CREDITS

Lead Singer: Mantawoman

Yangqin: Reylon 扬特

Supporting Singer: Eden Girma

Guzheng: Romi Yount

Percussion: Jordan Murray

Violin 1: Aliayta Foon-Dancoes

Violin 2: Dave Shaw

Cello: Angus McCall

Piano: George Fu

Director of Photography: Oliver Bowring

Sound Recording & Mixing: Adam Bonser

Lighting Designer: Eivind Hansen

Lighting Assistant: Charles Le Péron

Makeup Artist & Hairstylist: Darkwah Kyei-Darkwah

Stylist & Set Photographer: April Adams

Movement Coach: Brooklyn Sanchez

Wardrobe: Uliana Nekrasova

Executive Producing: Reylon Yount and Latana Phoung

LEGEND ~

A year prior to today's upload, I found myself here on Youtube staring at my screen in disbelief. It was January 6th 2020, and a breaking news livestream showed insurrectionists overtaking the capitol of my home country. Witnessing these game-changing events on the same platform where I watch mockumentary newscasts, film trailers and music videos felt completely surreal. Without thinking, my body made me put on a dress and stream Rupaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race, as a way to cope. I was seeking an escape, a drop of the antiodote to a crumbling reality ~ fantasy. As I watched Hayley Kiyoko's divine cotton candy lip-sync, one thought crystallized in my mind: in order not to break, we must transform.

And so that day marks the birth of my new avatar, Mantawoman. She is a psychic stoner siren serving hypnopop surrealness, embarking on an odyssey through hyperspace to fight propaganda, division and fear with music, synthesis and joy. She has a lot to learn, and I'm not sure where exactly she's off to... but I know that when I am her, I feel braver, like I've leveled up in the video game. I can play a role in this farce, changing reality in a different direction ~