The Comment Section with Drew Afualo - NETWORK OF FAIRIES AND ANGELS Ft. Raveena | Episode 142
Episode Date: October 30, 2024It’s the final Halloween episode of the season!! Drew is joined by Raveena to dive deep into the intersection between music and spirituality. They talk Raveena's latest album and her songwriting pro...cess, unpack the razor-thin line between lying and manifesting, good witches, body intuition, signs from the universe through dreams, Drew explains smut to Raveena, and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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It's like celebrities read like smut to you.
What is smut?
Smut's like.
Well, let me get into smut.
It's basically like...
I'm sorry.
No, it's okay.
Hey, everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Common Section Show,
starring me, your favorite.
Everybody knows me.
Happy last spooky episode team.
Get into it.
I am the worst.
one and only,
Bucky Beaver.
If you know, you know, if you don't know,
I don't know what to tell you.
I'm a fucking Beaver.
So anyways, on to the most important part
of every episode,
the wonderful, amazing guest.
Today we have the iconic,
the legendary,
the hilariously talented,
Ravina.
Woo!
Hello.
Welcome to the show.
You're the complete opposite
of me voice-wise.
Not just singing capability.
Obviously, I have no singing talent,
but you talk so softly.
It's gorgeous. Love that.
I'll try to project. I hope the mic can pick it up.
It's all right. I'm a real come as you are kind of show. That's why I'm a beaver.
And you're clearly a stunning angel.
Yes. The info is like 90s, runway.
Love. High fashion angel.
Fantastic. Same. Same thing for me. Yeah.
I love the dichotomy.
Yeah, exactly. We're a real duality of man right now. Yeah. I love it.
But I'm honored to have you on the show. Welcome, huge fan of you.
Thank you.
minute. Thank you. And I just think you're so fantastic. I'm happy to have you. Thank you for coming.
Of course. I've been looking forward to this. Yeah, me too. Same. I'm honored to hear that.
I'm sorry I have to hear it as a beaver, but I am honored to hear that. No, I love it.
I would love for the people who maybe just woke up yesterday and have not heard of you or your
journey per se, your lore, if you will. I'm very familiar. But I would love if you could tell
everyone, obviously you're a fantastic artist, musical artist, R&B artist. Would you class for
yourself as R&B? Yeah, there's so much R&B influence, but I pull from many genres. Yeah,
that's what I kind of figure. I feel like you're real Swiss Army knife. You're very,
you blend into many different categories. But I would love to know how you came to this like
profession, how you found your way. Yeah. That kind of story. I've been doing it professionally
for almost seven years now. Love. And it's my life. I feel like I'm in a really good flow
with making art and like the fan base we have.
And yeah, I've just been the same since I was a little girl, like the same person.
Yeah, you always wanted to be a singer.
Always wanted to be a singer.
Always was in touch with like the ether and nature.
Yeah, your spirituality plays a huge role in your art, which I love.
Yeah, it's a huge role.
Yeah, I think it's fantastic.
Like, how did you come to start marrying those two worlds?
when it came to your art?
I actually think it's always been married for me since I was small.
I feel like because I came from a really spiritual family of Reiki healers
and like people who meditate for hours a day, it was just kind of embedded in the music
I was absorbing and like the way I would receive it.
But yeah, it's a huge part of my life.
When were you kind of like, oh, I think I could actually.
actually do this for a living.
Did you study music in college?
Yeah, I did, but when I was 11, I was going around and lying to people that I was going
to get a record deal.
But manifesting, like we're talking in the show.
The line between lying and manifesting is razor thin.
It's razor thin.
I walk it personally often.
I walk it personally every day.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
At some point, you have to like, your words are so powerful.
So I feel like speaking it into existence.
Do you draw from anything to manifest?
I find for myself when I manifest, I like to draw from my ancestors a lot.
So I like to talk to them a lot.
Yeah, same.
Yeah.
Whenever I, because I like to think, I feel like I don't like organize religion, but I do feel
very spiritual and I'm indigenous too.
So I feel very connected to like the like nature, the land, but also specifically in the Pacific.
Chills.
Chills.
Yeah, like especially in the.
Pacific because I'm someone so like anywhere in the Pacific Islands specifically yeah I feel very like
connected and like you know to nature and healing and all that where do you feel most connected like that
same same like the homeland yeah homeland but also it's definitely deeper in the homeland when I go to
India it's just like intense energy but I feel like you could find a blade of grass in the city and like
or a tree in a city and and and feel it too because it's all
inherent and stored in there, you know? Yeah, so you say you come from a very spiritual family,
like, how, was it like your parents or was it other people in your life that maybe inspired you
to kind of like really lean into the spiritual part of your life? It was probably my maternal
grandparents the most. Oh, love. Yeah, they were really, you know, intensely within it. And
yeah, we're always talking about spirituality in a sense beyond organized religion, like you were saying.
Totally.
Yeah.
Like more like there is a spirit flowing through all things.
Yeah.
And we just got to be awake to it.
Yeah, totally.
In Hawaiian,
they call it mana.
So it's like energy,
like that you feel specifically connected to your bloodlines, right?
So like other Pacific Islander people,
like you feel real strong mana and land and all that.
Like in Hawaii they have,
they have a word called kapu,
which means like taboo.
And that's typically,
it's obviously bad,
but it's like when you take things from the earth
because you're only supposed to give
to the earth not supposed to take.
So like for example,
I always tell this story because it makes me laugh,
but like I lived in Hawaii for a long time.
I have a lot of family there, obviously.
I have a lot of roots there.
And like my family and I go back home like every year
and one year we were back visiting
and we were swimming at our favorite beach.
And like it's like my favorite beach
it's like very hidden
so only like local people can find it.
And we were swimming.
And my brother kept taking rocks out of the ocean.
And I was like,
I said, hey, put that back.
Like, you're not, that's a copy.
You're supposed to leave it and not take, right?
Yeah, of course.
And he was like, I'm just taking him on the beach.
And I was like, no, did you got to leave it where you found it?
Yeah.
And he, like, wasn't really listening to me.
And I was like, all right.
And then probably, like, 20 minutes later, my brother was, like, walking up the sand.
And there was really no waves at all.
And, like, a huge wave came out of nowhere and, like, hit him from behind.
And, like, tumbled him.
And when he came up, I was like, I fucking told you.
Yeah.
She's mad at you.
Put it back.
And then he literally took all the rocks and it was like swimming them back and he was putting them all back.
I said I fucking told you.
Yeah.
But I also find the ocean over there to be very healing too, like for any sort of ailment.
It's just in such deep communication.
Yeah, right.
People there.
I spent actually like a bit of time this summer working on some farms and like land restoration projects there.
And I was just learning so much from the indigenous people.
there about just how much the land is constantly talking to them. Yeah, like telling them everything they need.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I also feel, I feel that way too because I feel like very powerful,
like I feel very strong feelings about certain things or like people or like decisions, whether it's in
business or like in my job. And I feel like that's always like my spirit. It's like guiding me. That's why I'm like,
I don't know, this disturbs my spirit. I don't know. This disturbs my spirit. I don't know. It feels bad about.
it so I don't want to do it and it's always correct and it's so funny because when you
work with white people they're very like okay when you tell them stuff like that yeah you're like
I don't it's just I can't explain it but I just have a feeling about it yeah you know how I feel
about that yeah and they're like okay like at first then when they start seeing it happen
they're like all right I believe you like yeah absolutely they need the proof and then yeah
when you when it's just embedded into your body and your ancestry totally it's just a body
Yeah, absolutely.
