INTERVIEW: Siena Liggins is Creating Space in Pop Culture for Black, Queer Women
Becoming the Moment — Siena Liggins is Detroit’s own pop culture icon in the making. In this interview with Darius Caffey, she celebrates the new EP Ms. Out Tonight, which helped her tell stories about her life and address stigmas in the industry.
“Fuck it; you gotta shoot your shot if you’re going to play the game”
This was what I told myself seconds before hopping in the DMs of pop artist, Siena Liggins. I had just got back from vacation when I noticed that she replied to an Instagram story for The Closet Unlocked. It was week 4 of us relaunching our multi-media platform, and her song ‘My Girl’ was featured as the Song of the Show.
As I sat on the edge of my bed, I couldn’t believe it. Destiny was working on my side, and I didn’t dare miss my beat with it. It was something new that I said I was going to try and turns out, it worked.
She sent back supportive pink, sparkly heart emojis, and for some reason, I felt that this might lead to something. My gut told me to just reach out, be authentic, and just see where it might take me.
Okay fine, my gut didn’t really say that to me. However, I’m sure that’s what it would have said if it could.
I briefly told her about our Black & Queer at The Table segment and asked if she’d be open to a short interview about her journey as one of Detroit’s rising music artists. With faith on my side, she agreed. I set the meeting up with her manager, Ryan, and we did it.
Now as traditional as things get in 2021, I logged on to Zoom. I quickly did a camera check for smudges; checked my skin in the ring light; made sure my background flowers were in view and made sure the mic recorded my audio. I know tech issues way too well at this point, so I didn’t need anything interrupting this moment.
A couple of minutes later, Siena joins me from LA.
She’s not sitting under palm trees or stuck in still traffic. Instead, she’s sitting in front of an enormous t-rex canvas placed on the wall behind her. I’m sure it wasn’t intended, but that small pinch of character was the perfect icebreaker for us to get started.
As the interview begins, we start with her first single: Flowerbomb. The original version of it that started her journey as an artist is coming up on its 3rd anniversary in July (woot woot!). It’s also featured on the pop singer’s latest EP, Ms. Out Tonight.
The song was listed first on our playlist, and apparently in everyone else’s hearts too. Siena shares with me that although she gave it a bit of a facelift and reimagined some concepts, “it just felt right to roll it into the project”.
She initially wrote the track while still in school for songwriting at DIME (aka Detroit’s Institute of Music Education). Like a lot of her other songs, she wrote it about life.
Her life.
My life.
Your life.
Our life.
She’s telling these stories about us, for us.
But she’s also telling them for herself, about the things that she’s been through as a Black, Queer woman.
We laughed about how a lot of her music stems from old conversations, text messages, and voicemails. But she also notes that her lyrics represent more than just those physical moments. They symbolize her sharing her thoughts and deepest feelings with the women she’s dated.
Siena has always known that she would be a writer.
Maybe a journalist.
Maybe a political scientist, she thought.
But songwriting? That just found her.
Growing up in choir and theater, she’s always had creative influences hanging around. However, it wasn’t until she got older that she realized those creatives didn’t make many songs that said what she wanted to hear — especially about being a Black, Queer woman. Liggins states that
“…it really got to a point where the story that I needed to tell was only one that I could tell…”
And she wasn’t lying.
Far too often have we seen artists alter their lyrics to appeal to the public’s perception of what they expect our life to be like. Way too often, do we as Queer folks, vibe to music (and other forms of art), that don’t explicitly tell our stories. But that time is over.
Enough is enough.
Black, Queer artists from all over have been speaking out, loud, and proud about what life looks like for them. And in a way, they’re telling stories from our community too. From Lil Nas X, Victoria Monet, Syd, Durand Bernarr, Asiahn, and many other upcoming artists — they are showing up in their truths. They’re also speaking up and addressing what it means to respect it.
Being that voice and being that storyteller for the people can at times be a risky position. However, for Siena, it has been a rewarding and honest experience. She often reads tweets or messages from other women that say how they feel seen while listening to her music. They feel respected and reflected, not only audibly, but visually as well.
In the visual EP of Ms. Out Tonight, we see that clearly. Outside of paying homage to her childhood with colorful modern art and cartoons, she wanted it to follow the sonic journey of the album. Friends Maddie Ivey and Erini Sadek also pitched in to help direct and design the set to be “loud, in your face, obviously Queer, and women-focused”.
