1 hour, 6 minutes (audio only version)
1 hour, 33 minutes (Patreon exclusive version)
Released: September 3, 2022
Recorded: March 16, 2022
Juicy D. Light is the performance artist, burlesque dancer, and speaker out of Oakland, CA. Providing a glimpse into her eclectic inspirations, Juicy selected 10 songs that mean the world to her.
The Music That Made WE is a creation of WEBurlesque Podcast Network, produced by Viktor Devonne.
- Juicy D. Light’s episode on WEBurlesque
- Juicy on Twitter: @JuicyDLight
- Juicy on IG: @juicydlight
- https://www.facebook.com/juicydlight
Listen to this episode:
In this episode of The Music That Made WE, Viktor talks to Juicy D. Light, a burlesque performer, dancer, and performance artist based out of Oakland, CA.
“Golden” by Jill Scott
Juicy says: “This song is me feeling myself. Coming into my own, starting to breathe life into this big body. And seeing another big black woman sing about that was just inspiring to me…It’s the kind of song that if I hear it once, I want to hear it one more time.”
“Chains/Optimistic” by Sounds of Blackness
Juicy says: “Sounds of Blackness had become really big in the 90s and I had just moved into my own apartment in San Francisco… In Sacramento I was really alienated. To put it as gently as I can, I was surrounded by whiteness. I hadn’t found my tribe, I hadn’t found my blerds, I hadn’t found my Black theater people, all my circles were very very white… So I moved to San Francisco… and started meeting people like me. And at that time there was also a resurgence in Black pride and African pride… This song to me reminds me of that time and coming into my Blackness and feeling solid in it.”
“I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt
Juicy says: “I was having my first really bad breakup and I heard this song [and just thought] ‘That’s exactly right.’ … it was the song where I just acquiesced that if [they don’t love me] there is nothing I can do. Besides sit here and pine, and cry, and eat Ben and Jerry’s Super New York Fudge Chunk… But as we have all learned from our first breakups, it was the best thing that could have happened. Because it led me to Oakland and my life here and who I ended up becoming–who was the person he was afraid of me becoming in the first place.”
“You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette
Juicy says: “Same breakup, and the first one is the hardest… you’re young, it’s the first time you put yourself out there like that, you think you’ll never love again… You think nobody will ever understand you and you are full of failings… At the time there was a Virgin Megastore, where you could go in and listen to an entire album…and I would just go in and blast this song and cry and dance in the aisle and all that kind of stuff. I think the whole album is lovely and she takes us through the breakup.”
“One” by Metallica
Juicy says: “There is a lot of rock in my life that I love… I had a friend; we would go places and he always wanted to listen to his music and I loved it. It was a break from the music I listened to all the time. So I just kept going down that path of listening to hard rock and really grew to appreciate it a lot… He started me off with Metallica and this is one of the songs that got me because I love anything that tells a story.”
“Forever Young” by Alphavillle
Juicy says: “I love this song! This was high school. There is just something kind of whimsical and sad which is what teenage girls do… For me its just a very sweet song; this is connected to those
memories of just discovering theatre… A very sweet discovery time in high school for me.”
“Why Not” by The Manhattan Transfer
Juicy says: “I was in color guard…we were all really into Manhattan Transfer. And then one of our
favorite troupes did a really amazing number to this song…this is really just a fun, showtuney, jazzy ass song that I thought about [when making this list.]”
“Smokin'” by Boston
Juicy says: “I threw this in because I really love Boston. I really love classic rock. Classic rock is one of my favorite genres. Boston was always a band that I thought ‘Boy, I bet you partying with them would be fun.’ They just seem like a fun party band. This is just one of those songs I really enjoy.”
“Baby Got Back” by Ph8
Juicy says: “I remember wanting to do something that would be fat positive in the case of Rubenesque Burlesque, my troupe. Something that was fun and fat positive, but something that wasn’t expected of us. So I went on the hunt and somehow Baby Got Back crossed me and I went ‘Oh that’s a great choice’ but I didn’t want to use the Sir Mix-A-Lot version because that’s what they are expecting. That’s why I chose the music I chose when I was running Rubenesque Burlesque; I didn’t want to choose what would be expected… This is the number that we did at Burlycon that got us on the map; it got people to know who we were.”
“September” by Earth, Wind &Fire
Juicy says: “I was a little girl and they were just amazing to me…I think this is the quintessential Earth, Wind & Fire song. They were just joyful and Afrofuturist before such a thing as Afrofuturism…they were all of that in a time where I was discovering Star Trek and the thing that Star Trek did particularly for Black people…was that we were included in the future. We would survive to see the future. Because until then, sci-fi was just white, white, white. Earth, Wind & Fire represented all that and joy and hope.”
Produced by Viktor Devonne, reigning Mr Hollywood Burlesque WEBurlesque Podcast Nework is the creation of Viktor Devonne. Podcast Network logo artwork by Logan Laveau, WEBurlesque the Podcast cover art photography by Atticus Stevenson. Incidental music via pixabay.com under fair use. Visit weburlesquepodcast.com for notes on this and every episode.
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Special thank-you to Raina Sinclair for transcription services.
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