Right.
That's so funny.
I feel like I totally get you on that too.
So when you marry them, when it comes to your music, like how do you draw from your
spirituality to create your music specifically?
Like I'm sure in many different ways.
Yeah, it's more that like my whole life is centered around the marrying of the two
and making sure that I always make time for a spirit.
Yeah.
especially like right now I'm in tour so it looks really different I don't have the same time and capacity to meditate or be
be in silence or be in nature as much as I want to but yeah it's the constant remembrance you know totally
it's like it comes down to the remembrance and the remembrance can look like having objects like crystals or or
certain books or like decks or you know just like little totems to remind you of spirit it can look like
mantras it can look like music it can look like okay every time i go on stage i'm going to hold hands with
my band member and just like ground us for five minutes yeah you know it can be really tiny totally
and yeah spirit just finds a way always it's whatever makes you feel connected to it yeah totally and music
is just inherently like so spiritual yeah have you ever hung out with people that weren't as spiritual
but as they started spending more time with you they were like you may be on to something um
there was this thing where my like old manager I would I would tell him at the beginning of a year
like okay I'm going to make this much and it would happen down to the number that's crazy yeah
That's so crazy.
And then he started to believe it.
After a while.
Yeah, like with money, like, you know.
It's true.
It's freaky when it comes down to exact numbers.
That's so funny.
Yeah.
That's so funny because I've actually done that too.
It's when I hosted the carpet for Black Adam like two years ago.
And when I did that, I had no idea I was going to do that.
But a big reason why I wanted to do it was because obviously the Rock is someone too.
And there's not many of us, especially in mainstream media.
that people know of.
And so that was going to be like my first time meeting him.
So I really wanted to do it or do something surrounding it.
And I was telling my hair makeup artist who's also someone.
I was telling him, I was like I just feel very strongly like I'm going to be there.
And when I go, I want to have something made by my own people that I can wear that's
culturally significant.
And I want to walk the carpet in it.
And I want to take my fiancee, who's also someone and have him wear cultural wear on the carpet.
And I was telling him, I just have this whole plan.
And then he was like, oh, did you hear about it?
And I was like, no, I just feel very strongly that it's going to happen for me.
Yeah.
And that was at the start of the year.
And then I thought it was more so, I was thinking like walking the carpet, whatever,
but I was just like, I'm going to be there.
I feel so strongly I'm going to be there.
And then I got asked to host the whole thing.
So then I got to like do all of those things.
That's amazing.
I have chills.
I have chills.
And then he was, it's funny too because like a lot of people on my team too are like,
I, yeah, I'm really starting to believe.
Because I tell him my manifesting is out of this world, like my third eye.
Like that's why I call her.
Yeah.
I'm connected to my spirit.
I constantly feel it.
It just tells me things all the time.
I feel so strongly about it.
I love that.
We even told we were having a meeting about,
because I have another podcast with my sister called Two 88 Girls.
And we have like a Patreon manager and stuff.
And we were meeting with him talking about goals at the top of the year.
And we were setting like monetary goals.
We were like, I think.
And I was like, I think we could make maybe between this much and this much.
I gave him a pretty big range.
And it was a pretty stark range, like much higher than what we just, because we had just started.
Yeah.
And he was like, well, you know, it's good to have goals.
It's good to have goals.
And I was like, yeah, but the longer you spend time with me, if I say it out loud, it's going to happen.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
You just have that magic around you.
Yeah.
Protection around you.
Yeah, right?
Yeah.
Sometimes I joke about it with our friend, my friend Tephy, because she's very spiritual in that way too.
And she's very connected.
And she teaches me a lot, too, because she's teaching me a lot about witchcraft, which I personally love because I don't think there's anything demonic about witchcraft.
depending on how you use it, obviously.
But I feel very strongly about, like, being able to, like, set intentions manifest, like,
kind of cleanse, you know what I mean?
Like, all that kind of stuff.
And so she teaches me a lot, too.
And when I joke around about it with her, I was like, when I tell you, the universe does not play about me.
I am not kidding.
Yeah.
I am one of their favorites.
I am anointed, if you will.
You are.
You absolutely are.
I can feel it.
I can definitely feel it.
I mean, it's just so evident in, like, how kind your team is.
Oh, thank you.
like how with you they are, you know?
Yeah, totally.
And it's like you're just a vortex of energy.
And it's beautiful.
Yeah.
It's like beautiful the things you're attracting around it and the people.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
I feel that about you too.
You have a very calming presence, a very like centering presence.
I love that about you.
Thank you.
So do you.
Period.
Look at us.
We're just complimenting each other.
I love that for us.
But tell me about your new album because I know your new album just came out this year.
Yes.
So I'd love to hear about it like your inspiration for it.
and like how, you know, the process was putting out another piece of beautiful work.
Yeah.
It's my favorite body of work I've made.
It's called Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain.
I feel like it melds all of my favorite influences.
Love.
Everything from early 2000s pop, like Shania Twain, Cheryl Crow, Natasha Beddingfield, like Happy Girl Pop.
I love that.
And classic soul records.
like I was listening to so much Marvin Gay, so much Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Miniperton,
like old Chadee records, like that is my bread and butter. That's what I grew up listening to.
And I hear that a lot in your earlier work especially. Yeah, exactly. And I feel like this album kind of
brought it all back. And then I explored a lot of like Indian influences on my second album. And like
they took a really interesting kind of turn in this album where they weren't as.
present but it was it was subtly in the backdrop of so many songs so I feel like I found kind of a
natural way to merge my most like in me kind of jazz soul influences with that yeah I love that
I think that's so I also too I love how you tried to like work in culture a lot into a lot of
your bodies work too I think that's beautiful and I love I feel so strongly about
that especially as like minority people as brown people I feel like it's so important that we're like
constantly keeping that front of your work because obviously someone like yourself has like transcended
into mainstream which is beautiful but at the same time you're constantly reminding them like who you are
where you come from I think that's lovely we have to yeah have to because we can't just let the most
special parts of us get erased right and the most natural parts of us right and I think it goes back to what
you were saying about how you just have this body intuition because of your presence of your
ancestry because of your connection to land totally and like I feel like there's so much pain obviously
that comes with our identities yeah but it's honestly the biggest gift in the world yeah I agree
people search their entire lifetimes to be able to be tapped into that intuition right you know
totally yeah I talk about that with my friend Tevi a lot too because she's Brazilian
and Colombian.
So she feels very connected to her roots too.
My sister and I talk to her about it a lot,
about how, like, that does feel like a driving force inside me.
Yeah.
And it's almost like, it feels too, like,
it would be such a slap in the face to, like, not,
like, I feel like I think my ancestors all the time for, like,
what I have now.
Like, I walk in so much gratitude, I think,
because of, like, how thankful I am for this life.
But also, I know that this life wasn't, like,
it wasn't created just easily.
Like, it was like,
there's so much.
many of my kin who came before me.
Of course.
So I feel like I have to thank them.
Yeah, exactly.
Totally.
Sometimes I wonder like where dreams come from.
And like our life goals, our passions, where that fire comes from.
And I have a theory that it's actually just ancestors taking the shape of a body and
like wanting to continue past dreams that they have.
Oh, I love that.
That's beautiful.
