Switched on Pop - I Am America (w Shea Diamond and Justin Tranter)

Episode Date: June 30, 2020

Shea Diamond has experienced so many facets of America as a black trans woman, and with songwriter Justin Tranter, she's woven those experiences into "I Am America," a blistering, funky anthem about community and belonging. Her track is also the theme song for the new HBO show "We're Here," which follows a team of a drag queens bringing drag shows to small towns across the country, challenging our assumptions about who makes up the "real America." We sit down with Diamond and Tranter to discuss singing as preaching, what it means to release this track during Pride month, why the flat seventh hits so good, and how the horns on the song feature producer Eren Cannata's dad Richie on sax, making this bop a true family affair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's free for iOS users. Hey, y'all, just a quick heads-up that this episode has some joyous but certainly profane cursing in it. Just want to let you know. It's Pride Month, and here it's Switched on Pop, we've been listening nonstop to a track by Shia Diamond called I Am America. That's the theme song for a new HBO show called We're Here, which follows small town. residents as they're recruited and trained to participate in a one-night-only drag performance with little help from Rupal's drag race contestants, Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O'Hara, and Shangela.

We can't get enough of this song, so we asked Shia and her co-writer Justin Tranter to stop by and break down how they went about making this modern anthem. Well, my name is Shia Diamond, and I'm a singer-songwriter. I was formerly incarcerated in a man's institution for 10 years where I started writing some of my thoughts down about my life, about my circumstances, and they kind of like found Justin in some type of way. And so it literally changed my life.

And I believe the rest of like kind of history as a short introduction. Hi, I'm Justin Tranter. I am a pop songwriter and an LGBTQ. activist and fundraiser. And my favorite artist on the planet is Gia Diamond. And here we are. Who is America in this song? We are America.

Yeah. And so, you know, America encompasses all. And so it just so happened that we had to highlight, you know, the ones that we don't identify as being American. And so at this time, it just so happens to be LGBTQ plus and the African-American community, you know. And so both of which I belong to. So we were like, hey, you know, let's hit on this. It was just like so important.

And it was perfect timing with, you know, we're here coming out. Yeah, we were super lucky. We got to watch the first two episodes of We're Here, which is unbelievable. And we wrote this song for the TV show. And we were like, we want the song. to serve the show, which is always such a fun task, right? You watch something, you get inspired by the TV show or the movie. But I was just talking to Shita, and I was like,

this still needs to feel like your song. It still needs to feel like you could sing this for the rest of your life, and it does, yes, it's for the TV show, and we're so grateful for the TV show, but this is still your song. We were just like, what else, what's some shit that only you can say and only you would say? And she said what, kind of what she just said to you now, which was, well, I'm black and I'm trans and I am America.

Like, even people who want to act like I am not here and that I am not a part of this country and that I am not America, I am America. And that was kind of like, oh, well, the song is done and we can all go home because just saying I am America is so powerful anyway, but when you have a black trans woman say I am America, especially someone as joyful and as positive as Shia is, it just to me felt like a complete home run.

us seeing the content of we're here and how special it was. And I kind of stumbled upon, like, you know, the definity of the divine I am usage. And when I wrote, I am her. And then so I noticed that it quickly just grabbed momentum without me. And it kind of like had a life of his own. And I am, period, is a statement. It's not a question. So when I said, I am her, it was kind of like a backlash type of thing,

all up in your face type of thing of, you know, regardless of what you're calling me, how you think I should identify, I am her. It's so beautiful shit that you said, because I didn't even make the correlation between I am her and I am America. It's like we're just upping the ante bitches. Like, I am her, but I am also this whole fucking country. Right. A lot of people that I had noticed when they first started hearing the song, I'm Her.

They were thinking it was exclusively for the feminine body. And so we are the feminine body. We are a part of that feminine body. And so if we allow that to be killed off, then we are also killing ourselves. And so I am her and she is me, you know. And so we are all a part of this great big family. I know it sounds like a little cliche, but we are a part of this great big family. And I believe that we are all here for a reason and a divine purpose.

And so each time you take someone out, you know, by killing them, you take somebody out, remove somebody out of your life, you miss the things, the seeds they could have planted in your life of what they could have brought into your life. This is what happens when you hang out with me and Shia. All you asked us was, who is America in this song? Welcome to our writing process, Nate. Oh, my God. You just witnessed.

You just witnessed how you write a song. Six hours later. I love hearing you say that because, you know, I can imagine with some of the experiences you've been through, you know, maybe the song that you would release would be something very different, something like, screw America. But that's not this song. This is, it's patriotic in a way. Right. And that's where I think people tend to get it, you know, get mixed up a little bit. They think that we are not patriotic.

You know, they think that we, you know, of course we don't agree with, you know, a whole lot of the founding principles of, you know, of what happening. We are tearing them down slowly but surely. But at the end of the day, this is our home. So we have to say, regardless of how you feel about me, God damn, and I'm here. Goddamn, this is mine. This is my street. This is my store around the corner. That's my nail tech.

