2005 - USA
Chamber Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Art Pop
Candy Darlin, actress and trans woman superstar from Andy Warhol’s Factory is 29. On this photograph taken in 1973, she lies on her deathbed. The photographer, Peter Hujar, died from AIDS in 1987, the same year as AndyWarhol. Nonetheless, despite the dark history living inside this picture, it radiates quietude. In her glam outfit, bordered by shining flowers, Candy looks directly in our eyes and says:
“Fuck death, cause I, am History”
I Am a Bird Now by Antony & the Johnsons (a name inspired by Marsha P. Johnson, trans icon and visionnary LGBTQ+ activist during the sixties and seventies) is the meeting between a consequential History of Freedoms, and the intimate history of Anohni. Surrounded by Lou Reed, Boy George, Rufus Wainwright and Julia Yasuda, she surpasses her fears to vainquish the false gender assigned to her at birth and embrace her real self as a trans woman.
Only 35 minutes, a very short length always surprising when you listen to the album one more time, because of this wide bunch of raw emotions Anohni sings, emotions that have the wingspan of an Andean condor. Obviously, if I Am a Bird Now is such an intimate record it’s mostly thanks to the absolutely unique tone of Anohni’s voice, with this perpetual vibrato burning by turns with flamboyant intensity or painful tenderness. It’s the case on the opening song Hope There’s Someone, with its thin melody and its final poetic flourish telling the story of Anohni’s fear to remain alone in a gender in-between where she still isn’t wholly herself. This crescendo build-up is repeated throughout the album, showing the artist’s journey looking for an identity catharsis she can only achieve musically at the moment. Years ago on TV or during a concert, there was that moment during Anohni’s childhood where she her eyes met Boy George, the synthpop icon from the eighties with his androgynous looks. There was that moment when Anohni saw what existed, a way of existing beyond gender norms. This fed her will to face the world in order to try to truly exist as she is, not as others want her to exist.
Years later, Boy George joins Anohni on this album to deliver the most beautiful declaration of love: I see you, I believe in you, your fight is necessary and you’re going to make it. You Are My Sister. On one of the most moving moment off the album, Anohni discovers the voice of a stranger who finally recognizes her for who she is. “My lady story is one of annihilation / My lady story is one of breast amputation.” Those lines in the second track suck our ears up inside gender dysphoria and transition. Anohni doesn’t have all the keys yet, she doesn’t know how to become fully herself, just like Rufus Wainwright whispers on What Can I Do? But by surrounding herself with major artists from the LGBTQ+ community, Anohni seeks advice to fly away from her body. And she finally achieves this metamorphosis on the last song, the sublime Bird Gerhl. Alongside with all the talented musicians playing the riveting compositions (For Today I Am a Boy, Man Is the Baby, Fistful of Love are the most moving songs), Anohni enters an intimate
and musical whirlwind of emancipation.
“Fuck death, cause I, am History”
I Am a Bird Now by Antony & the Johnsons (a name inspired by Marsha P. Johnson, trans icon and visionnary LGBTQ+ activist during the sixties and seventies) is the meeting between a consequential History of Freedoms, and the intimate history of Anohni. Surrounded by Lou Reed, Boy George, Rufus Wainwright and Julia Yasuda, she surpasses her fears to vainquish the false gender assigned to her at birth and embrace her real self as a trans woman.
Only 35 minutes, a very short length always surprising when you listen to the album one more time, because of this wide bunch of raw emotions Anohni sings, emotions that have the wingspan of an Andean condor. Obviously, if I Am a Bird Now is such an intimate record it’s mostly thanks to the absolutely unique tone of Anohni’s voice, with this perpetual vibrato burning by turns with flamboyant intensity or painful tenderness. It’s the case on the opening song Hope There’s Someone, with its thin melody and its final poetic flourish telling the story of Anohni’s fear to remain alone in a gender in-between where she still isn’t wholly herself. This crescendo build-up is repeated throughout the album, showing the artist’s journey looking for an identity catharsis she can only achieve musically at the moment. Years ago on TV or during a concert, there was that moment during Anohni’s childhood where she her eyes met Boy George, the synthpop icon from the eighties with his androgynous looks. There was that moment when Anohni saw what existed, a way of existing beyond gender norms. This fed her will to face the world in order to try to truly exist as she is, not as others want her to exist.
Years later, Boy George joins Anohni on this album to deliver the most beautiful declaration of love: I see you, I believe in you, your fight is necessary and you’re going to make it. You Are My Sister. On one of the most moving moment off the album, Anohni discovers the voice of a stranger who finally recognizes her for who she is. “My lady story is one of annihilation / My lady story is one of breast amputation.” Those lines in the second track suck our ears up inside gender dysphoria and transition. Anohni doesn’t have all the keys yet, she doesn’t know how to become fully herself, just like Rufus Wainwright whispers on What Can I Do? But by surrounding herself with major artists from the LGBTQ+ community, Anohni seeks advice to fly away from her body. And she finally achieves this metamorphosis on the last song, the sublime Bird Gerhl. Alongside with all the talented musicians playing the riveting compositions (For Today I Am a Boy, Man Is the Baby, Fistful of Love are the most moving songs), Anohni enters an intimate
and musical whirlwind of emancipation.