Originally published November 2020
Nothing can stop you from loving and being loved. -Uliya
listen to the EP now
“Listen with your feelings,” is what I sing in the chorus of Breathe Me In and it is my hope, my humble request, as you listen to this collection of reflections on love.
Breathe Me In — EP is about how loving someone else, in whatever way, is a risk worth taking. Love gives life meaning. Love builds sanctuaries. Love teaches us. And love transform us. Making this EP was a gift. Especially now, especially as a queer, gender fluid South Asian person in the diaspora, reminders that nothing and no one can stop me from loving and being loved are so important to me.
We live in a time of heightened collective existentialism but there’s always been a particular existentialism that has existed for queer and trans BIPOC people and Dalit-Bahujan people and Black trans women and GNCI (gender non-conforming and intersex) folks in particular. In this EP, I try to honor how we love ourselves and one another despite the uncertainty and external threats.
Connection to one other is what living is about, it’s what will truly “save us,” not one or two heroes but all of us together, and that’s what we’re all trying to do here, fundamentally, is…
