VOYAGE TO INDIA AT 20 Years Old

The One Lyric I ( kind of ) Wish I could Change.

As I celebrate the 20th anniversary of my 2nd BABY! VOYAGE TO INDIA born September 25, 2002 ~ Named after a Stevie Wonder song, and winner of 2 Grammy, best album and Best R&B song …

I listened to it recently ( only the 20th anniversary could get me to do that) and I hear lots of audio issues, unclean edits .. things that happen when you’re rushing. We wrote and produced this on tour with Sade. 50 Dates. What a time.

And after being snubbed by the Grammys for my FIRST baby “Acoustic Soul” leaving, 0 for 7 … I decided to pick myself back up And released Voyage to India 7/8 months later and I ADORE her, the way a mother should, JUST AS SHE IS.

BUT! there is this ONE thing I’d change..

not back then, but for TODAYS use of language.

Messages like this one come up from time to time.

This person has 0 followers, and no Posts. And Follows no one, so Clearly it’s a troll.

BUT .. I KNOW, there are some fair minded people who have heard this lyrics in the last decade and winced, like “INDIA? Said THIS?”

Admittedly, this lyric truncated and out of context! ~ didnt age well.

But the Lyric in full, and in context! Spoke (boldly I might add) to an era that you have to PUT THE SONG IT TO UNDERSTAND.

It’s 1999 at the HEIGHT of misogeny in Hip Hop music (sadly we far surpassed that,) And I was mad! Mad that it was commercially acceptable to BE that way, and I took it personally! Here I was fighting for humanities evolution, and an evolved approach and view of womanhood, and there my counterparts were, making that mission feel really hard.

Forgive this blurry image, but THIS is me telling the GRAMMY AUDIENCE, that there are NO black performers on the stage tonight ! ( the only black artists to be on that stage were THE ROOTS, backing Eminem) I used my moment, my WIN after the snub .. to SAY THIS! I was always fighting for what i felt was right.

So, back to this song TALK TO HER, I was basically reprimanding our culture for disrespecting womankind in such a BOLD way, and asking .. no TELLING the offending parties .. this isn’t going to work for you. The IMBALANCE is going to be its own issue.

I used sun and moon / man and woman as ALLEGORY to illustrate the imbalance of Masculine and Feminine energy at large. it was never about GENDER.

Putting the words in CONTEXT MAKE THAT CLEAR, but I guess if someone wants to be mad they’ll find a reason. Here’s the part where I have to say, I’ve rewritten the TONE of this blog a few times … because I want to snap back at the tone of the question … but Also I’m remembering that although I’ve been very CLEAR about who I am for 25 years, a lot of people don’t know me. That is the very need for this blogg right? AND, I wrote a more gentle logical response because, I know, when we’re sensitive to something, we hear it how our wound hears it. I get it. And so for the reasonable person, who has heard this line and wondered .. INDIA? Said this? YOU are why I’m writing this today.

The ANNOYING part, is the TROLL out there will never read this, because getting an answer isn’t the point. As the saying goes, “A lie goes around the world before the truth gets out of bed.” When calling someone out, The fight is the point. I’ve retired from the fight, the COST was too high. My mission now, is to walk and speak my truth and plant seeds that will flower at the right time, right place.

Realizing now, that THIS moment is a seed thats flowered. So instead of seeing this as a PROBLEM, it truly is An opportunity to share, and educate and validate my courage as a young songwriter. ABSOLUTELY YES!

I wrote a MEAN ASS response to this troll, but, sincerely, I’d rather appreciate the opportunity.

So here we go.

IN CONTEXT!

The 3rd Verse of

TALK TO HER

Now, let's keep it real
Nothing in this world could ever exist
Without its opposite
There has to be a sun and a moon
A man and a woman
And that's just the way it is
Humanity's lop-sided
And everybody's fighting
How do we restore the peace?
Mother Earth is hurting
And everybody is searching
For that feminine energy

CHORUS:

When you talk to her, talk to her
Like you want somebody to talk to your mama
Don't get smart with her, have a heart to heart
With her just like you would with your daughter
'Cause everything you do or say
You got to live with it everyday
She's somebody's baby
She's somebody's sister
She's somebody's mama

AGAIN… this was about the IMBALANCE OF MASCULINE AND FEMININE ENERGY on the planet. Not GENDER. BUT ALSO, language around Gender non binary or fluidity of ANY KIND, didn’t exist back then ~ if it did, it was very scarce not on a scale large enough to reach MY very forward thinking social context.

NOW! HEAR ME CLEARLY!

Back in 2001, when I wrote TALK TO HER ( with Shannon Sanders and Algebra Blessett ) The culture didn’t have language for gender non conformity of any kind.  BUT some of my friends WERE Gender Fluid, and non conforming. Gay and Lesbian too. I came of age partly IN that community. I partied in the Gay clubs and danced with the Drag queens at the after, the AFTER, party parties LOL. We would be in the club until 6 am sometimes! Lol or sitting in the park watching the sun come up. So funny to think back on that time now lol And thats kind of the point. It was a different ERA. I was very protective of my gay friends, because they were MY FRIENDS. I some times feel offended when people call me an ally, because I feel like much more A PART of the queer community, than a person standing outside rooting for “them” And as far as the spectrum of sexuality, I generally consider myself somewhere in the middle. I honestly think MOST people don’t exist in the extreme ends, if they live enough life to find out.