New bodies.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that.
That's beautiful.
I feel like too. I've talked to my family a lot too, especially when I struggle, like, if I ever have, like, if I'm having doubts or I'm having struggles or whatever, I like always like, I pray to my answers or talk to the universe. I like ask for like guidance or signs. I'm like, I'm always like, if I need guidance, like please tell me if this is like going in the right direction.
Yeah. And I remember like two years, two years ago, it was like right after I started filming this show, I had a cousin pass away that I love dearly and she died during COVID. And so like this tragic, it was awful. And so got through it. But then this.
happened for me and I think about her a lot because I wish she was alive so she could see all of this
right and I remember at the time I was really struggling to like I don't know what I was struggling with
I think I was kind of worried about this because you know like you know because you're actually
super famous and a celebrity and I'm an idiot on the internet but past that um when you go from
being so normal to not it gets really hard like being perceived by so many people at once
of course is very overwhelming I think because no human has ever been
meant to deal with like that many eyes on you at once.
I always say that it's a trauma.
It really, like literally.
It's literally a trauma that you have to work through.
Yeah, yeah, you just have to deal with.
Yeah.
Literally my friend, have you described it as like a one-way mirror?
So it's like you're in an interrogation room and like everyone can hear you and everyone can
see you but you can't hear or see them.
And I was like, that is how it feels.
That is actually how it feels.
That is how it feels.
It's horrifying.
Yeah.
And it's so like.
At the time, I think I was struggling with that, and I was like, I don't know if this is like the right path.
Like, I feel like, I feel like it is because this is like my dream.
Yeah.
But I feel like it isn't because it comes with, it comes with so much like forfeit that you don't ever plan on forfeiting, like privacy and anonymity.
Like, I never planned on not having that anymore.
And so I was like kind of struggling with the decision.
And then that night, literally that night, I had a dream about my cousin.
And I hadn't seen her in my dreams.
And I felt like she hadn't visited me.
and that bothered me a little bit.
And then when she came to me my dream,
it felt like she was giving me like an approval
or like a sign of like, like, yeah, this is, this is it.
Like, yeah, she just, she told me she missed me
and that she loved me.
And then she was like, she's like, it's going to be okay.
And that was it.
Wow.
That was the whole dream.
Woke up sobbing.
And it's so funny because the next day,
it's funny because the next day I had to work.
And I was getting glammed by someone else,
like not my current hair makeup artist,
but I was getting glammed by someone.
and I was like texting my mom and I was like I can't wait for me to be done so I can call you because I have to cry so bad.
Oh no.
I was like because I was just thinking about it all morning.
I was thinking about it all morning and what's crazy is that my sister had a dream that same exact night with the same cousin.
So like it was but we had different.
Is that crazy.
Is that crazy.
That is crazy.
How could I ever doubt the universe?
Yeah.
It always has my back.
I chose.
Just every time you have a clarifying moment like that.
that it just confirms your intuition.
Right.
And then you just know.
And then that knowing becomes deeper.
Exactly.
So then you keep getting more signs.
And then you're just in this crazy flow.
Yeah.
Right.
Exactly.
I'm in a real flow state with it now.
Yeah.
And I feel like too, when I was younger, I used to attribute it to me being a know-at-all
and me being a Virgo because I was like, well, I just clearly know everything and I'm
always right.
Now that I'm older, I'm like, hmm.
I'm like, that's just spirit talking to me.
Yeah.
And I'm just deciding, I make my choices based off that.
Yeah.
And that's why it always ends up being right, but really it's just the right path.
Yeah.
So.
Yeah.
What sign are you?
I'm a Libra.
Love.
Yeah, my birthday was just like two weeks ago.
Oh, I love.
My fiance is a Libra.
Aw.
What day?
I love Libros.
He's the 21st.
Okay, cute.
Yeah, he's turning 30 next week.
Oh, my God.
I know.
He's old as fuck.
I just turned 29.
I'm old too.
I'm old too.
How old are you?
I'm 31.
Girl, you look 10 years younger than me.
No, not at all.
Ramea, that's it.
You know what?
Episode over.
No.
We look the same age.
We both look very beautiful.
Well, yes, we do look both gorgeous.
That is true.
So when it comes to your music, when it comes to collaboration, like who are people
that you would like love to collaborate with at some point?
So many people.
Salonge.
No name.
The world would explode if you would.
if you and Solange gone on a record together?
Yeah, I would, I would explode.
Like older people, like Erica Batu, that would be sick.
Oh, my God.
I would poop my pants, Ravina.
Yeah, that would be crazy.
Who else?
Someone like Pino Pino Piano who played bass for DiAngelo.
Oh, cool.
Yeah, just like musicians I love.
I would love to collaborate with Cleo
soul. I really love her. Oh, nice. She's amazing. Love. There's so many people. Yeah.
Also, oh, love, period. I also want to say, I love your tiny desk concert. Oh my God, thank you.
It's one of my faves. Thank you. Because you sound fantastic. And it's obviously, I know that,
but it's just such a lovely set. And I had to make sure I told you before I forgot. But not to get too
far off topic, we're actually right on topic. Let's talk about our topic for today, which is the intersection
between music and spirituality.
And obviously there are internet haters who think manifestation, meditation,
spirituality, or anything like that are fake or a scam.
Do you ever get people telling you that?
Oh, every day.
Yeah.
Literally every day.
Online or just in general?
Online.
Oh, I bet.
Online and in person.
And now I'm protected in person, but online every day.
I can't even imagine.
And really unexpected people.
Really?
Yeah, like a lot of actually just.
women of color surprisingly.
Yeah, that is shocking.
And it makes me really sad because I'm like, damn, like, you have the portals, you have the keys.
No shit, literally, right.
And I just want to remind them that it's there for them.
Right, exactly.
When I was like, I was talking to my, I keep talking about my friend Tevi, but she's my most
spiritual friend outside of my family.
Yeah.
But when I was talking to her about it once, she was saying, like, I was telling her about,
like, my dream.
I told her about my dream that I just told you about.
and other things that have happened that were like signs to me that I was like on the right path
or when I was asking for guidance it gave it to me and she was like oh my god if you start
practicing for real in your spirituality oh my gosh she's like you can control the world yeah she was like
you have so much power at your fingertips already so I was like sometimes I look at my hands and I'm like
oh my gosh it's within me and she was like if you start walking in it oh my god girl it's going to explode
so that's why I think I feel like that's what's brought me a lot closer to it and
Honestly, too, I feel like growing up someone, obviously I grew up here like on the mainland,
but when I was growing up, I felt like I really wanted to be close to culture.
And a lot of times, obviously, that's like family, it's language, it's food, it's all of these things,
or all these wonderful things that make up a culture.
But I feel like I've never felt closer to my culture than when I'm walking within my spirituality.
Yeah.
Which I think is what I've been searching for.
Like as an adult, I feel like you start searching for something like that as like what you were calling it, like grounding.
something very grounding for you.
Because ultimately all those other things are just material.
Totally.
Yeah.
Exactly.
They're in the physical world, right?
And I also, I do find that strange too when people say like things like that aren't real.
Yeah.
That's why I told you I do, I feel the same way.
I'm kind of like, I feel bad for you.
That sucks that you don't believe in that.
That sucks.
Yeah, that sucks.
It's very real.
Yeah, I'm like, I don't ever get mad.
I just feel sorry for them.
I'm like, damn, you have no idea.
