Two days before I released safety house, I sat down to write this post. Two days before I released Safety House I was not in a good headspace. At this point in my career I have a very impressive catalogue of releases, none of which have “paid off” in the career growth and industry connections I need. Two days after the first draft of this post safety house was released and it was like no other release that came before it. This release broke the decade old pattern of underwhelming reception, throwing a spanner in the semi regular panics I have surrounding my previous lack of career growth.

I wrote Safety House During the lockdowns of 2020 whilst our various levels of government were ping-ponging between gross mismanagement and brilliant social change. I musically predicted the social, welfare and health changes brought in to keep our country afloat during lockdowns would be scrapped as soon as “they” (the liberal government) grew tired of keeping everyone alive and well. This song (and music video), Safteyhouse went live on March 4th after 2 long years of delays due to the pandemic and my precarious mental health. 

I’m Sad this song is still relevant, but boy is it cathartic to share.

The most cathartic lyrics I sing in this song appear in Verse 2: "We all forget, Our history, repeats itself again and we forget, once we feel safe". The message not so artfully hidden between the lines of traditional media reporting over the last few years has been depressingly clear: Demanding that “normal” returns and is maintained by society at any cost. We all saw the intense health measures like isolation, social distancing, monetary social supports, masks disappeared the second the majority of us felt safe. Selfishly I'm relieved that my autonomy's been returned (and my business is not suffering like it was during lockdown) but this freedom comes at a huge cost. The cognitive dissonance is crushing and the peer pressure for normality led by our government far surpasses what the adults warned of in my teen years. 

Breaking the Cycle

The love everyone’s shown for Safety House has been overwhelming. It’s been shared widely (in comparison to my other work) across social media and played on Radio* more than any other release.

For once I’m hopeful I may actually recoup my initial financial outlay, which is an unusual but pleasant place to be. Between the music video and the recording I spent about $1600 to hire a producer, videographer and makeup artist. Having those creative experts on my team was brilliant. I’ve come to peace with the reality I may never recoup the cost of my labour for this particular project. This labour involved hundreds of hours of recording, admin, set design, research, video editing, prep work, social media management, marketing and probably a few other tasks I've since forgotten would have added 10's of thousands of dollars to the cost if I'd hired others to do those tasks. Usually the non monetary rewards for this unpaid labour haven’t materialised in unpaid rewards (such as radio play, social clout) but this time it was different.

I do want to acknowledge the roll of luck in this release. If I didn’t know the people I know or have the freedom to collaborate with the collaborators who added so much to this project I wouldn’t have been able to shoulder the financial cost of the results I’ve garnered organically.

Latest Video:

FINANCIAL REALISM SEGMENT!

I’m trying to be more open about my finances/the time/money and energy that goes into this creative work. I’ve reached a point where I no longer have the energy to work creatively and work a day job. Many hours of labour go into a post like this - I sewed the pants, which took me a day, the photos took 1 hour to shoot, 3 hours to edit/upload.

Writing this post in particular took 1 hour, and the social media management and promotion takes an additional hour. my website is with Squarespace which also costs $$

If you’d like to support my endeavour to make this sort of work my “real job” (this includes my music and upcoming sewing videos) you can do so for the price of a coffee by using the form to your left. If you’d like to support me AND get a thing in return for your $$, consider buying my music on BANDCAMP or hopping over to my ONLINE STORE and buying a print, bow, music ETC :)

Big thanks to my regular Ko-Fi Supporter Gemma! If you’d like to join her in my super exclusive community and support my art for $5 a month, click over to my Ko Fi Page! You’ll get access to videos and blog posts early, and I’ll thankyou (like this!) when I release the things.