“Why do we hide from our imperfect selves?” London Daé asks herself in the intro to her Escapism EP released this year. As we fall into the obscure, poetic prose that continues throughout, she reflects on the multifaceted, complex and complicated versions of herself.
London Daé is a singer, rapper and poet originally from Wichita, Kansas who has resided in Tacoma, Washington for most of her life. Being in the church choir as a child and growing up in a family with an affinity for an eclectic range of music exposed her to the arts at an early age. Before music, there was poetry. “I always write poetry. I write more poetry than I do music probably. It’s for myself. It’s like a journal entry,” Daé explains. It is these journal entries that makes the Escapism EP so visceral and relatable. We all have those parts of ourselves that we hold onto, that we keep in the shadows of ourselves out of shame or fear. It is part of the human experience that not many of us can understand.
Daé created something unique to the struggle within all of us to do better and be better versions of ourselves. “oftentimes it’s the inner me with the negative energy, outside is handing out hatred, oh so, generously…” Daé sings on the song, “Finding a way” off of the EP.
If this 2020 EP release wasn’t impressive enough, Daé released a second EP in August with G WRD — Summertime Sadness. This EP takes a very different direction, speaking to a different, yet similarly difficult cycle: heartbreak. “I don’t want to put myself in a genre box. I want to make sure that I continue to do different things,” Daé says of the notable genre contrasts of the two releases.
The EP was a fun collaboration project, according to Daé but it came together at a very difficult time. “George Floyd was murdered, so we had protests, we had COVID-19. We had all this stuff happening at once,” Daé explains.
The flood of protests against an unjust system and racist policing in the streets all over the country made prioritizing this EP difficult but Daé still believes in the power of community collaboration. “It sucks because it feels like it takes things like this for us to realize that we do need to try to stand together and and build together as a community; a Black community, or Indigenous, or whatever. We have to stand beside one another,” Daé explains. “What I want is for there to be longevity. I want us all to continue to respect one another, continue to protect one another, and stand up for each other. I want white people or non-colored people to continue to stand with us as well, and be advocates for us. I want everyone to continue to use their platforms to stand with one another and do what we have to do to make things happen.”
Together we will RIZE.
London Daé’s cash app is $LondonDae. Support your local artists. Support Black women.