Like, you have no idea of the magic all around.
Right.
I feel that.
I know.
I was like,
the world is so beautiful.
The world is so beautiful.
And sometimes my white friends, when I talk to them, I've told her, I was like,
it's my third eye, girl, I'm telling you.
Like I tell her, I was like, I feel it.
It doesn't feel right.
Yeah.
And one of my girlfriends, she's literally like, that third eye is never wrong.
She texts me that the other day.
I was like, I told you, we got to listen to her.
When you start just predicting things and saying things that are going to happen,
that's been happening to me a lot this summer.
Me too. It's crazy. It's been extra intense. Yeah, it has. This past, like, summer, yeah. I agree. I agree with you. Something shifted. Right. Literally. I think for a lot of people, actually. I think so too. I always call us like a network of fairies and angels. And I feel like, because so many of my friends are like that, we always are having the same experiences at the same time. Yeah, like feelings and everything. Yeah, the same like kind of ups and downs. Right. And I feel like the same, like, kind of ups and downs. Right. And I feel like the same, like, like,
With my people who spend time with me a lot.
Yeah.
They start feeling, it's almost like they start turning into me too.
So they start experiencing, watching, walking in the spirituality and everything too.
Yeah.
Like indirectly, even if they're not like consciously trying to do it.
Yeah, absolutely.
So they start having the same gut feelings and having the same intuition as me.
I love it.
I love that.
That theory of like a network of fairies and angels, I love that.
That's gorge.
It's real.
It's real.
We're all one big brain.
Like we're all like connected.
I really do feel that way.
We are.
Okay.
So speaking.
of hate about this stuff.
Right, okay, we'll read this first video.
This one is, in this video, a man who describes himself as a founder and CEO is talking
in his car about how, quote, meditation, manifesting and all that shit doesn't really do anything
for you.
He says, the way to become successful is by getting up and working hard.
He says, why would I just sit there in my room and cross my legs when I could just go out
there and do it?
What a psycho thing to say.
Also, what a white thing to say.
I don't want to assume, but what a white thing to say.
That's a colonial perspective.
I have to sigh.
Right.
But such a colonial white supremacist's like capitalist mindset, I feel like.
That like workhorse mindset of like, you know, spirituality doesn't give you anything,
but like going out and getting things does.
Absolutely.
I was actually thinking about it on the way here.
And I was like.
if we just all, if all these people who ultimately just feel very dysregulated in their bodies.
Yeah.
Like they are lacking a sense of stability with their breath, with their, with their, with their awareness of their emotions, with their body.
If we could all just for like 10 minutes, everyone on the earth, just like put our hands to the ground or the trees and just.
listen, it would give us every single answer we need to get out of this dystopian hellscape.
OKT.
It would.
Tell them.
Because I think anyone who's on that path, like we were saying right before we started
the show, like, what is your intention?
Yours was to spread joy, to spread like, just good vibrations, to spread knowledge,
to spread empowerment.
anyone who's like walking that path is receiving those intuitions constantly on how to make the world a happier and better place.
Absolutely.
And like if we all just listened, it would be clear in like 10 minutes.
Totally.
And we'd all communicate with each other and what to do.
I feel like in a lot of ways too, people don't realize like a lot of times you're getting in your own way when it comes to stuff like that.
Like the block is you.
The block is you.
A lot of times.
The block is you and the block is technology too.
Absolutely. It's rotting everything. I know that. I'm such a, I have such bad brain rot sometimes. That's when I, like, really literally,
that stupid comment people say, like, when they go, like, you go touch grass. Like, that's literally when I'm like,
I physically have to go touch grass. Oh, yeah. Or something, some kind of element.
Absolutely. A nature element. I need to go outside and sit in the sun. Like even, my sister said this other day,
she goes, yeah, because she's got new patio furniture. And so she was sitting on her paddyo. She goes,
I sat in the sun for like 20 minutes and it was like the best feeling ever.
She's sitting out there with nothing in her hand.
She's,
yeah.
She calls it lizard time when she lays in the sun like that.
She's just making him as a lizard.
And she's like,
oh, it feels so nice to just like sit and absorb and not do anything.
It's amazing.
Like to sit inside.
But I agree with what you said because I think the problem is a lot of times people don't
want to sit in the silence or sit with themselves.
So I get what you mean.
Or just be in nature and have that time.
But that was everyone.
back in the day thousands of years ago there was no other option than to be present and listen
and sometimes when I find that clarity within five minutes in the sun or in a park I'm like
damn this was people's everyday existence for 24 hours a day I know with no technology like what a life
what a life like that's incredible I think about that too since we're around the same age too like
growing up too I think about all the things I didn't have growing up so like technology wise
yeah yeah and all of the experiences I had because there was no technology like that I miss it so much
I know something yeah yeah especially the more online you become where you like now you do this for
living and you post online too to help with your career and everything when you do all that for a
living too it starts to feel like I'm just never going to escape it I'm planning my retirement
for the tech aspect
for real like for real that's what I mean
not for the music aspect
I'm going to make music forever but because
it's so intertwined now yeah and that's honestly
that's kind of how chapel was too and she was here
she's the same thing she needs to be in nature too
she loves to touch trees
yeah she loves to roll in the grass so like
you need it like that's what I was like
and I think at the end of last year too
I had like obviously the past like few years
have been like insane for me
because I've never done this before
and like adjusting like you said it's a trauma that you have to like learn how to live through yeah
I felt that so severely at the end of last year and so I was like telling my family and like my team
I was like my new year's resolution for this year is to be more present and to be more here like and to
not worry about what's coming or what happened or is to be more aware and like be here and I feel like
sometimes people ask me like what do you do when you feel like you're online too much yeah
and I was like I like don't look at my phone and I go spend
time with people like humans like I go spend time with people that I love it's so obvious yeah it's so
obvious but it doesn't feel obvious in the like when you're in the eye of the storm it just feels like
oh I'm never going to not feel this way it's because it's a physical reaction it does something very
dangerous physically to you I know like in the way that you're hunched over in the way that
you're like your spirit your energy is like glued yeah like sometimes I try to have um a kind of
bird's eye view of myself, like, when I'm in the spaces.
Yeah, and you're, like, hunched over.
Yeah, like, rigid, you know what I mean, tense.
Yeah, you see, like, what's happening to your body, and of course it makes sense.
Yeah.
I know, I feel, and I feel like the physical reaction, like you were saying, like, I was, like, sick, too, at the end of last year.
Like, yeah.
I was so sick, and it's, I couldn't figure out why.
Like, I was like, something's wrong with me.
Like, I couldn't sleep.
I had, like, such bad insomnia, which I've never had.
Yeah.
And, like, everything I ate made me sick.
So, like, and it's literally my body physically.
rejecting like all of the stress and the like technology and the looking at everything.
Of course.
It's just too much.
So I needed to like recenter, recalibrate.
Yeah.
Honestly, I think that's why this year, especially in the summer, I felt like my aura was
turned up a thousand.
Yeah.
Because I'm like catching up on last year.
Exactly.
Because of my well was dry at the end of last year I felt like.
That's so valid.
And I feel like, I feel like actually.
It's possible to be in the eye of the storm in the midst of all this technology and chaos and
wanting to grow and manifestation and have a calm center through it.
Yeah.
But it takes a balance and like learning.
It takes a lot of discipline.
Absolutely.
