You Don’t Get to Decide Who I Am as an Artist

Empowered woman raises her fist to the sky, standing strong amidst tumultuous clouds, representing resilience and the power of her voice.

There comes a moment when you realize the problem is not you.

It’s the system you’re trying to exist within.

I recently had my work removed and my authorship questioned by Spotify. Let that sink in for a moment. Not criticized. Not reviewed. Questioned at its core.

As if the voice behind the music could be separated from the person who lived it.

As if my story needed verification.

As if I needed permission to tell the truth about my own life.

What I create is not abstract.

It is not disconnected. It is not manufactured for consumption.

It is lived.

Every piece of music I release is rooted in my experiences. My trauma. My healing. My survival. My voice is not something that can be reassigned, relabeled, or dismissed because it does not fit neatly into a system’s expectations.

And yet—that is exactly what happened.

There is something deeply broken about a system that allows a creator to be told that her own work is not hers.

Especially when that work is tied to lived experience.

Especially when that work is part of reclaiming a voice that was taken, ignored, or dismissed for far too long.

At some point, you stop trying to prove yourself.

You stop explaining.

You stop appealing.

You stop asking to be recognized.

And you start making decisions.

I made mine.

I will not continue to engage with a platform that questions my authorship. I will not invest my energy into systems that require me to defend the fact that my story belongs to me.

And I will not be silent.

So I am releasing my work anyway. On my podcast. On my terms. In my voice.

Not because I need to prove anything—but because it was always mine to begin with.

This is bigger than one platform.

This is about every creator who has ever been told, directly or indirectly, that their voice doesn’t count unless it fits a system.

This is about ownership.

This is about truth.

This is about refusing to be erased.

Spotify made a decision.

So did I.

You tried to silence me.

I got louder.