Hello! // ¡Hola!

TLDR: I do words and musics and I’m whimsical and clever and bilingual and philosophical and a real motherfucker; also I’m stoked to be here

** Esta publicación es en inglés (obvio). Puedas leer la versión en español AQUI. **

First off, here's a photo of me trying to look cool with my guitar: (photo: Makeda Sandford)

I'm Emilyann! I’ve been feeling a bit desperate (for lack of a better word?) (no, no, it is actually desperation I think…it’s just that calling it by its name makes it burn a little) for a new, different, better…um, appropriate platform for sharing my creative endeavors. I find that the inspiration and drive to keep creating that I get from simply having other people listen to my shit has a HUGE positive impact on my creative productivity, which in turn has a HUGE positive impact on my mental health / feelings of self-actualization. I’m new here (obviously), so I don’t really know yet, but I have this really strong feeling that I’m going to encounter a lot of motherfuckers on here who relate to that statement really hard, which is awesome. I need a place where I can just fucking be edgy and weird and not have to censor myself, not have to filter my soul through the artifice of bullshit So, yeah…I’m stoked about getting to know the Steemit community, and I’m hoping that the people I meet here will find some god damned meaning in what I have to offer.

I’m 23. I’m from the United States. I graduated from college a year ago, and a few weeks ago I moved from Asheville, NC to Buenos Aires, Argentina, kind of on a whim. I’d never even been to Argentina before, but here I am, starting my application for permanent resident status. I’m working on a dream or something, I don’t know. I’m really not sure, although I’m not sure really that I’m not sure. I’m trying to follow my passions but I have a lot of them. There are many directions and I am always going in some of them and sometimes in all of them, never really in one of them - do I sound like every 23-year-old you know, yet?

At heart, I’m staunchly of the weird, the silly, the absurd, the psychedelic persuasion. I’m a punk and a hippie at the same time - I’m dialectical - I believe in everything and nothing. I’m the girl next door, I’m the nerd with broken glasses crying under the bleachers, I’m captain of the cheer team, I’m the slut applying mascara in the bathroom; I’m…all of a sudden describing myself using analogies derived from ‘90s teen TV-show tropes?? I’m self-aware. Sometimes. I’m philosophical, sometimes pseudophilosophical. I think about politics a lot but I don’t talk about them. Too dialectical to form articulatable / accessible opinions, can anyone relate?

I dabble in my fair share of the normie shit; you know - working a job, paying rent, brushing my teeth, upgrading from PC to Mac, video-chatting my parents weekly, successfully resisting the urge to break out in gibberish arias on the subway, all that good stuff…I’ll spare you the bullshit, though. I plan to wholeheartedly let my freak flag fly here (mom’s not on Steemit yet).

I can get down with nihilists, cynics, and vehement atheists just as well as I can get down with the mystics, yogis, and preachers of love and light. You might catch me wallowing in the void of existense one minute and reading my horoscope on astrobarry.com the next. You might find me kneeling in a church with 666 tattooed on my right ass cheek. You might see me at the grocery store wearing pajamas and bright red lipstick.

I’m also a damn sensitive ol’ sap when it comes down to it. I love feeling feelings and thinking about feelings and writing about feelings.

Okay, here’s the part where I tell you what I actually DO (creatively speaking):

I sing - that’s my number one favorite activity in life. I write - that’s my number two favorite activity in life. Lo and behold, I'm a singer-songwriter. (I also play guitar.) I also write poetry, prose, and academic essays. I have also been known to create elaborate visual pieces of art (typically abstract portraits of people I grow very fond of). I geek out over linguistics and I love studying languages. I often write in multiple languages. I also love making up new words. I love word-play, puns and one-liners.

I started recording my songs in 2014. I’ve released three EPs and one full album since then. (You can listen to my recorded songs at emilyannemiliana.bandcamp.com). I’ve just recently started taking the first tentative baby-steps toward potentially turning my passion for song-writing and performing into some sort of “career” (whatever that means). This means trying to wrap my head around all these things that make me feel uncomfortable, like the idea of “branding” myself, creating an “image” that can “sell.” Meh. I resolve to do the best I can without compromising authenticity; we’ll see how it goes.

What you can expect from me: I will make a post each week. I will typically be sharing a song (in video format), and a chunk of text to go along with the song. I will be sharing old and new songs, and maybe even unfinished songs that I am in the process of writing. The songs I share will mostly be originals, but I might share a cover here and there if I feel compelled to do so. It may not always be a song - it might be a poem or a story from my life or something else - but it will usually be a song. For each post I write, I will then write a translation into Spanish that I will post a few days after.

Here's a photo of me right now (looking less cool) (but still being cool):

If you actually read this whole post, you are a damn champ and I love you. (Heck, okay, I love you even if you didn’t read the whole post.)(You just don't know it yet.)