Tag Archives: Macklemore

Singer-Songwriter Mary Lambert Talks About Life With Bipolar Disorder

This weekend singer-songwriter Mary Lambert posted a photo on Instagram to discuss what she called an “intense bipolar episode”.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGBOwiOrzte/

Through out her career, Lambert has been open in her music and in interviews about living with bipolar disorder.

Lambert wrote on Instagram,

In my episodes, I tend to oscillate quickly between hyper anxiety, paranoia, suicidal thoughts and shame. I have different mechanisms for coming out of it. TV shows are helpful (thanks Jeopardy!), and I am also grateful to have a deeply compassionate partner that helps pull me out with nice forehead kisses.”

Lambert – who is known for her stunning debut album, Heart on My Sleeve, and for contributing the chorus to Macklemore’s marriage equality anthem “Same Love” – said it was her responsibility to de-stigmatize mental illness and posted the photo to show that someone with bipolar disorder has good days and bad days.

I realized part of the honesty — part of the vulnerability — is allowing people to see the whole picture. I am not like this every day. But I am also not glamorous and confident every day. I can exist in both spaces, and that is OK.”

As Lambert mentions, she opened her 2014 song “Secrets” with the line “I’ve got bipolar disorder.”

 

Google Ignores Kenya’s Attempts To Ban Gay Rights Rap Video

Kenya’s Films Classification Board is furious that Google hasn’t even responded to their demands that it take down a video they claim to have banned in Kenya.

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The tech giants are not complying with the Board’s order that it geoblock a music video that supports LGBTI rights in Africa, so that it cannot be watched inside Kenya.

The offending video is a remixed version of Macklemore and Brian Lewis’ gay rights anthem Same Love but Kenyan rappers Art Attack have added their own lyrics to the music and a video which mixes self-shot footage with scenes from the US hit television series Empire.

Art Attack launched the video on YouTube in February and it has been watched over a hundred thousand times since then, while causing debate and outrage in the Kenyan media.

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The board claims that the video contains nudity and pornographic images and that it has banned the video. However as it is being hosted outside of Kenya there is nothing they can do about it on their own.

Watch for your self, and see there is no sex, simulated or real – nor is there any full frontal nudity.

The board’s chief executive, Ezekiel Mutua, said he expected Google to comply with their demands within a week. However Google is yet to acknowledge their request.

The least we expected from Google was a reply whether in the affirmative or not. It is important that Google makes a step on this. The video currently circulating on YouTube consists of lyrics that strongly advocate for gay rights in Kenya complete with graphic sexual scenes between people of the same gender as well as depiction and pornography.”

The matter has also been reported to the Kenyan Police who are seeking to track down and identify the members of Art Attack.

Mary Lambert  – Erasing the Stigma of Mental Illness

We use music to give us comfort, to help heal our darkest pains —yet most musicians rarely will speak openly about their own struggles in plain terms and seek help. That is changing.

Mary Lambert is part of a new generation of musicians who refuse to be shamed into the closet and who are using their songs, stages, and interviews to tell the world that mental illness is neither shameful nor defining nor show-stopping. It’s simply part of the picture.

Through her songs like Secrets, Body Love, and She Keeps Me Warm, Lambert has offered comfort to listeners who are so often made to feel shame because of some ‘otherness’.

The idea of same love is not exclusive to gender equality —it speaks to the one in four American adults who suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alSANJgU45w

To honour her journey, this week at the Beverly Hills Hilton, the Seattle singer will be honoured by Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services for her work and bravery in confronting the stigma of mental illness.

 

Mary Lambert Remakes ‘Jessie’s Girl’ Especially For Queer Ladies

Out musician Mary Lambert is currently flying high. After being introduced to the world on Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s gay rights anthem Same Love, Lambert went on to perform alongside them at the Grammy Award Show, and released her full-length debut album, Heart on My Sleeve, last October.