That's my hairstylist. All of us together working together for the betterment of each other, we are America. Yeah. You've already given us a little insight into your writing process. What was it like working on this song together? It was so fun. You know, songs that I've been a part of, songs that I haven't been a part of, she just speaks about, you know, I always say, we've talked about it before,

Nate, maybe not, but that the more specific you are, the more universal a song becomes. And Shia is so good at being so specific about her experience, and yet we can all enjoy it and all love it. And I identify a gender non-conforming, but I do walk through this world most days with cis passing privilege. Most people just view me as a cis white person. So I'm not a black trans woman,

but the stories that Shia tells I can relate to and I can feel empowered by and I can feel excited by. You mentioned Shia's voice. We cannot say enough about the power of that voice. And I feel like one thing I love about this song is that we hear different sides of your voice. There's a little bit of a preacher in there, maybe. But then there's also a little bit of, I mean, let's talk about this, I guess maybe it's the pre-chorus. Truth is, I love you even when you get offended.

It's somewhere in between talking and singing. Yeah. You tell us a little bit about that choice. You know, that, you know, it's some of Justin's brilliance. Justin has like this insane, like, delivery. Like, you can tell Justin's music, like, no matter who's singing the song, you can hear it. And so this, it was just, baby I am America. Rock and roll divas, rock and roll divas, shit.

Yeah. But, you know, we have so much fun. We're silly, and we incorporate it into work that makes it so fun. We have written this right after I saw you perform. And she did this amazing show. I've seen it perform many times, but it was right after a specific performance. And it was a really great performance. Sam Smith, Demi Lovato, right in the front row, crying their eyes out,

loving every second of her. And it was this thing of, you know, the songs, as I mentioned before, a lot of her songs are super heavy and people are crying and blah blah and then in between songs she's talking and she's preaching like when you said you hear a preacher and she fucking preaches in between songs

but it's funny and I was like oh fuck like we need a song that can do that like that part of her personality should be in the songs too it shouldn't just be let me break your heart with this ballad and then I'm going to laugh and preach while I talk to you and so a lot of that

I tell like to the love you even and then I'm sure you is the musicologist can tell me, is that like the flat seven or something? I think it's, you'll figure it out for us, me. But it is a weird note. And me and me, it did have this moment where it was like, no, no, no, trust me, this weird note is going to be great because it might feel like talking and it might blah, blah, blah. And so it was, she was like, well, that's a long note I would ever sing.

So you're going to have to scream that at my face while I record it. And so we kept going. It was really fun, though. But it was about bringing out that part of her voice and her personality, make sure it's in the songs, too, not just in her banter. I love that. That is indeed the minor seventh. And it's tense, you know, you're like, no, no, no, no, no.

But that's where the power comes from. I love it. Let's talk a little about the musical arrangement here. You don't entirely know what you're going to get when this song starts, but then the horns come in. And it's like... Oh, my God, the horn. So our friend and co-writer Aaron Kanata,

he wrote the song with us and produced it. And all of a sudden, the deadline for the TV show came up. They were like, hey, could you? They may be trying to write something. And then we wrote it. And they were like, oh, yeah, we love it, but it has to be done in like two days. And we were like, okay?

I'm pretty sure that she is scratch vocal, which the scratch vocal sounds perfect, So it's fine. But there wasn't even time to go back down the vocal. And Aaron, who's just a musical wizard, his dad, and I think his cousin are horn players, and they live in New York. So when he sent me and Shia the horn arrangement with the horns recorded, it wasn't the arrangement, the horn's done, we were just like, oh, my God, how did this happen

literally overnight? You know, the truth is I knew about Aaron's father and how talented he was and, you know, He worked with all these amazing celebrities. Like he had a grapts on music. And I knew with Aaron's track record and just how those two and age, you know, difference would kind of like make this thing. Class. Yeah.

And here it is, we got that opportunity. Me and Shia can't take any credit for any of those horns. We didn't do shit, but we love them. Aaron was just like, hey, I think I can probably get my father to play. I was like, yes, yes, yes! Oh my God, just when they come in, it just brings another element to the song. It just reinforces the message. Like, hey, if you didn't hear it the first time, bitch, here it goes.

I love it, you know, because like Justin said, the music has been very, very powerful, but it's always, it's been very heavy. And so when people listen to it, you know, even when they go to my shows, they're just like, shit, you know, It was such a good show, and, you know, and me and my, you know, seven friends with me, we're all crying right now, you know, and it's like, it becomes heavy again for me.

And now we have, like, I am America. There's never been this type of momentum that I've been able to enjoy to where people felt so vested in a song. And, you know, somebody says, you know, it's a part of my everyday routine for my, for my exercises, give me the extra win when I'm running. And I'm like, oh my God, you know, and those type of things are the things that we can hold on to.