Of like understanding what's happening to your body when you're.
Absolutely.
And like turning it off as soon as it's overwhelming.
That's so real.
I felt like last year I didn't have that balance at all.
And then this year I do.
Like I feel much better about it this year.
So now I feel like, and I feel like that's why I'm thriving even more this year because I feel like I've found the center where it's like when it's too much I need to go outside and physically sit in the sun and roast or like touch a tree or go in water or something.
I was like I need to be in an ocean immediately.
Exactly.
Where do you do you like to do anything specific or like go anywhere that you like know you'll always feel better if you need to be like recalibur?
like that? Do you have like a safe place like that? Yeah, I live in the mountains and there's a trail like
literally walking distance from my house like two, three minutes. So anytime I'm overwhelmed,
I'll even do like 10 minutes of the trail. Yeah, just to get outside and yeah, yeah, and I'll just
immediately feel better. I shouldn't know when you lived in the mountains. You would, you would live in
the mountains, obviously. That makes a lot of sense for you. Yeah. I love that for you though. Yeah, I don't
want to name the town because there's like no many people.
Yeah.
Like so few people in that town.
Yeah, but you get to be in nature, which is good.
Yeah.
I feel that.
Yeah, I don't want to live too landlocked.
I think that's why there are cities that are super landlocked that I'm like, I can't,
I can't live here.
I need to see trees.
I need to be like, by nature.
I need to like, I need to be somewhere where.
As a New Yorker, like, I don't know how I did that.
It's so fucked up.
Are you from New York?
Mm-hmm.
That is crazy.
Yeah, like, why did my parents choose queen?
after they were in beautiful India.
I remember my nature was going to this little strip of green in all the brownstones and like looking up at the airplanes going from JFK.
That was your that was your little oasis for the time being.
Yeah.
I love that you found something though, like something that makes you feel grounded.
When you're a baby, it's like it doesn't matter.
That's true.
You're like so tapped in.
Yeah.
I feel like my, my fiance feels the same way I do about that too.
And like, I go to New York so much for work now.
So like New York has grown on me.
I appreciate New York.
But I feel like every time we go, we talk about it.
And he's like, I like it here, but I could never live here.
I was like me either.
It's just too much.
There's too much and too much city.
Like I was like, if I am in like a place where there's high rises that block the sun,
I'm going to freak out.
Yeah, absolutely. I need sun and nature. Yeah. Yeah. You need that quick access, especially with
what we do. I think it's really important. Oh my gosh, I know. And I feel like, I feel like that's
another reason why to your music is probably so relatable to a lot of different people because
that's, I feel like the spirit talking through you. And it's connecting to people on different levels.
You know what I mean? Which I think is beautiful. Thank you. But back to this Nimrod that made this video.
I know. I'm here. I'm so curious. People have many different views. Right. Literally. And the comments on here it says,
work hard, l-oh-l thoughts don't make you work hard. Do more, think less. Talking about meditation.
I hate shit like that. But like, how do you, how would you like describe your meditation and like what it looks like for you?
Because I think it's very specific to the person, like how they choose to meditate. But I feel like the basics are probably the same.
I have many different forms of it.
And now I'm in a place where there's not much separation between meditation and just real life.
Love.
Because it's ultimately coming back to like a mindset and a certain relationship with your nervous system and your body.
Yeah.
And meditation, when you just sit with your eyes closed for 10 minutes to 10 hours, it's just dipping into a pool and like taking a bath for your brain.
So it's like clean again.
Oh, I love that.
Yeah, is that how you describe it to people when they ask you about it?
Yeah.
Like if people are curious about what it looks like.
Yeah, yeah.
It can look like very silent and very much about, there's a vipasana technique where you scan from like your head to your toes and it like kind of gets you in this very vibrating place.
Or there's lots of really good guided meditations.
Oh, yeah.
I think I want to like maybe do a guided meditation album.
You should.
That would be so good.
And you got the perfect like tone of voice for it.
Just speaking voice.
But your singing voice obviously is fantastic.
Thank you.
It would go with that lovely.
Yeah, because they always have weird music under it.
I know.
Do you know what I mean?
Like they're not.
They're not musicians, which like, you know, they don't have to be.
But they did some weird.
Let's set the vibe.
Let's set the vibe properly at least.
Let's set the vibe.
I struggle with it.
I'm just like, I want to make some soulful stuff under it.
Yeah, that would be so nice.
Oh my gosh, that would be so awesome.
I'm going to do it.
What's that app?
Have you ever heard of that app where celebrities read dirty things to you?
Have you ever heard of that?
What's that fanfic app?
Dace, what's it called?
You know what it's called.
Quinn, okay.
Quinn.
I have a point.
I promise, Revena.
Quinn's like an app where they like read like, it's like celebrities read like smut to you.
What is smart?
Smut's like.
Well, Raminah, let me get into smut.
It's basically like...
I'm sorry.
No, it's okay.
It's sexual descriptions.
Scenarios, if you will.
Like 50 shades of gray.
Yes, yes.
That would be considered smut, I would say.
Yeah, it's like sex scenes in a book kind of deal.
Okay.
Where it's like you kind of let the mind do the work for you.
Yeah, that's so hard.
I like that.
Right.
So they're hiring like celebrities for the quint.
My point is you should do the opposite and do that for guided meditation.
Oh my God.
That's why I said.
I had a point.
I promise.
You just got to let me loop it back.
I like that.
Yeah.
I can't believe you've never heard of smut.
That's crazy.
No.
But I haven't heard of a lot of things that people tell me.
You're one of those like, I'm not sure what that is.
Yeah.
You're just here for a good time.
I love that.
I think that's great.
I support it.
Me, you saying like, what a weirdo as if smut itself is not weird.
So it's all right.
That makes me weird, but it's okay that I know what that is.
You're right.
No kink shaming.
You're right.
That's true.
King shame.
Like, that's my king.
Ravina, that's not my kink, okay?
That's other people's kink.
I'm not on Quinn.
You should do a Quinn.
I should do, that would be crazy.
I tell people all the time that like I used to do cameo early in the day, like back in the day.
And then I'm not kidding.
because men started submitting cameos to me asking me to berate them on purpose.
Like like on- Is cameo like wholesome or is it?
Yeah, it's wholesome.
It's literally like birthday shout-outs.
It's like, can you record a happy birthday for my best friend?
Or can you like congratulate my sister on her baby?
Yeah, it's like videos like that.
Yeah.
And they like pay for it.
Oh, so they like pay me and they put in the request and then I record it and it sends it to
them and like I got one where he wanted me to like berate him and like call him name
and it's like clearly on some like BDSM type deal like you wanted to be bullied.
Do you have a lot of that with like your themes?
Yeah, sometimes.
Sometimes I do get some weirdos in there.
And he was like, can you like call me like a dirty little boy or some shit like that?
It was weird.
And then he wrote that to me and I, well, not for $30.
Not for $30.
I'm not doing that.
Maybe for $30,000.
Yeah.
Let's add a couple more zeros.
I'll think about it.
But like when I saw that, I said, turn it off.
And I'm not getting turned my cameo off that day.
Haven't opened it up since.
I'm dead.
Pissed me off so bad.
I haven't done it in two years.
That's so funny.
And I was like, you guys have to ruin everything.
Yeah.
I'm like going like, happy birthday.
Happy 16th birthday.
And then that's the next request.
And then I get so pissed off.
I turn it off.