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In an recent interview with Rolling Stone, the singer discussed her remaking of Rick Springfield’s 1981 hit, Jessie’s Girl

“Originally, I had put a piece about rape on the record, called ‘Epidemic. My project manager was like, ‘We support you 100 percent, but you should know Target and Starbucks won’t carry it, and it’ll have a warning on it,’ so I was like, damn, that’s true. 

I remember when I heard ‘Jessie’s Girl’ for the first time, I was like, ‘This is so applicable to lesbians!’ So in two days I came up with a different chord progression, rearranged it, played the piano and sang it. Everyone in the room was crying and I was like, ‘Cool, job well done.’ It seemed to be the perfect replacement for ‘Epidemic’ – equally as important for me.”

Mary Lambert

When asked how she feels about “pushing the envelope” as a gay artist, Lambert said she’s “curious about what the next step is.”

“With the knowledge that your favorite artist is gay, you know that the context of which they’re singing is going to be inherently gay.

And I think what’s beautiful about that is that it doesn’t deter anyone from listening. That’s what I think is really important about gay artists being in the spotlight. 

I understand the plight of an artist singing a song and not using gendered pronouns because it can alienate some of their audience, but I’ve found success with using a gendered pronoun – but that’s my story. I’m curious about what the next step is and how to be an asset.”

Mary Lambert

 

Rapper Angel Haze Records Coming Out Freestyle to ‘Same Love’ Beat.

Rapper, Angel Haze has just released her own unique version of ‘Same Love’ – one of the biggest LGBT themed songs to be released ever – and boy is her version powerful, raw and honest.

Haze, who identifies as pansexual and eschews gender pronouns in her music, always exhibits an insatiable thirst for authenticity and a take-no-prisoners attitude, making her rapid-fire rhymes all the more compelling.

She is currently dating model Ireland Baldwin (the daughter of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger). The couple made their red carpet debut at the MTV Movie Awards in August last year, since dating rumours begun months before. They have since been outspoken about her relationship, supporting each other the long away.xcvbnmnb

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/116460209″ params=”color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

At age 13 my mother knew I wasn’t straight
she didn’t understand but she had so much to say
she sat me on the couch looked me straight in my face
and said you’ll burn in hell or probably die of AIDS
it’s funny now but at 13 it was pain
to be almost sure of who you are and have it ripped away
and i’m sorry if it’s too real for some of you to fathom
but hate for who you love is not exactly what you’d imagine
and i guess it was disastrous
cause everything that happened afterwards was just madness
locked away for two years to keep me on the inside
because she’d rather see a part of me die than me thrive
and it’s tougher when it’s something you can’t deny
and ignorance teaches us it’s something that you decide
you’re driven by your choice is an optical illusion
here’s to understanding that it’s not always confusion

Angel Haze

Watch the original – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft Mary Lambert

Mary Lambert Discusses ‘Same Love’, And Gay Rights

Singer-Songwriter Mary Lambert is known for collaborating with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis on’Same Love’. She has gone on to release a solo EP “Welcome to the Age of My Body.”

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In interview with ABC News she had the following to say ‘Same Love’…

“I knew that I wanted the chorus to speak to a universal truth.  There were a lot of thoughts I had when I was writing the song, and one of them was ‘How can I end homophobia?’”

Mary Lambert

‘Same Love’ quickly took off as an anthem for marriage equality and gay rights.

“If you depict a real relationship or the beauty of attraction or first love – that resonates with anybody.  But if you are constantly shoving down people’s throats, this idea that lesbians only roll around in lingerie, instead of like, you know lay around and watch Netflix and eat Cheez-Its together…  As soon as the exoticism goes away, then you’re stripped down with a real human element and that’s love and I wanted to create something that … fit that vision of first love.”

Mary Lambert

Mary Lambert’s musical style blends spoken word poetry with piano and traditional vocals. Through her music she’s explores dark subject matters, like abuse and suicide.

“Coming out of my late teens into my early 20s, there was a lot that still needed to be processed in terms of abuse and trauma.  And even when I’m in a really great, steady and stable place … I’m clinically bipolar, so that always exists — a darkness always exists.”

