blues and sunglasses

Blues and sunglasses - You and I ost

When I first started jamming 'Jackie' with my band, the sound of it reminded me of 'Across 110th Street' by Bobby Womack. A song about crossing the physical racial divide in Harlem in the late 60s. It was featured in the opening credits to Quentin Tarantinos's 'Jackie Brown', hence my song's title. The lyrics for 'Jackie' were written later, they talk about homelessness in our societies, and how we often treat people on the streets without respect. 

After the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis on May 25th 2020 protests against systemic racism spread across the globe. Together with these protests the important conversation about the music industry culturally appropriating black music and exploiting black artists instead of recognising them was sparked once more. 

I think these conversations are important to have. It is something I have been thinking about a lot because I am influenced by soul and blues, music that originated in black America. Jackie is kinda retro/soul, exactly one of the styles in question. Am I culturally appropriating by making that kind of music? I wrestled with it a lot, I thought about abandoning the release altogether.

I had a whole ‘social media plan’ leading up to the release date which I did completely abandon. It suddenly felt ridiculous to me, promoting a single just like normal amongst everything that was going on. I ultimately decided to release 'Jackie' anyway, and to use it in order to draw peoples attention to  Grandmothers Against Removal NSW, a charity back home in Australia. 

GMAR is a grassroots group led by Aboriginal grandmothers, fighting the ongoing removal of Aboriginal children from their families. You can follow them on facebook and even donate to them directly. If you can afford it to give, your money will end up in the pockets of Aboriginal women with great work to do.

https://www.facebook.com/GMAR.GrandmothersAgainstRemovals/

https://donate.mycause.com.au/charity/37188?fbclid=IwAR24gHhAJ5Vup5QMzPmOnCZId2OKfHXRiObumpYdeNcrqPJE4WmjCOMGHtM

Thank you for listening.

Jackie

Georgie Fisher is a singer-songwriter from Sydney, who has made Berlin her home. ​
Her voice is full and enduring, immediately filling the room. Coupled with her upbeat guitar style, powerful storytelling, and warm charisma on stage, she connects instantly with audiences big and small.
She quickly built a following in her adopted home and abroad. 2015 saw the independent release of her first full length album, 'Big City Howl'. Since 2016 she’s toured extensively in Germany, alongside tours in Switzerland, Italy, France, Luxembourg, Ireland, Denmark, Senegal, Australia, and New Zealand. 
2017 saw the release of Georgie's EP 'The Deciduous EP', a small collection of acoustic songs Georgie wrote while staying at her dad's house in Orange, Australia. 
In 2018 Georgie turned her hand to production, penning the song ‘Dig Down Deep’ for the feature film 3 Lives.​ This was a departure from Georgie's familiar style and explored a more grunge oriented sound.
However, Georgie returned to her alternative soul roots in September 2019 when she released her new single, 'Just Be'. The song explores the struggles of a queer woman coming out in a hostile society and is based on a true story Georgie experienced while in Slovenia. Georgie produced the video for the song herself. It was shot in cooperation with Berlin based filmmaker and writer Wolf-Peter Arand.
On the 5th of June 2020 Georgie will be releasing her new single, 'Jackie'. While it's a danceable upbeat tune, the lyrics deal with the difficult topic of homelessness. Infused with the spirit of the classic Motown sound, it's an energetic song full of dedication to every person's right to be treated with dignity and respect.

Jackie

georgiefisherofficial

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