She also jokes that she hasn’t figured out a way to have no men behind the camera either. So, if you’re going to play the game, you better shoot.
“I wanted it to be something that can carry on the story of the album. What you hear on your headphones, speakers, and in the car — I want you to watch that too” she says. And it’s true. The visual is filled with scenes of herself with friends just kicking it: at home, in the streets, at the club, in a banana suit. Yes, she was in a banana suit.
They were just living life; well, part of it at least.
Siena makes her presence in the video known as the moment — Ms. Out Tonight. However, she also explains how her intersectional identities of being a Black, Queer woman have led her to miss out on the other side of the pop industry.
The white side.
The straight side.
The blonde side.
The hyperfeminine side.
She’s not most of the things that typically relate to the pop girls of today, yet she’s still the moment. So, in reality, aren’t they the ones missing out?
In scenes like ‘Dirty Girl’ featuring Yung Baby Tate, Siena uses props to call out stigmas in the music industry. This includes white barbie dolls randomly placed with pins to pay tribute to voodooism and a gumball machine that represents the copy & paste style of new artists. She wanted to bring people in on the fun of it, but at the same time help them understand life from her angle.
That’s just who she is. Someone who encourages everyone to find the opportunity and safe space to unapologetically and 100% be themselves.
No matter if you’re like her, rocking a nappy, top bun, and loose clothes or not.
Just be you; the world will catch on later.
When I asked about her journey of self-discovery (you know that thing that happens in your 20s and 30s), she gave a straight answer: freedom. More specifically, the free space to explore life. Being able to try new things and do things differently has helped her grow alongside her music. That, and being celebrated on her platform for being Black and Queer have been what she described as one of the “most beautiful” experiences. It’s something that she says she’ll never take for granted and hopes to continue doing for the rest of her life.
In fact, celebrating Queerness has been one of her favorite ways to enjoy life. When asked about her favorite Pride memory, Siena reminisces on the day marriage equality passed (June 26th, 2015). She was underaged and in New York. But that didn’t stop her from sneaking out and reveling in the cultural win. We knew then that the job had only just begun, but we also deserved to enjoy that moment.
“There’s always going to be work to do, but it’s so nice whenever you get those payoffs, and you get to see work that you’ve done bear fruit,” she says.
“It gave me a lot of inspiration and hope.”
If growing up Black and Queer didn’t teach us anything else, it taught us how to be proud of who we are. It taught us to appreciate LGBTQ+ pioneers and history for how far it has brought us as a people. It’s also taught us how to make sense of those confusing moments that we experienced as kids and teenagers.
And don’t worry, you weren’t the only one.
Siena says that she (like many LGBTQ folks) didn’t know that she was gay until she came of age. There wasn’t much representation of it around her. And even in family settings, it was a very “othering” type of conversation.
It wasn’t until a #ClosetMoment when she went high school shopping with her stepmom that the artist thought about it. There she was, picking out a tracksuit and a pair of Birkenstocks when she got hit with the question:
“So, what team are you playing for?”
They joke about it now, but back then she was lowkey offended. Clearly, the closet was made of glass, but damn, how did everyone else know before she did? That’s just the way it goes, I guess. Sometimes we tell people, and it completely throws them off. And sometimes they tell us and now we have to fight about it.
Just kidding. But we’re definitely not fighting if you have on black Air Force Ones. As she affirms me being from Chicago, Siena tells me that her favorite, feel-good item in her closet just so happens to be a pair of forces. They’re something that her dad has had her wearing since preschool, so you know she’s true to the game.
You can dress them up, you can dress them down. You can have some fresh ones, some beat-up ones, some collab ones, some colored ones. You can even customize them online as she did.
However you choose to rock them, just know that “forces are the best shoe… they’re classics.”
We end our interview by sharing timeless memories of our childhood. Getting a fly airbrushed t-shirt, having blue lips from a rocket popsicle in the summer, and sleeping in the backseat of a car after being outside all day. You know, the good times without responsibilities.
Unfortunately, we can’t go back to that… but what you can do is go stream Siena Liggins' latest project, Ms. Out Tonight. She put her all into it, and it deserves your rotation.
If you want to watch the full interview, check it out on our YouTube channel.
But until next time friends, peace out.
