks like. The concept is embracing the fluidity of one’s gender and it allows us to see non-binary people as they see themselves because Non-binary identity has no single appearance and representation. Thus, at the end of the day, we realize that we can look the way we are and we can be represented as we want through a queer lens. We talked to Daniel Roa about queer photography series, fashion and the definition of being non-binary. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about Daniel Roa.

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Liberty Styles: When Times Are Tough, Music Unites Us

While some people have never understood music, for some people music shapes who you are. One of those people is Liberty Styles. She says 'Music has always occupied most of my time/thoughts even if I wasn’t necessarily doing it professionally.' Her second EP Roam Wide, which is set where she grew up, reflects complicated emotions like love, isolation, and coming together during tough times. She is influenced by many styles of music including jazz, funk, flamenco, grunge, alternative. Tap dance is the main thing that shapes her music. Liberty also wanted to honor the strength of working womxn with The Waitress, which is a unique example of solidarity. She shows her activism in different ways and all proceeds from this tape will go directly to G.L.I.T.S., a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community. We talked to Liberty Styles about her music, future plans, and voluntaryeer projects. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about Liberty Styles.

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Tyla Anne Harris Is Here To Prove She Will Be The Role Model Of The Next Generation

Tyla Anne Harris is here to show us why acting is so much more than it appears to be. She is the Jasmine Wallace in ABC's ‘For Life’ which is a fictional serialized legal and family drama that was inspired by the life of Isaac Wright Jr. Just like her character, Jasmine never stops. She is focusing on getting a degree in law and she believes that whether good or bad, people should make smart, educated political choices, whatever choice that is to them about the current political situation. She is a good example for the actors from her generation. Also, she is working with Saving Our Daughters Organization, which works with girls from multicultural backgrounds through the arts to help them overcome esteem obstacles. We talked to Tyla Anne Harris about her career, school life, and voluntary projects. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about her.

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When All Hope Seems Lost, There Is FIAA's Music

We all have scars that are remaining from something painful. We carry those scars in our souls and take them everywhere with us. However, not all of us brave enough to find the confidence to heal them and converted them into a masterful piece of music. FIAA was brave enough to do that. She showed her vulnerability and scars with her music and embraces her scars that we too often keep bottled up. We saw her talent with BBC1 Little Mix: The Search Talent Show and now, her newest single 'One Day' which is written with Rag'n'Bone Man reveals our heartbreaks, griefs, and pains, but also shows us we can hold on to music when all hope is lost. It reminds us 'No matter who we are, no matter where we are from one day it will all be ok.' The song tells the story of a fall-out that FIAA had with her best friend that she grew up whilst in foster care. Also, FIAA is using her voice for some of the UK's most important children's charities. We talked to FIAA about her career, personal life and future plans. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about her.

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Lexia Hayden: Gen Z Brings Hope For The Future

Gen-Z is growing up during challenging circumstances. This year the Covid pandemic has taken so much from their lives but still, they are up for the challenge and will reshape the world. Lexia Hayden —who is a stylish model, influencer, actress, and competitive tennis player— is the evidence of gen-z’s tenacity. She started her influencer career at the age of ten when she didn’t know anything about social media. Right now, she creates content on her passions for style, health, and fitness with her strong 230k Instagram followers. Aware of the issues that affect kids her age, she became a volunteer for Candlelighters New York City which has been helping kids fighting cancer and their families. We talked to Lexia Hayden about her career, style, voluntary projects. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about Lexia Hayden.

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Pear Nova Is The Perfect Combination Of Fashion, Beauty and Sustainability

"Nails are accessories, art, a mirror for your mood, the foundation to an outfit, and a conversation starter." Rachel James describes her starting force to found Pear Nova, and reminds us of the importance of the nails. Our nails reflect our personality, style, and even who we are, and we know we don't want to use products from toxic companies anymore. Pear Nova is cruelty-free, 10 free, and vegan because, as a vegan nail brand, health, quality, and inclusivity are what they look for. When Rachel James first Googled“how to start a nail polish brand,” we wonder if she knew she would be so successful that create both a sustainable and fashionable brand. Recently Pear Nova collaborated with The Nova Star Project which is a nonprofit organization devoted to educating, strengthening, and empowering domestic violence survivors for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We talked to Rachel James about the brand, the latest nail trends, and the effects of Covid-19. Please read our exclusive interview below to learn more about Pear Nova.

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