Canadian pop artist Peaches wants people to feel “the joy in resistance”, as she hit out at the systems designed to make us feel “shamed” over our bodies, sexuality and identities.
The pioneering musician, known for songs such as “Boys Wanna Be Her” and “F*** the Pain Away”, warned that society was going “in the direction of white supremacy or bust” and encouraged fans to “fight back”.
Speaking at a keynote conversation at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton with ILĀ – an artist, vocalist and producer as well as the co-founder of the London Contemporary Voices and Trans Voices choirs – Peaches said she was not interested in being a “political” artist, despite being named as such a number of times.
“I’m interested in equality,” she said. “I [did not] start the politics, I have not put marginalised people – queer people, trans people – into very precarious [or] unsafe situations.
“So to call me political is counterproductive in a way, I’m really reacting to political actions that are trying to] squash down people’s human rights. And I like to do that in a humorous and disarming way.”
Peaches, real name Merrill Nisker, said the reason for this is because she wanted people to find “the joy in resistance, feel the joy in the revolution… that’s how we’re gonna survive. Because part of the problem is this whole system is designed to make you feel like crap, to make you feel like you don’t exist. And we’re not having it.”
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open image in galleryThe talk, available from Friday (12 June) on the Good Vibrations podcast, also involved discussion around Peaches’ latest album, No Lube So Rude, which was released in February and widely praised for its themes of bodily autonomy, human desires and human rights.
“We are brought up to be ashamed [of our bodies],” Peaches said. “I’m not saying everyone needs to be naked and in an orgy… people have a misconception that I’m just sex-craved and that’s all I think about. I’m talking about our right to find out who we are – and all we have is our bodies, and if that’s taken away, it’s so easily a slippery slope into fear.”
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Peaches’ remarks came just weeks before Irish pop artist CMAT shared a powerful statement addressing the “deep sadness” she feels over the online abuse from body-shamers.
The Irish pop star, real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, addressed the trolling following her appearance last week at the BBC’s Radio 1 Big Weekend in Sunderland on 24 May.
“It is literally so boring for me, a gorgeous genius, to keep having to yap on about how horribly I am treated because of my body,” the 30-year-old wrote in a post on Instagram.
“I would love to stop but I cannot because it keeps happening, at an accelerating and worsening pace as I become more famous. There is no relief from this – nobody can protect me or save me from this, and all that is demanded of me is more and more work as every environment I am placed in becomes more hostile.”
open image in galleryCostumes and fashion were ways for both artists to express and liberate themselves, they said, with ILĀ remarking that being trans and femme was accompanied by a pressure to “conform a certain way”.
“I’m actually more comfortable in my body now than I ever have been,” ILĀ said. “But yet I still, when I’m getting ready, think, ‘Oh, I need to cinch the waist, make my bum look big, and make myself look like I have some kind of breasts,’ and all that kind of stuff. And sometimes I find wearing very structural things… it creates this kind of exoskeleton and I love playing with that.”
Peaches spoke about the evolution of her famous costumes, many of which were designed by her longtime collaborator Charlie Le Mindu: “I wear prosthetic hair that comes out of my boobs, hairy pants… just pushing the boundaries and making [other meanings] of beauty.”
The full interview will be available on the Good Vibrations podcast from Friday 12 June.
Peaches’ new album ‘No Lube So Rude’ is out now – she tours North America from 2 September. ILĀ has a residency at Standalone in Dalston, Hackney, including a sound bath with London Contemporary Voices on Saturday 13 June.