But no one can turn a blind eye anymore. \u201cI was struggling with where the world was seeming to lead to, especially being in America right now, and just feeling the tension of the election kind of bubbling up,\u201d Ramati said as that image of the noose tie, and the context of the world around her, came up again and again. She was called to do something, but she\u2019s honest about how she felt, telling me:<\/p>\n \u201cI knew I wanted to express sort of what I was feeling and thinking, but I didn\u2019t know how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Rozie Ramati<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Where to even begin? In a time when saying anything can feel futile, when the art of protesting, let alone protest songwriting, feels confused and weakened, when any attempt to speak up and use your voice feels like opening yourself up to either being ignored or attacked, how are artists supposed to steal themselves? Especially artists who have never strayed into political territories before.<\/p>\n Fate kept showing up, though. Back walking in the park on another day, musing on some of the lyrics she\u2019d begun to write about the state of things, she got a message. \u201cI got a text from my Abuelo, and he\u2019s like, \u2018Mija, I was listening to your old music, or the music that you\u2019ve released, and have you ever considered making music talking about the world?\u2019\u201d Ramati recalled as her relative seemed to be the mouthpiece for some higher calling this time round, \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018you know, it\u2019s wonderful to talk about love, but it\u2019s another thing to talk about what\u2019s really going on?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s interesting. That\u2019s so bizarre too, because this is what I\u2019m working on right now,\u201d Ramati said as she shared scraps of the beginning of what would become \u2018Blinking Aisles\u2019, her latest single and a direct to the point analysis of America as it stands.<\/p>\n Back then, though, it wasn\u2019t direct. \u201cI really was trying to be as poetic and kind of cryptic as possible, to be able to express these ideas in a way that I felt safe and comfortable,\u201d Ramati admits that the fear and worry about doing it wrong held tight. Still trying to escape the intensity of the political voice that seemed to want to come through, she was doing everything possible to rework her thoughts into the kinds of songs she was used to writing. Then fate came by\u2026again.<\/p>\n \u201cI keep\u00a0Howl<\/em>\u00a0on my desk,\u201d she tells me, always keeping an Allen Ginsberg book close. One day, while still struggling to let herself fall freely into the song the world wanted her to write, she opened the book. \u201cI pulled it out, opened it up, and the first page I opened to was \u2018America\u2019. And then I\u2019m reading it, and it says, \u2018America, the plum blossoms are falling\u2019. That\u2019s crazy, because I had already kind of written the song to have plums for me are like a motif in my work,\u201d she recalled, as again, her own personal life converged with the matter at hand. Combining her personal codified images with\u00a0Ginsberg\u2019s own outright takedown of American society, fate was pointing a clear finger.<\/p>\n When she was still struggling to finally and completely listen, it started throwing things. \u201cThis was the most\u00a0woo<\/em>\u00a0thing I think that\u2019s ever happened to me in my life,\u201d she said as she began this story of a series of weird instances where things in her apartment were moving of their own accord and falling over. But mostly, it was one thing \u2013 a framed picture of Frida Kahlo.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I have the courage, hopefully, that can give someone else the courage too.\u201d<\/p>\n Rozie Ramati<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cJust the day prior, I had a session with the first Mexican American producer I\u2019ve ever worked with, and we were talking about music and art, and there was a Frida Kahlo book in the studio,\u201d Ramati said, but still, during the session, she avoided the track she\u2019d been beginning to craft. Clearly seeing that, the world nudged her hard again.<\/p>\n \u201cA Frida Kahlo painting fell down, and it was not my cat. So I was like, You know what? That\u2019s a little interesting, because I had this session yesterday, and we\u2019re talking about Frida, and I\u2019m like, let me look up Frida Kahlo\u2019s art,\u201d she said, opening her laptop and landing direct on an image of her piece,\u00a0Self-portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n It was the final push, and the pieces all came together. As if Ginsberg and Kahlo, two vital political artists from the past, converged to give her the courage, alongside voices of loved ones and prompts from the world pushing her own, Ramati went all in and found the bravery to write \u2018Blinking Aisles\u2019, shrugging off any suggestion of the type of artist she thought she was to instead say what she felt needed to say. To honour those hands on her back, she even wrote part of Ginsberg\u2019s poem into the song, and recreated the Kahlo painting for the cover.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing that pulled me through, I think, was trusting the inner voice and trusting that even if the world is not reflecting back to you the image that you wish to see, you can be that change,\u201d she said, \u201cThe world will support you along the way and give you little like doodads and make a painting fall or something. It made me feel like, OK, I just need to do this, even if it is scary. If I have the courage, hopefully, that can give someone else the courage too.\u201d<\/p>\n So Ramati took her place in\u00a0the lineage of writers tackling the world around them, joining the ranks of others artists who inspired her, like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Joan Baez. Resulting in a truly powerful and prescient track that deserves to be an anthem for the times, fate made sure Ramati finally spat it all out, and said it loud and clear, building a new nest around Ginsberg\u2019s enduring words \u2013 \u201cAmerica, I\u2019ve given you all, and now I\u2019m nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fate stepped in to get Rozie Ramati to say what needed to be said. Then it stepped in again, and again, and again to give … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Rozie](\"https:\/\/cdn1.faroutmagazine.co.uk\/uploads\/1\/2025\/10\/Rozie-Ramati-Far-Out-Magazine-1024x768.jpg\")
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