Mary Lambert

She feels that the new album covers a different range of emotions and topics than her previous songs and poems due to the whirlwind year of success that she’s had.

“My life is going at the speed of light, so it’s a lot of just trying … to be present in each moment … Giving each situation and each part of life that space and making sure that it’s sacred in every aspect. I’ve had an incredible year so the music will undoubtedly reflect that.”

Mary Lambert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Oqu4Cn3AxM

Mary Lambert’s ‘Heart On My Sleeve’ is Simply Beautiful

mary_14_AMary Lambert’s first full-length album ‘Heart On My Sleeve’ – is a month away from release.

Her debut single ‘Secrets’, was well received and got decent airplay.

In ‘Secrets’ Lambert opens-up and sings about her bipolar disorder, her highly dysfunctional family, and other ‘secrets’ which she chooses to reveal.

 

I like to say that I never intended to be a pop singer. I intended to be a healer. I hope to urge people to be empathetic and compassionate. People don’t relate to each other or see each other as equals, and this causes problems. I want to open up and be vulnerable, and to encourage others to be vulnerable.

Mary Lambert

Now she has released the title song from the album. ‘Heart On My Sleeve’ comes out on Oct. 14.

Mary Lambert – Heart On My Sleeve

 

Why we Love Mary Lambert – Watch her Perform a Flawless Live Version of ‘Born Sad’

Watch out lesbian musician Mary Lambert performs a live version of ‘Born Sad’.

A year ago, Mary Lambert was an aspiring singer-songwriter earning a wage as a bartender, now she melts our hearts with her music. This year she stole the show with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, sung at Grammy Awards as 33 couples got wed, and is now preparing the release her debut album, Heart on My Sleeve.

“As a lesbian in this industry, I’ve been instantly embraced. I came out when I was 17—coming out in middle or high school is one of the most difficult things that anyone could experience. I wouldn’t wish it on my enemies”

Mary Lambert

Lambert isn’t your typical major-label pop artist. Inspired by confessional folk singers as well as spoken-word performers, she is a brutally candid writer who deals directly in her art with such past traumas as being raised in a strict Pentecostal household, abusing drugs and alcohol before being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, surviving a gang rape at 17, and being molested repeatedly by her father as a child.

“It’s important for me to be completely and totally open”

Mary Lambert

Taking the Rap for Homophobia

For many years it seemed hip hop was dominated by macho, gay-hating artists. There was no place for alternative sexual identities. Thanks to a more diverse range of artists working in the genre, that seems to be changing now.

Macklemore, Angel Haze, SIYA and Frank Ocean are part of the new generation of LGBT rappers whose lyrics deal explicitly with gay and lesbian themes. San Francisco-based rapper MichaTron is openly lesbian and has this to say about her oeuvre:

‘I love women and nothing’s gonna change that. I hid it for years until one day I said “F*** it”. Everyone else just had to deal with it.’

MichaTron

Her 2013 video for her track “Bumper” was filmed on location at the Oakland Pride Festival and the San Francisco Dyke March. The video represents LGBTs as passionate, fun-loving and absolutely proud of who they are. Not your typical hip-hop video!

But is this new sub-genre of pink hip-hop a little too much for the fans? Absolutely not says MicahTron, who has just turned 26 years old.

‘A lot of people have said that they love the fact that it was shot at Pride.’

MichaTron

‘Most of these [new LGBT hip-hop artists] are styled, photographed or even working with people who are queer,” she adds. ‘Most of the brilliant eyes behind the scenes in the industry belong to gay people. It’s just taken time for people to deal with it when it’s in their face.’

MicahTron hopes to become a role model for other young lesbians hoping to break into the world of rap. She’d also like to ‘go mainstream and win Grammys’, and she might just do it given the success she’s enjoyed so far. It already seems that her song “Bumper” is a kind of anthem for this new generation of young African-Americans who don’t see any kind of contradiction between being LGBT and loving hip-hop.