To Be the Birds

by Rina Mushonga

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about

As the BLM movement gained momentum after the murder of George Floyd, it really spotlighted a lot of the long-suffered experiences of being a person of colour moving through predominately white spaces – being viewed through a white lens as body parts, viewed as two-dimensional figures – stripped of complexity, nuance and humanity.
I was reflecting on a lot of my own experiences as a woman of colour, this frustrating need to justify myself, constantly having to refocus the angles of yourself and claim yourself back from a world where someone else is manipulating the rules of engagement and gas-lighting our experiences of exclusion and discrimination.
'To be the Birds' is a reflection on aspects of this all. The song deals with the dichotomy of experiencing a perpetual injustice and at the same time needing to maintain an awareness that we are not alone, and that we are not the first. Powerful, inspiring warriors have battled before us – they pushed us this far, so that we in turn may carry their vision and that power into the future.

lyrics

YOU DON'T KNOW MY BODY
YOU DON'T KNOW MY BODY NO
EVERYBODY ELSE SEES
WHERE YOU SEE NOBODY NO

EVEN AS YOU CUT ME
I'M BREATHING HARD AND STEADY NO
I'LL GRAB YOU BY THE COLLAR
SINGIN' YOU DON'T OWN MY BODY
CAUSE MY SPIRIT'S ALWAYS BEEN FREE YEAH
SINGIN' YOU DON'T OWN MY BODY
CAUSE MY SPIRIT'S ALWAYS BEEN FREE YEAH

SEE NONE OF US ARE SURPRISED
WHEN YOU SMILE AND SHOOT WHERE ALL THE CAMERA'S AT
YOU ACT LIKE WE ALL GONE WILD
CAUSE I WON'T STAY DOWN WHEN YOU PUT ME DOWN

SEE NONE OF US ARE SURPRISED
WHEN YOU SMILE AND SHOOT WHERE ALL THE CAMERA'S AT
YOU ACT LIKE WE ALL GONE WILD
CAUSE I WON'T STAY DOWN WHEN YOU PUT ME DOWN OOH
AND I WANNA FLY AND BE JUST AS HIGH AS YOU

OH TO BE THE BIRDS
THAT CUT INTO THE FUTURE
TO CARRY ALL OUR NAMES

credits

released October 22, 2021
lyrics + music / RINA MUSHONGA
music / FRANS VERBURG

produced by RINA MUSHONGA + FRANS VERBURG
mixed + mastered by Brett Shaw @ 123 Studios

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about

Rina Mushonga London, UK

London-based, Dutch-Zimbabwean pop innovator. Glittering constellations of warped synths, Afropop rhythms and addictive, soul-lifting vocal harmonies suggesting we’re all specks of dust floating through an infinite expanse.

Pitchfork (8.0) “richly embroidered” + “expansive, ecstatic pop”
Clash Magazine (8.0) “an emphatically creative album”
The Independent (4/5) “a bold, nomadic record” ... more

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