Relationships that burn through our lives like meteors can be revolutionary. After a wine-soaked evening out with her BFF and frequent creative collaborator Jess Sweetman, singer-songwriter Dyan Valdés found herself reflecting on just how important those relationships can be.
“We often get together and plot how we are going to change the world, and this evening was no exception. On the way home, I kept thinking about how much my life has changed for the better because of this friendship,” Valdés says, “and how much she has energized me to tackle painful and difficult issues with my music and my career in general.” This personal realization became the basis for a new song called “Be My Revolution,” coinciding with worldwide protests and social justice movements.
“By the time my taxi arrived home, I had thought up the first verse and chorus,” she continues. “I went straight into my music room and recorded the first version of the song, hopefully not waking up my poor neighbors in the process. The idea behind the song was to capture all of the love and excitement that go along with political awakening, that delicious feeling of finding your ‘people’ as you try to make the world a better place.”
Initially, the line “she’s my revolution” erupted in her brain, but eventually morphed into the hook as it’s heard now. “Storm my walls and take me/Break me down and change me,” she provokes, funneling passion like fresh chopped kindling into a fireplace. “Shake me up and wake me/Be my revolution.”
“Protest was in the air,” Valdés notes. Black Lives Matter, Fridays for Future, and protests surrounding the assault and murder of Sarah Everard converged into a boiling vat of pain, police brutality, and a long-overdue reckoning. “All of these movements were responding to horrific circumstances, but it was invigorating to see people take to the streets in solidarity and with a vision for a better world. Whether on a larger social level or on a personal level, the connections we make with people who give us hope can be truly revolutionary.”
“I realized that this awakening feels a lot like falling in love and vice versa,” Valdés adds. “You are terrifically excited, a little scared, and yet full of hope for a future you can’t quite imagine.”
“Be My Revolution” leads into Valdés’ forthcoming solo debut record, Stand, expected early 2022, and also siphons rage and rebellion from her own very personal experiences. Now based in Berlin, the Cuban-American artist was attacked in broad daylight by a man in the early days of the pandemic. She was rattled but “arrived home, fortunately safely, and felt overwhelmed by my own experience, by reports of increased domestic violence and the exploitation of female labor at the frontlines of the pandemic response.”
Stand sculpts its lyrical venom and torrential emotional winds from this specific moment but appeals to the universal institutions long built against women and for men. As such, Valdés, known for her work as founding member of The Blood Arm and Mexican Radio, as well as keyboardist in Die Sterne, turned to working exclusively with women on the record, from production to styling and design. It’s a reclaiming of agency – and “Be My Revolution” simply sparks the ignition.
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