There’s a lot to be said about the steadfast commitment to honesty. However, it’s no secret that some thoughts are too heavy to exist outside our own sphere of awareness. Enter I Am Strikes, an emerging indie-alternative artist from Sacramento, CA with a lot to say and very little room for shame or discretion.
So how does I Am Strikes exist in a society devoted to keeping one’s hinges in place? “I’ve committed to fighting that grain tooth and nail. For the sake of my own sanity. For the sake of anybody else who can relate. If I need to say it, I sing it. All honesty. There’s absolutely no censorship.”
While I Am Strikes neither starts nor ends with cynicism, (despite what some song names may suggest), a sense of honest self-depreciation litters her music: “I may be a loser, but tell me I’ve won you over” — the opening lyrics to her peppy piano ballad ‘Loser.’ “I may be stressed, or maybe I am depressed/but I know I’m moving on to the life you kept me from” — the chorus lyrics to her anthem ‘Out of Breath,’ dedicated to “the pill-popping kids” and “the mind-numbing youth” whom she advises to “stop hiding [their] wrists.” Suffice it to say, there’s a hopeful undertone that contrasts the inherent darkness of her persona and her music.