Premiere • Siren: "Priestess"
Last summer the These Days staff made their way to Milwaukee to meet up with some of the more notable names in the city's burgeoning music community. We had a great time meeting up with the artists we already knew about, but it was more interesting to take a look under the surface and learn about a city on the make and just how deep the artistic community went. Among the group of creatives that we met was Siren, a vocalist with a pretty small catalog out in the world at the time. She performed alongside Webster X in the well received "Doomsday", and had a couple loose singles of her own.
As she prepares to release a new EP in the coming months, Siren premiere's her first single of the year with us. She goes into detail about "Priestess" in our short interview with her below, but Siren is clearly getting off to a strong start with this single from the gods. Siren also talks New Age Narcissism, Milwaukee and where to keep up with her below, so make sure to read listen to "Priestess" and read on.
We know you from your work with Webster X and the New Age Narcissism collective. How did you get involved with those guys?
WebsterX and I met about three years ago at a party and instantly hit it off. I was in the house when he wrote Doomsday, and I was randomly in the studio when he recorded it. He had me hop on the track just because I happened to be there and it ended up being a great fit. We work really well together musically. He then introduced me to the rest of the NAN boys and I fell into place with them naturally. New Age is my family, I've never met people like them.
Although a singer, do you see yourself as part of the hip hop movement Milwaukee has going on right now? If so, how would you differentiate the current sound and hip hop culture from the more traditional definition of the genre?
I wouldn’t consider my music to be a part of the amazing hip-hop movement brewing in Milwaukee. Honestly, I didn’t grow up in the culture, so I’d be a vulture saying that my art is a part of it.
But ya know, maybe I am a part of Milwaukee’s movement, because it is so different and inclusive. Milwaukee doesn’t have a “sound” or a specific set of rules. You don’t have to be cool or fashionable or sexy or anything to be successful here. You have to be talented AND have a bad ass stage presence. It’s about the music as well as personality here, not about looks or clout.
Tell us about "Priestess". It's your first release in a while and you're demanding praise, we must know the inspiration behind this track.
It's not demanding praise necessarily, it’s demanding respect and equality. To clarify, Siren isn’t me, rather she’s an alter-ego that says everything I've wanted to say at random times in my life. In person I’m pretty quiet and watch from the sidelines, but Siren gets to yell about the shit I see. Priestess came from there. The song was inspired by Kanye’s “I am a God” and the fact that men having a ton of songs about being an all powerful, worship worthy entities. I never thought women had an anthem that really screamed fuck you, get on your knees, pray to me. We’re portrayed as either hyper sexualized, or soft, coy and untouchable, there is no in-between. I wanted to create a song that was neither, to remind women to own their power and demand respect. It is necessary to me to constantly drive into people’s minds, even subconsciously, that women are powerful.
Can we expect for music from you soon? Where can fans keep up with you?
My ep is coming very soon. Just pulling the strands together. But you can keep up with updates and really terrible jokes on twitter/instagram @sirenmke.