MAYBE even before some of you reading there were born, or maybe you were a teen ager. I was in the clubs lol And one thing I didn’t do .. was Judge. We were just high on Life, on PRE 2000, pre 9/11, Pre Aaliyah plane crash, PRE Social Media! Pre i phone, LIFE. Also, we were high on … Weed, or shrooms, acid or X … None of us were famous yet. There was no…. Acoustic Soul yet. NO syndicated radio shows, No international releases, not 20th anniversary’s, no birthing 6 children, or marriages .. all of which friends of this era went on to do .. we were kids, in the clubs, dreaming, and dancing and being. And accepting.

Back then we had TWO terminologies for any one who was non conforming.

Gay / Lesbian  or Cross dresser. I personally knew the ( what back then for us was a ) nuance of transgender, but that just because I was born with a natural curiosity and I WANTED to understand. No one talked like that. not even the 2 transgender people I knew. She would say “i’m a different kind of woman”

ZERO people back then talked about Being Gender FLUID or Non Conforming. AT. ALL. But a lot of us were.

So, this Lyric, didn’t refer to GENDER. AT ALL. It wasn’t possible for me to do that in 2001, Technically speaking. But also the way my character is set up?

thats wasn’t possible for me.

I would NEVER speak against my friends, and acquaintances who were different than me. NOT THEN, NOT NOW. And not because it’s IN .. I am not “NOW SUPPORTING” NO. I am old soul, who truly accepts people. my music sings that song OVER and OVER AGAIN. It’s a shame that I have yet to earn the benefit of the doubt. But I AM willing to have the conversation.

so, dear disturbed, or questioning listener … the way you are reading these lyrics ~ the CONTEXT you are judging them against didnt exist when this song was  written, but I hear where you’re coming from. The world set it up as a fight you had to take on. Just know, I’ve always been on your side.

So, YES. Admittedly, those words didnt age well. but actually, I celebrate that. the Human experience is SO nuanced, and we CERTAINLY need more language around how we exist.

for example, I LONG for more language around romantic connections and commitment. I dont WANT a marriage, but I want something LIKE THAT, where we keep two homes, and are committed, and standing side by side facing our life’s missions, not MAKING each other the life missions … ok digress, another conversation for another time.

back to the point.

I could! would! enjoy ! listing all of the times my lyrics were prophetic, or inclusive before their time ( I sang Brown skin 15! years before Beyonce sand Brown Skin Girl.)

In my song “The Truth” in one line I explore, reincarnation and gender fluidity when I sing

It’s almost like I knew this man from another life, like back then maybe I was his husband, maybe be was my wife” - The Truth From the Album Voyage To India

and I sang that BECAUSE I BELIEVED IT.

but its LITERALLY a whole nuther essay. lol ..

Just know, i’m THAT girl. not the girl this troll is accusing I am.

I was black girl magic before they were CALLING ANYONE Black Girl Magic.

I was WOKE back when we actually KNEW WHAT THAT MEANT.

And yes the reasonable but confused listener would be right to wonder .. INDIA? Said THAT? … no .. i didn’t say that.

“I said what I said”

SO MANY LYRICS I COULD QUOTE!

But  I will leave you with this:  ONE / From the Album SongVersation

CLICK HERE TO WATCH MY SELF MADE PANDEMIC ERA VIDEO!

We are a human kind of seven billion
So many different races and religions

And we all want the same things
Health, Love, Prosperity and Peace
Tolerance is the seed
Then the gift of your acceptance is A tree!

We are a human kind of 7 billion
So many different races and religions
And it all comes down to one

Whether you are red, brown, yellow, black, or white
Man with a husband, or a woman with a wife
We can debate until the end of time who is wrong or right
Or we can see ourselves as one
Cause it all comes down to LOVE.

ONE From the album SongVersation ~ 2013

I wrote ONE in 2009 and AGAIN in 2013

how old were you then? I wonder how old this TROLL was.

Some folks need to check their history. I know for a lot of adults, if it didn’t happen on Social Media, then.. it didn’t happen.

But I was there .. in the OLDEN DAYS HAAHAHHAHH!

Get to KNOW me.

who was SINGING Like that back then?

Yes, it’s “IN” to support LGBTQIA+ people … but I don’t do what “IN” NEVER DID.

I do what my heart feels is right.

Ok i got a little mad and snapped there. I find the accusation odious, a little snap was bound to pop.

LASTLY!

I have 8 albums.

Acoustic Soul.

Voyage to India.

Testimony Vol 1. Life & Relationship.

Testimony vol. 2 Love & Politics.

India Arie and Joe Sample: Christmas With Friends.

SongVersation

SongVersation: Medicine.

And WORTHY

get to KNOW ME

Speaking of changing times, had COVID not turned the world upside down I’d CERTAINLY being doing a 20th anniversary of VOYAGE TO INDIA tour.

and I would tell this story every night in my SongVersation: Voyage To India

cause story telling is what I DO.

Bigotry is DISGUSTING to me. its NOT what I do.

Again CONTEXT

My Oeuvre …

I am proud say .. speaks for itself.

You’ll hear it.  My music is ABUNDANT in love. Idealism, and spirituality.

SO do me the HONOR, ( sincerely, it would be)

and REALLY listen.

and then come back

and lets have a REAL TALK ( to her)

I’m ALWYAS up for a dope candid talk

AND

to own my shit

but this bigotry thing .. ain’t my shit.

sorry had to end with a liiitttle more snap there lol…

I’ve sacrificed a lot to BE TRUE to the cause of love and liberation with all my heart

and STILL NOW.

Lastly, for clarity, with regard to gender and evolved ways of defining, I trust people when they tell me who they are, I RESPECT what they want to be called, and I respect the journey. My Only hope is that some of the younger people would be more gentle with other generations as they learn new ways and words.

That’s it.

Strength, Courage & Wisdom

From my Windowsill

India