@Diplo went and made “We’ll Always Have This Dance” the tearjerker it was always meant to be with this remix. (You’ll know what I’m talking about once you hear the intro.) Swipe for all of the versions of this song — from the banging @tshamusic remix, to the OG KUU release with @alexmetricmusic and @ritontime, to the first super rough demo straight outta my quarantined loneliness. Now please excuse me while I have a sentimental dance with the ancestors. Check my stories or @kuumusic’s account for a direct link. 💛 ...

What I’m telling myself today 💛 ...

treat every day
like a
beautiful stranger
and when it’s over
thank her
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remember her fondly
when you
dance with tomorrow
and speak to her warmly
when she
calls to say hello

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My roundabout way of reminding myself to be present and to love, forgive, and be grateful for my past. ...

This includes allowing ill-willed/ignorant external forces to cause us to believe we are less than amazing. Check your inner voice and make sure it’s yours! ...

Hi, have you told your body you love it today, and have you listened to “To be me” yet? If not, feel free to click the link in my bio and hug yourself until it’s over. 💛 ...

“To be me” is out now, and I need your help proving that songs like this matter! Music is for escaping — but also, sometimes, it’s for being painfully real. Please share this song with everyone you know, whether you can relate or not, so that it finds its way to the ears of those who need it most. If you can relate to any part of this song, you’re not alone. We’re not alone, and there’s endless strength in our togetherness. 💛 ...

I’d never read a poem aloud, except for to myself or to anyone who could hear me whispering words as I wrote them, until last spring. Thank you for making me feel safe to share with you, and for encouraging me to call myself a “poet” in a time when I didn’t think I was worthy of the title. Sometimes the Internet can be really beautiful. 💛 ...

I wrote and produced a song about refusing to live in a world in which people make other people feel unsafe in their bodies — for any reason. It’s called “To be me,” and it comes out next Friday (1/15). Follow the link in my bio to pre-save it. I’m gonna share snippets of the lyrics, and other poems I’ve written that eventually led me to the song, until the big day. Today, a poem from the archives about dressing only to impress myself.
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📸 @g.smithofficial ...

You have the power to change your family’s past, present and future forever.
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Growing up in my family, failing meant homelessness. At times, I didn’t even have the moral support of those closest to me in my pursuits of my dreams, because pursuing my dreams meant risking everything. I had to learn to derive strength and motivation from within, and from personal mantras like this.
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I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified. Every time I pass an unhoused person, I think about what a fine line there is between having and not having. I think about how that could be me or someone I love; how so many of us are only one missed paycheck away from homelessness; only one drought away from starvation. I think about intergenerational pain, and how we carry weights that aren’t our own. How cruel it is that someone can be cast out of society for what their parents, their grandparents, or someone even more distant felt and, resultantly, did. How we need to have more empathy.
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So many people in the world are struggling right now. Many others feel the pressure to fix it. Some of us don’t feel like we have a choice — like if we don’t fix it, no one will. If you’re feeling the pressure to “make it” alongside the fear or not “making it,” you’re not alone. I beg you to consider how far you’ve actually come, and that you might — in fact — already be out of that cycle of pain and misfortune that you’ve spent your whole life running from. (Note to self!)
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I gladly take on the responsibility to build a better future for myself and for my family. I know that the cycle stops with my siblings and I. I know that moving forward means healing the past — including fears and pains that aren’t my own, but that have been passed down through generations. I know that future generations of my family will be better off because of the internal and external work I am doing now. I know that I have already come so far.
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What are you carrying that isn’t your own? More importantly, look at how far you’ve come carrying it! Now, let’s work our hardest to let it all go, so that we may climb every mountain we encounter without weighted souls. 💛 ...

I like old things
With histories
I make up
Like the memory
Of someone
Getting married
In this dress
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She lived a short
But happy life
Whether or not
She stayed a wife
And she made love
To Elvis
On cassette ...

Ahhhh! @jessieware’s “Remember Where You Are” is one of @barackobama’s 2020 favorites! Wish I could hug Jessie, @modelchild_____ and @janesellisford right now in celebration of such a wonderful honor, such a visionary artist, and this beautiful song that we made together in hopes of lifting people’s spirits through tough times. Love y’all! ...

I have gold in my bones
And diamonds in my soul
And my roots
They are buried
In African soil
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I want freedom
For my people
That is all
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I want freedom
For my people
That is all
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“Freedom for my People” with @oliverheldens is out now! I’m so happy to finally share this song with you, which is rooted in how proud I am to be a Black, Zimbabwean-American woman, how deeply I long for the freedom of all Black people, and how certain of, and grateful I am for, our inner strength — both the fortitude and optimism that we’ve cultivated in our lifetimes and the resilience that our ancestors have passed on to us. You don’t have to be a Black person to feel this song. Our histories are intertwined, and Black liberation is good for everybody who has been oppressed, undermined or held back simply for being who they are or looking like they do. The more thriving people in our communities, the better our communities will be!
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Swipe for how “Freedom for my People” started — as an a cappella posted on Instagram. All of the original vocals are in the song now, which @oliverheldens and I finished over a series of text messages. Big love to Oliver for adding such optimism to the message with his music. I can’t stop dancing and hope that, wherever you are, you’re dancing too. 💛 ...

Lawd knows I can’t draw, and I have the watercolor skills of a preschooler who is bad at art, but I’m so proud to have designed and created the set in the “It’s a good day (to fight the system)” video. As simple as it is, making it fortified my belief that anything is possible. Here are some of my first drawings and the final result. Thank you to @samafghani and @bilgerorama, who lent their woodworking skills to making my imagination a reality. Watch the video if you haven’t already, and if anyone wants fake clouds, I still have lots of fluff. ...