Yeah. And instant classic in my eyes. Well, and another really cool thing, too, is that in the idea of the arrangement is we wanted a sort of like classic party soul arrangement. So it's almost like the horns kind of serve as the chorus as the instrumental break, but like obviously the I'm America and the way you're here, like how each stanza starts and ends has a hook built into it on purpose. So we wanted to capture that as much classic soul in the structure, in the horn arrangement, in some of the vocal stuff, but some of the vocal stuff is the more modern on purpose. But then with these very modern lyrics, with a very modern woman singing them. So that was also a part of the arrangement, a very conscious choice to keep it in a sort of classic soul structure.

Yeah, I love that. No, it doesn't let up. The song starts and you're just along for the ride. I do have, because we talked about this last time you're on, Justin, I just noticed that this is another Justin Tranter co-write that starts on the second beat of the measure. Oh, does it? One, two, one.

Damn it. Me, you're calling me out. I got to expand my horizons. It's the secret sauce. This track is so much fun. What does it feel like to release this during Pride? What does that mean to you all? Definitely. A lot of people did not want to release music during this time. A lot of artists were, you know, were afraid, you know, of doing the wrong thing. And understandably so, because a lot of the music that they, you know, it can release, you know, has nothing to do with, you know, our pain and our suffering that we're going through, nothing to uplift us in that type of way. But just being true to just who we are in our message that we're telling, we're included in every point of marketing. We're included in every point of marketing.

marginalized group. So, you know, we belong in those groups regardless of people want to welcome us in. You know, just like they say, you know, it doesn't matter what's happening in the world. Pride is never canceled. Why? It's because we are always going to be suffering and always going to be the marginalized group. No matter what happens, it's going to always come back to as a trans community. We're still going to be killed. As a black person, I'm still going to be followed in the store. These things, you know, don't change. And so when they try to remove me from a movement, you know, That's just insanity because it's not possible. So my suffering matters.

You know, my life matters regardless if it ever becomes a hashtag. I know that it would be true and I'll continue to fight for and I'll continue to create music that tells about our narrative. Because if we never tell about our suffering, you know, doing this time 50 years later, 100 years later, they'll say that we enjoyed it all. They'll say we were all just happy and dancing and bopping and shaking our, you. you know, and living our best lives, and nobody talked about the suffering that we went through. Talk about, you know, our celebration about why we have our victorious during certain months. Why do we even celebrate certain months? Because we have to fight like hell for certain riots.

And so we have to continue to be visible and, you know, for our youth so they can also see and know our history. Because nobody's going to tell our queer history in the history books. So we have to continue to say that we're here. and continue to encourage other people to come out into the community that we are fighting for a better community and a safer welcome for people who don't feel confident, you know, in living in their truth. We're showing we're living proof that we're here. We're living proof that we're succeeding. We're living proof that we are more than just survivors.

We are thrivers, honey, and that we won't let anybody take, you know, our happiness. No, it's so powerful, too, because we're not. you look at Pride Month, right? She as a black trans woman is still marginalized even inside of our own LGBTQ community. During this amazing Black Lives Matter revolution, she is still marginalized within the black community as a trans woman. Within our society, you know, as someone who spent 10 years incarcerated, you know, she's marginalized because of her past and because of the fucking horrible prison

system of modern slavery. So for her to have to have. this song come out in this moment and say in a celebratory way, I am America. It means more than I realize as a co-writer. I think it means more than she realizes. I think it'll mean more than even the fans realize

for years to come of what a timestamp this is for this woman who is marginalized in every aspect of the world to, in a very celebratory tone with horns that make you on a dance say, I am America. Yeah, I think this song would be

a bop in any season. But right now, it's a real joy to be able to get down to something that feels like it really matters. Justin and Shia, this has been so much fun. I hope we can have you back. Before we go, what's next? What are you all working on right now? Well, we go away.

We're all getting our COVID tests, and then we're going to go to the mountains so that we can't get anyone so we can be super extra safe about it and we're going to finish the album next week. So it's very, very exciting. I'll brag for her. So she sounds modest and classy. She has at least one huge feature about to come out that I wish I could tell you by the time the show comes out and you might know what it is. It's really, really cool and really exciting. There's a couple other features being talked about, a couple other big. film and TV moments in the works. But yeah, we're aiming for the album in October,

and the world is finally waking up to the magic of Shia Diamond that, you know, her hardcore fans have known about for years. All right, well, thanks again, Justin and Shia. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And I hope we get to talk to you again soon. You will, you will. Switched on Pop is produced by Bridget Armstrong, Megan Lubin, Charlie Harding, and Nate Sloan.

Liz Kelly Nelson and Nashak Kerwa are executive producers. Brandon McFarland is our extraordinary engineer, editor, and mixer. Abby Bard does social media, and Iris Gottlieb creates our gorgeous illustrations. We're proud members of the Vox Media Podcast Network, and you can find more episodes anywhere you get podcasts. Find us on social media at Switch on Pop. We love talking to you. And until next time, thanks for listening.