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MILCK Talks New Protest Song ‘Somebody’s Beloved’ & The Importance Of Protest Music

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MILCK is a force to be reckon with — to say the least. She consistently utilizes her platform as a musician to not only use her voice against social injustice, but to also stand up for what she believes is right through pure action and storytelling.

The singer-songwriter first garnered attention with her protest anthem “Quiet” in 2017 when she teamed up with over twenty female singers to perform Acapella flash mob versions of the song in the streets of Washington D.C. Later that year, she re-released a new recording version of the single to respond to the Me Too movement that was occurring in Hollywood. Survivors bravely stepped forward to speak out against sexual assault.  

MILCK is back with “Somebody’s Beloved,” a protest song directly in response to police brutality and the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Nina Pop and George Floyd, among others. Featuring Bipolar Sunshine, the artist wrote and produced the impactful tune amid protests for Black Lives Matter. 

The activist, who partnered with One Family Memphis Foundation to create her profound music video for the single, talks about protest music in the midst of political turmoil, why the narrative of “Somebody’s Beloved” is so necessary right now and her hope for the future of America.

The song “Somebody’s Beloved” makes such a powerful statement. It’s much-needed during this political climate on so many levels.

MILCK: Thank you, very kind of you to say. Our team is super proud of what we have collectively created.  

Tell us the inspiration behind the song and why it was so important to tell this narrative — particularly now. 

MILCK: The verses of this song poured out of me when I reacted to an interview of Tamika Palmer talking about her daughter Breonna Taylor. I thought about George Floyd, Tony McDad and the countless others. I look at these beautiful human beings, and think: These people deserve better. I cried and the lyrics just poured out of me. I knew the topic was bigger than me, because as an Asian American woman, though I do know what it feels like to be other-ed because of the color of my skin, I do not know what it is like to fear for my life on a day to day basis. That type of unsafe existence is something I can only imagine.

I acknowledged my blindspots, and so I turned to my previous collaborator, Adio Marchant aka Bipolar Sunshine to deepen the DNA of the song. As a Black man from the U.K., his heritage doesn't define him, but I know that his experiences have a power to them that I revere and want to learn from. He was gracious with his time and creative energy, and he wrote the section: "Blood on leaves falling like autumn, her story's been told a thousand times. Why doesn't everybody scream?"

He wanted to reference "Strange Fruit," the song that Billie Holiday invested in recording herself. The history of that song and the lengths to which she went to get that recorded are admirable and I hope more people look into her brave story.  

And the music video, wow. How did you use it to complement the song to tell the full story?

MILCK: As for the video, I knew that the video would be a potentially powerful medium to help spread the message of compassion, empathy and desire for racial justice. I think that every human being has a really rich story and I wanted to showcase the ones from Memphis. I met a group of inspiring artists and storytellers at the Mountain Film Festival mid 2019 because their mentor and founder of the non-profit they work at, Tom Shadyac, who brings them every year to experience the magic of Telluride, Colorado. I fell in love and kept in touch with them. When the song was finished, I sent the song to them to see if they resonated with it and to see if there were any blindspots that I didn't see. 

Tom Shadyac offered to create the video with his mentees Malik Martin, Chris Dean, Elisha Jewell, and Josh Cannon. I was overjoyed at the idea because I knew they would be able to provide a depth to the storytelling without me projecting any non-Black perceptions of what it must feel like. All I asked was that we kept the set safe, and that we focused on the intimacy of the song.

I am so proud of the work we've done and the way we approached the collaboration.  

What do you hope listeners/viewers take away from this song?

MILCK: Bipolar Sunshine and I hope that this song can bring people back to the humanity of the issue. We hope that it can soften some of the vitriol that is coursing through the veins of our current society. We hope that it helps to continue the conversation about racial justice. We hope that the song can honor the beloved we have lost too soon to causes fueled by systemic racism. 

This isn’t your first protest song. You previously released “Quiet,” which went viral during the inaugural Women’s March. What about protest songs do you think helps people cope with the injustices of the world?

MILCK: I have always used music as a way of processing and managing my own feelings and troubles with difficult topics. "Quiet" was about my struggle with being a domestic violence abuse survivor, an Asian American woman who is stereotyped as a quiet individual and as a woman in a culture that has a lot of opinions on what a woman needs to behave and look like. This song healed me and I think it healed others. With “Somebody's Beloved,” I needed music to help me process the deep pain, regret and rage that I felt as I think about all the families suffering from losing their beloved. 

Protest songs give people a way to voice their own dissent behind a melody and structured lyrics, which allows for people to sing together, and to find a commonality in each of our struggles. Music already is a unifying thing, and when a songwriter adds brave lyrics to the melodies, he/she/they creates an opportunity for people to free themselves from their fears of speaking out. 

Do you think more artists should speak up on behalf of these issues and release protest songs?

MILCK: I think that us artists need to first get clear and honest on why we are artists and why we spend our time and energy trying to get people to consume our art. I think if we can address our own senses of self-value and self-respect, we can do less to harm others by any unhealthy hunger for attention from others for self-validation. I only say this because as a younger artist, a lot of my desire to work to create art was to prove to myself I was worth something — that I was important. I think that impacted the depth of my songs. Now that I've let more of that go, I am able to be more present with the world around me. Once I became more aware of the world around me, I naturally started writing about the social issues because I felt them deeply. 

I also think that us artists have to remember that we are not separate from each other. Once that important truth is digested, we'll have no choice but to write about the injustices in the world because even something happening to someone across the globe will feel personal.

What is your favorite protest song?

MILCK: Nina Simone gives me life in every way, so I would say her song “Mississippi Goddam” is at the top. I also love Woodie Guthrie's “This Land is Your Land.” I made a cover of this and put back in the more biting verses that usually get scrubbed out of cleaner covers.

And what’s your hope for the future in terms of the election and equality in America?

MILCK: I hope everyone goes to vote and gives themselves the time to research the propositions that impact their states. I hope that we can be better at resisting the manipulations on social media that the documentary Social Dilemma so well portrays. I hope we can get to a place where we can disagree and also respect each other. I will also say that regardless of what happens at the top, I know that a lot of grassroots work needs to be done and I will not let any top down media or politics discourage me from my own path of making the change I want to see in the world.

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