That's like, you know what?
I'm going to tell, speaking of, well, I'll link this back to spirituality.
Sometimes when people wrong me, I always go,
the universe is going to return that to you.
tenfold.
Yeah.
And that's why I always think to myself, I don't need to take care of it.
Because the universe will.
Yeah.
And she may take her time, but boy, does she come back?
That's what I always think.
So I was like, don't make me smite you with my ancestors.
Don't make me do that.
Yeah.
I don't want to smite your bloodlines, but I will.
I'll make sure not one more man's hair grows on that bloodline if you piss me off
one more time.
Don't you do that to me or to your future grandchildren.
I feel you.
Yeah.
I feel you.
Do you ever feel like you want to use spirit for bad sometimes?
Not use it, but sometimes you're like, hmm.
Only on one person.
But I would never.
Yeah.
But there's like a blockage.
Yeah, but that's the feeling where you have it and you're like, okay, well, that's bad.
I shouldn't do it.
But if I was bad, I would do it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I tell myself that too.
Yeah.
That's what I'm like, it's okay because the universe will handle that.
They'll get taken care of.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
My mom is always telling me to that.
She's like, don't ever use it for bad.
because also then it can be negative for you in your own spiritual practice yeah then it like
when you start to use it for negative things yeah it's like you kind of like it's like those
wiji boards like you allow the spirit to come in and then you can't get rid of it exactly i feel that
exactly that's why i'm i never play around with that me either darker energy that's also why i hate like i hate
Ouija boards.
I hate shit like that because I'm like, see, I believe in the other side.
So like I believe in dark spirits and energy.
I don't know what the other side looks like, but I do believe that dark spirits and energy do exist.
That's so interesting.
Okay, because I haven't dived into that.
Like I don't really have a grasp on that yet, actually, of the darkness.
So I'd love to know more about what you think.
Yeah, for me, I just feel like in my practicing of it or understanding of it, I just feel like it exists.
But I feel like what you said, which is like you have to.
open the door in order for it to attach to you. You know what I mean? So I'm like when you welcome it,
it's almost like it doesn't give without expecting something in return. So like it will give you what
you want, but you're going to have to answer to it is how I see it. Wow. And so like that's why
interesting. Yeah. So it's best to acknowledge that it's there so you know that darkness does exist,
but that doesn't mean you have to access it. You know what I'm saying? This is a little bit of a tangent,
but what do you think about all those conspiracy theories of people with incredible wealth or incredible power
using like a like darker versions of manifestation for power?
Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of dark practicing of spirituality in some element.
But I also think at the same time that I think it's a lot harder to accept that humans inherently can be evil.
So it's better to blame the metaphysical because when you can't tangibly, when it's tangibly there, that's scarier to think that like a person is actually making those decisions and just genuinely is an evil or bad person.
Yeah.
It's better to blame something metaphysical because I can't see it.
And therefore, if I can't see it, it's not real.
Yeah.
So I do think in a lot of instances in that case, I feel like it's kind of leaning into something that makes you feel a little bit safer.
because you
can choose not to believe
in the metaphysical
but you can't choose
to not believe that bad people exist
and they're walking amongst us
so that's kind of how I see it sometimes
I wouldn't be surprised though
if they were practicing some sort of dark spirituality
I wouldn't be surprised at all
but at the same time I think sometimes people
are just inherently evil
and so like and they exist amongst us
and there are so many evil
tangible things in the world
like prejudice and bigotry
and vitriol of any kind
and greed and you know what I'm saying like there's so many tangible things that are evil I don't think
it's hard to believe that they could corrupt people like you know what I'm saying like especially
something like money like money and and course power and access yeah I truly feel like when evil people
get richer they just get more evil they don't you know what I mean it's not like always the case
where someone who's a good person and had no money gets money and becomes evil I'm sure that happens
but I think more often than not
evil people just get
the fucking rainbow road
you know what I mean? They get to take it and they get to be famous
and they get to be wealthy and they get to enact
that evil on others.
Absolutely. Absolutely. What about you? How do you see it?
I have
kind of a more like Buddhist
perspective of seeing
it all as
a play and seeing
seeing basically the world as a series of forms and images all born under the same energy.
And the energy is going to do what it does, whether positive or negative.
And like the place that I try to ground myself in is that I'm like the divine spirit kind of just observing all of this good and bad.
and it's going to play out how it plays out.
And ultimately, these dystopian, these chaotic times, they will come to an end because
the earth always protects itself.
Divine always protects itself.
We're a blip in humanity in the earth.
It's horrible that so many people have to suffer at the hands of other people's evil.
But all suffering ends, all suffering ends at the end of the day.
and that doesn't mean we don't stop like stop fighting for it
stop fighting for the end of suffering and stop fighting for people's basic human rights
but like I take peace in knowing that we're a part of a network of something much bigger
yeah you know yeah totally and that's why I think that I think that perspective scares people
it really scares people like to think that they really are so small in the grand scheme of things
I think that scares people, especially people who are, like you said earlier, like not well,
like disturbed spiritually and like can't really sit with themselves.
Yeah.
Thinking about you and the grand scheme is even more overwhelming and too hard to like internalize
or trying to conceptualize really.
I feel like a lot of the people in the comments that you were reading had a really strong
need for control.
Yeah.
Like they, that's why they believe hard work equals.
success.
Yeah.
It's like a tangible.
Whereas some of the hardest working day laborers in the middle of Asia and Africa
should, you know, they should be having the same success if that's what it is.
Exactly.
But no, it's like systems that are keeping them.
Exactly.
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I tell people that all the time.
Yeah, exactly.
That's why I always say too.
Imagine if we started the race at the same time, like where we could all be.
Yeah.
As a society.
And it's funny, too.
because I, a lot of times people ask me about like how I came to be this way.
Like, you know, why do I feel so convicted about like, you know, my intersectional feminism
feminism as a whole and all of that?
And I, a lot of times I always say, I think it's just the perfect storm of me having just
an borderline delusional confidence and also like the way I was raised.
And it's mostly because in my culture, like the genesis of my culture prior to being colonized
is matriarchal.
So we've always held women in very high regard.
And so many indigenous cultures, many cultures in general were like that prior to being colonized.
So it's like when you think about old indigenous cultures like the Mayans or the Aztecs or like indigenous Native American people like they had fully functioning running cities and like aqueducts and like medicine and all of these things like they were practicing within their spirituality at the same time that they were like literally building community.
Yeah.
So it's like to think that.
you know, colonization happening and white supremacy spreading so violently the way it has and creating
these systems of oppression. To think that those are the only tangible things that prove that you can
succeed or develop a world is just simply not true. It's like historically inaccurate. And it's actually
such a small period of time compared to this whole prior existence of everybody. Exactly.
And everybody living like, I don't know how they were living, but I imagine.
and they were living in much deeper harmony with nature.
Right, literally.
And in general.
Yeah.
That's why, like, in general, they were healthier.
Yeah.
And that's why I always think, like, to think that, like,
working within a capitalist structure is the only way to achieve success or fulfillment.
Mm-hmm.
That is a poison in the brain.
That is not true.
It's a poison in the brain.
Yeah.
You know, it's been actually the most grounding thing for me as, as someone who's
come into more resource and like personal power.
And the privilege and the also the kind of attachment that comes with that.
Like you know what I'm talking about?
Like sometimes when you come into that more and more and you start to manifest more,
you start to get attached to the things you already have.
