“Is This Real Life?” with Chase Icon
First of all, happy Pride Month!
Happy Pride Month to you too!
You gained a huge following on Twitter with your hilariously subversive way of calling out transphobia and transmisogyny, as well as exposing problematic cis gay men on Grindr.
We love to see it.
With that being said, what does Pride Month mean for you? And how do you create space for yourself in our immensely diverse community?
Pride Month, to me, is more and more special every year, because I feel like I become a little bit closer to who I feel like I am on the inside. Before it was kind of a darker time, actually during Pride Month, because I would see everybody, you know, feel so proud about themselves and their sexuality and gender and everything. And I personally didn't feel that way for the longest time, because in my head I was so depressed. Now I feel like I'm finally in a place where I feel more comfortable with myself and actually proud of who I am and what I've done and accomplished. And especially as a trans woman, it makes me feel like I've done something that other people can look to. I've kind of become a little bit of a role model to some people. Maybe not the best role model.
Your sense of humor, It’s so dry and wonderfully witty. While it’s what originally brought you Twitter fame, it seems to also be an important part of your music. Is that a conscious decision? And if it is, what's informing that choice?
Well, everything I do, I feel like, has a little bit of humor because I just don't take life that seriously. And while I take everything I do very seriously, and I always want to put my best foot forward and put 100% into everything, I can't help but feel like humor is an important part of art. Life imitates art and lifes a joke, so I’d like to be able to laugh at it. That being said, with some of my future projects, it's not all necessarily comedy music. It never intended to be that way. I think that the way I go about putting humor in my music is that it's a little bit more dry. I feel like some people might not get it. But if you get it, you get it, and if you don’t, you don’t.
Why did you choose the name Chase Icon?
I just felt like it was something that was very fitting. It's how I see myself and how I perceive myself. Back when I didn't have any followers, I decided that I was gonna fake it till I make it and call myself an icon until other people recognized that and it eventually worked out.
You had the first live performance of your new material a couple of weeks ago in LA at the Heav3n Party. How would you reflect on that experience and what your stage presence is becoming as a new artist who's getting her footing in the post pandemic scene?
Live performance is something that really comes naturally to me. I've always been able to entertain a crowd. Though I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, because I've never performed my own music. Prior to quarantine, my own music didn’t even exist. I think that it was a little bit scary, but it surprisingly translated really well onto a stage. I was really happy with the way that it went and it was really surreal to hear people screaming my lyrics that I made up myself, like, on a stage. I was like “is this real life?” I felt like it was an iconic debut.
What has been the most challenging part of producing and releasing your music?
I would say, the most challenging part would probably be not overthinking things. I have a tendency to be a bit of a perfectionist. I want everything I do and everything I put out to be 100% up to my standard, which, without a major budget and a label backing is a little bit hard to achieve sometimes. I feel like I doubt myself sometimes, but I am a real artist. Whatever I put out is going to be Chase Icon’s art and I need to not doubt that.
Your debut single SRS: I want to talk about that a little bit. I love it. It's really my favorite release of yours so far. You invoke some really serious themes about living as a trans woman, and the way you tackle that is really creative and also light hearted at times. What kind of a role do you want your music to play in the trans and LGBTQ plus community at large?
I don't make music for any specific group. I think anybody can listen to it and enjoy it. But really… it is for the gays, you know, I do play for the gays. But really even more so, it's for the dolls. I try to make music that I want to scream in my own car. Music that I relate to. I thought SRS is a good concept, especially for my debut single, because the abbreviation for SRS is sex reassignment surgery. I feel like turning something like bottom dysphoria into a fun, pop song is something that nobody's ever done before or even thought to do. I decided that I wanted to go there because I feel like trans girls need something like that to listen to and pump themselves up to. I also just feel like it's a fun, clubby song that everyone can listen to and bop to.
Who is a trans artist who inspires or has inspired your work?
Definitely SOPHIE would be the number one. She’s kind of my North Star in everything that I do music related. She was unapologetically trans, and her work spoke for itself and could be listened to by anybody. It's just undeniably good. She’s really gotten to open people's minds a little bit to, you know, even like accepting trans people more.
It’s beautiful to see everybody talking about her and giving her the credit that she deserves. I was afraid that she wouldn’t get the recognition she deserves because she was a trans woman, but really she has a huge impact on the industry. It's impossible to not recognize her impact everywhere in music. It's in the stuff that you listen to on the radio. I think that it's really great that everyone's been talking about her and that her music is still going hard in the clubs now that they're opening up. It's really cool to see and hear that.
Your most recent single, “Life Alert'' dropped on June 16th. What is the meaning behind the track?
Basically, it's about it's about fucking an old man until he dies and taking all of his money. There's no real deep meaning behind that. Right? I just wanted a bag… and I feel like you would do it for a bag too.
Is there anything else you want us to know about her?
She's coming for you. She's coming for the pop world. She’s on the prowl. The EP is in the works. Expect the unexpected. I only release hits!
