3. K’s ChoiceParadise In Me
I was a young kid searching for things, going to the record stores, you know, looking at the video tapes we had at Tower Records at the time in New Orleans. There were the movies Empire Records and Reality Bites with Winona Ryder. Those films and the soundtracks would lead to me trying to find these artists. I think I was seeking out who I wanted to be. I was a Black girl from the Lower Ninth Ward. My father was a funk musician, and my mom a dancer. I was this oddity of a girl that loved alternative music, and most of those people didn’t even come through the city at that time.
I had to see what felt more me than what was around me. and I didn’t have a lot of examples. I was looking for myself and not loving myself because I couldn’t see myself. My mom did not understand what I was. My dad loved music, and he appreciated what I loved, but there was no reference. My brother did not understand me. I was this girl that would want pink and blue hair and was into anime and comics. I was angsty, and I was looking for something that felt similar, and so I began to seek it through film and through music. K’s Choice’s ‘Not An Addict‘ is one that stuck. Melodically, the tone, just genius for me. That was my introduction into alt angst girl bands and gender fluidness, and I think K’s Choice, they helped me with that.