And then you're like, no, I got to do that again.
I got to do that again.
Yeah.
And I feel like some of the most clarifying moments for me recently have been just going.
staying on farms, living with no money, living with community.
And like, obviously I'm coming from a place of privilege doing that.
But just reminding myself that living in community, living in harmony with earth,
living on farms where we're like feeding each other and taking care of each other,
it's possible.
And like getting like little glimpses of a way of living outside of all.
all of this. Yeah, totally. And I think people are really, really scared to have that conversation.
And that's where a lot of the hate comes from. It comes from fear of even imagining utopia or
imagining something more spiritual. Because they're like, well, it almost feels like an assault
to their ego because they're like, well, why you can only experience this because you have
privilege. And yes, true, like it took a lot of privilege and time.
to get there but like we all if we keep spreading this knowledge of that the earth is holding us that
it has us we can all experience that for free yeah yeah to some extent yeah whatever it looks like for you
it's like very specific to the person meditation spirituality trees it's free it's here for you
yeah that's very real and also like I feel like too the the warmest like kindest like people that I know
everyone loves and like gets along with yeah are very spiritual in practice yeah and you include it I can
tell everybody loves you but it's like it the when I think about my friends that I have that are very
spiritual in their practice like they everybody loves them like they just feel very like warm and welcome
yeah and I feel like it's what you said it's like being centered within yourself is and that's I think
what what procures beauty and it like makes you attractive to other people and it like makes other people
want to be your friend and be like be a drug to do in general and like it's like you
attract like better people around you because you're like so and it's like what procures confidence
too at the end of the day because some people ask me about my confidence all the time and I'm always like
I think too I actually just saw a TikTok made about me like two days ago and this girl was talking
about my natal chart and she was talking about my like so intimate yeah my north and south nodes
and she was talking about why me leaning into my north and south
nodes is why I'm so successful.
Whoa.
And so she was like kind of breaking into me.
Yeah, because she's like an astrologer.
So I was like, I was locked in.
I was watching it like it.
Like it wasn't me.
I was like, that's crazy.
Yeah.
I was watching it.
But she was talking about how like.
How special.
Right.
I was like, I don't even remember where they're at like as far as like what moon or sun
they're in.
And she was explaining how like part of that is me focusing on me and my convictions and
loving me wholly.
But like what what has launched me as.
terms of doing this for living and this is like actually my purpose like walking and my purpose
is because I've learned to extend that confidence to everyone else too and so it's like I've learned
to like care about bringing everyone with me to the same level as me yeah as where I am as far as
like and I like to say enlightened that's all I was like I feel very enlightened and I feel that way I think
that's why I've been able to let go what an accomplishment at 29 not many people can say that's so cool
I feel like that's another reason why I feel so, like, detached from when men attack me,
which is often and always.
I never care, like, literally ever, because people are like, how do you deal with it?
I just don't care.
Like, I don't care at all.
It doesn't, like, disturb your body.
At all.
Yeah.
And I was like, I don't feel anything disturbs my spirit from them.
Yeah.
I don't listen when they talk, first of all.
But second of all, when I do hear it, it's garbage.
And I literally think, I've told someone I'm like, I, I don't.
don't care to, I don't need to prove myself to these men.
Yeah.
I gave myself that a long time ago.
Yeah.
The validation that they convince you you so desperately need to seek from the
patriarchy, I got rid of that.
I ripped that shit out of my brain a long time ago.
So I'm the only person who gives me validation.
So whatever they say to me, it doesn't hurt me because I don't take any stock in what
they say.
Absolutely.
And I feel like you could apply that to many different areas of your life.
I was thinking of that very recently.
and I was thinking about how grounded I feel in love for myself
and also knowing that I'd be the same amount of like loving, cool, feeling abundant, attractive,
feeling healthy in whatever material state I found myself in.
Tea, me too, same.
And I feel like that's a way bigger success.
to get to that point in your life where you feel like you could put me anywhere in any situation
and I know I'll thrive and I'll figure it out.
That's so tea.
Oh my God.
I feel the same exact way.
I was telling my fiance with that because we've been together for seven years and we just got engaged.
But we thank you.
Thank you.
What if I just brought that up?
Oh my God.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm like, oh.
Yeah.
We just recently got engaged.
But we we talk often and frequently about how like, because this.
I've only been doing for like three years.
No matter where we would be, we would be happy.
Yeah.
And I would be happy.
Yeah.
And I would be fulfilled in whatever state I found myself in, whether it was doing this
or something else.
Yeah.
I know I would be happy because I feel so happy within myself.
So that's T.
Yeah.
I was just talking to him about that the other day.
And that's true success beyond anything people convince us is successful.
Totally.
And I feel like that authenticity, like, through.
shines through you so brightly and I feel like that's why people love you so much and that's why
other than your just otherworldly talent that's why I think your music is so powerful because I feel like
like I told you earlier like that warm like almost kinetic energy that you feel from people who are
very grounded in themselves it's very evident and very apparent and I just want to commend you on that
I feel like do you feel like you've opened people up a little bit more to spirituality in a sense I feel
like you have I hope so I hope so I hope so I hope I'm not
normalizing it in the world.
Totally.
My goal is to bring it to as many people as possible,
like to bring healing to as many people as possible.
Yeah.
But do it in a way that's amongst the backdrop of high art,
elegance, taste.
Because I think that I noticed there was a lot of,
in certain periods of my career,
like a lot of exotification or people kind of,
starting to try to brand me in like a guru kind of space and I was like
yeah why would they do that to you it's just like it's just because my race you know I know
that's what I'm saying why would they think that was okay to do yeah oh yeah and you're like okay
knock it off yeah and it's like no there's nuance here yeah I'm trying to create actually something
very visionary something like like art can that that can be consumed for a long time yeah um
something that's not based off a racist trope yeah yeah that's not based off a racist
or something that was like pillaged and taken yeah exactly like I don't I don't want to just
be in this context of like white people doing yoga you know yeah that's so real which you know
they should all power to them but like it's just but let's not yeah yeah let's not let's not
take it I'm not a joke there I'm not not treat me like a joke yeah I know what
you mean yeah well because you are and that's also i think too it's like you are so nuanced like it's not
your spirituality obviously is in you and in everything you do but you have so many other interests too
yeah that exist outside that yeah and i think that too and i also think that's probably what you get
when you're one of the first of your own ethnicity to like really sore in a mainstream element yeah
you're like okay i know i know i'm the first one you've ever met like i say that all the time i'm like
I know I'm the first someone you've ever met.
Yeah.
But like, let's not.
Let's not.
Like, you don't know nearly enough about us clearly.
Yeah.
And also, like, we come in many different forms, like, many different.
Like, a lot of someone people, like, typically people's knowledge of them starts with
the rock and ends with Jason Momoa, who's not even someone.
So that's funnier.
Oh, no.
Like, it's athletics and the two of them.
And so, and now Sasha Colby and me.
So there's that. And L.E.E. Right. Like, there's not many of us in the world. But I was like, but see, we come in very different forms. So it's like, I think that's why. And tastes and interest and like. Right. Exactly. Where did you grow up? I grew up in, well, here in like Southern California. So like I grew up in Santa Ana, California, Orange County. And then I grew up in the Inland Empire too. Cool. So you also have California. Yeah. There's a lot of other things about me too.
Yeah. There's a lot of other things. That's why sometimes.
