I wrote SOFTCORE as something of a manifesto to myself about what I will and will not tolerate from men moving forward, as well as how I will or will not allow myself to react to the troubles of life relating to people in general.

The process of creating the album and film was really transformative in that way. It left me with a resolve around staying soft and open to finding love, while also shortening the runway and accommodations I provide for unkindness and indecision.

I went on a date last week — the first since calling off the wedding and flying solo again. It was nice. He was kind. I believe that is the bar now.

“Participating in the arts, as an observer or creating it, can be a way to touch and heal and recontextualize and bolster and imagine and be excited by and to be let loose which, for someone whose very self is at odds with the world around them, can be the literal difference between life and death. It is important for the well-being of all people but I think it may have a slightly more significant place for LGBTQIA+ people or for any group or individual who faces an excess of scrutiny, bigotry, violence, or ostracization for who they are. It is a place to turn negative experience and negative feeling into something other than oppression or pain.” – Jamie Stewart, Xiu Xiu

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JAMIE STEWART x LOGAN LYNN
for DotGay Blog (2021)

(Interview posted at OhHey.gay and LoganLynnMusic.com)

#XiuXiu

(Photo by Jeremy Lange)