I was like, Bucking, the beaver.
Right, exactly.
Like, Bucky, the Beaver, exactly.
A Southern staple.
And, like, when Sasha Colby was here, I was joking with her and I was like, we should,
like, the way they cast, like, the rock and Jason Moe, whenever they need, like, a big brown guy,
they're like, who can we think?
The Rock or Jason Moe.
Ask if one of those two are available.
Yeah.
I said, now they should cast me and Sasha Colby.
That'd be sick.
And I was like, I'm like, because we're here too.
And she laughs about it.
And I'm like, but see, like, they just interchanges.
That's why when I first started doing this, I was like, during AAPI, I was like,
I'm going to clean house because there's not enough of us.
It's me and Brightman Rock and Ravenna.
I'm dead.
I'm dead.
Not that.
There's not many of us.
But also pay us all 12 months of the year.
Hello.
Not just May.
Thank you.
Right.
So I was like, and where the fuck we all in fucking April?
Yeah.
And also post like pre-2019 when it first became a thing.
To get like, you know what I mean?
That's true.
That's true.
It is so painfully new.
That's why I.
sometimes I'll see like when they with a API things they'll be like oh we got a group together
of AAPI creators and I was like it's just AAs and one PI I'm and it's me I'm the only
PI you need to have at least more than me I'm dead let's get at least two in the room like I'm dead
I'm always the only like like Indian or South Asian person included yeah yeah exactly me too
it's just me and AAs that's why I'm like well power and love to team but let's get some more in
here my friend create who's a he's a someone um
creator too. Well, he's like, he's all kinds of things. He wears so many hats, but he's a cultural
expert for someone people. And he does a lot of advisement on, you know, cultural movies and films and
TV shows or whatever. And so his thought process is always like, I just wanted to be like the ratio to
be equal. So like if there's, there doesn't need to be, I would love for there to be an equal amount of all of us.
But if because Asia in general is so huge, like it could be that there's just hundreds, if not thousands
of cultures. So he was like, I just want the ratio to be equal. So it's like 12 to three.
Like at least that's movement. Right. We're moving in the right direction.
Yeah. I agree with that. You and me, Ravina. Now that we pitched it, they're going to hit us up in May.
No. They're going to come to our line again.
Let's manifest a Christmas club. Oh, I would love that. Yeah, let's do it. We take a white
holiday. Yeah, let's do it. We'll call it. We'll call, we'll, we'll,
colonize.
Reverse colonize it.
I love it.
Okay, so just to wrap this up with a pretty little bow,
what would you say is your best piece of advice for people who are maybe,
well, first I'll have two advice questions.
The first is like they want to start kind of learning more about their spirituality
and maybe they're a little nervous because they don't have a lot of information.
Like what would be recipes advice for that?
And then also if they're artists and they want to learn how to marry the two.
or kind of walk within both at the same time like you do,
what would you say is your best piece of advice for that as well?
Okay, so for spirit, I would say,
create a container and environment for yourself to really go deep in.
It could look like an altar in your bedroom,
which could have tarot, crystals, like good lighting,
things that make you feel safe.
It could be going out to a park, going out to a hike,
and setting up near a tree with a blanket.
Just something that feels good so you can feel grounded.
And then I would say, I feel like the biggest thing when you're first getting into it is letting go of judgment.
Oh, totally.
You know, like so many people giggle at themselves.
Yeah.
When they're first meditating.
Oh, that's tea.
Yeah.
You know, because they feel silly.
Silly.
There's so much conditioning like we were seeing that it's, it's, the,
stupid or too feminine or too um it's really interesting how racist it is actually yeah yeah in how it's
um branded as dumb or like i was just what to say or airy or not realistic yeah uh so people have
all that conditioning yeah so it's like the first step is letting go of judgment and then it's like
find a guide like find a good guided meditation um i have one on my last album in the last track i
love Chani Nichols, guided meditations. She's really great. There's so many out there that you can
find. Totally. That's my advice on that. Love. And then for music, I would say practice is everything.
Like, it all comes down to practice. You can't play music unless you put in the hours and the work.
And it's so much deeper than all the internet stuff going on right now because that will take shape.
in so many different forms.
Yeah.
And it's going to look so different in one year.
Yeah.
And then you're going to have to adapt to how to create a new kind of piece of content.
Yeah.
And what will matter at the end of day is the music, not the marketing.
Yeah, exactly.
That's too, yeah.
Yeah.
So that's my advice because I feel like now kids are just really isolated from also creating
their own sounds, which I feel like is very sound is created out of local cultures.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And being present with local cultures and like what's happening, you know?
Tea, yeah.
And like being in your own isolated world of gathering influences, not just like what everyone is gravitating towards on the internet.
Yeah, totally like copy pasting.
Yeah.
What seems to work for other people?
Yeah, exactly.
Totally.
You're like, you lose your uniqueness in that too.
I feel like when you're like you said, trying to market like and trying to like feed into what's trending or what's working.
Yeah, yeah.
The marketing stuff comes so much later.
Yeah.
musician. Totally. Put in 10, 15 years of practice and then think about the marketing.
You know? Then do it. Well, thank you so much for your time and your energy today. It was fantastic.
I think this is my favorite podcast I've ever done. Oh my gosh. Did you get that on tape?
Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Thank you. Oh, that's so sweet. Everything.
And I'm sorry, I'm dressed like a beaver during it. I love it. I think it enhanced the vibes.
I think it's so cute. I think you're the cutest beaver.
Thank you. I really, I genuinely really enjoyed this conversation. I love talking about spirituality.
Oh my God. I was like sad. It's...
Well, I thank you so much for coming. Like you are truly fantastic. Like obviously I love your
artistry. I think you're just a fantastic musician, truly like so talented one of one.
And I want to give you my own personal flowers for that. I just think you're fantastic.
And I think you're blazing a trail all on your own. And I like can't wait to see where you go.
But also I love learning a lot more about you, like on a spiritual level.
I think that's wonderful.
Thank you.
And it makes a lot of sense to me why you are doing so well because you're so convicted
in who you are.
I think that's beautiful.
I feel the same about you.
And now we're in love.
Yeah, now we're in love.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Well, for those who are living in Iraq, like I mentioned earlier,
and maybe don't know, where can everybody find you?
On all those social media, Instagram, TikTok.
follow me on TikTok because I don't really know how to use it.
But I'm learning.
She's learning.
And I'm going to figure out how and I'm going to do a good job.
I should go right past all of you.
And you're also on tour.
And I'm on tour with Tanashi and it's so fun.
Very exciting.
Please go see her.
You're just incredible.
And I say like live, but I've literally just watched your tiny desk,
which is obviously live.
So I count that as watching you live.
Oh my God.
I will obviously have to come see you live for real, for real.
Come next year.
That would be fun.
Perfect. Love that. Can't take it back. Sorry, it's on tape.
You're on the list already.
Okay, period.
Thank you so much to my wonderful, amazing guest, Ravena, for being here today.
Make sure you all follow her on literally everything and stream her music on everywhere.
Everywhere you can stream music, obviously, hello.
But don't forget new episodes of the comments section come out every Wednesday.
You can stream the audio on all streaming platforms, or you can listen or watch the video
exclusively and for free on our favorite platform, which is Spotify.
So thank you so much for tuning in.
Thank you to my amazing guest, Ravina,
and I'll see you next week.
Bye.
Bye.
