When I think back to my old self, I think of an entirely different person, not altogether likable, whose singular distinguishing characteristic was the chronic inability to follow through with anything she said she would do. I picked up and abandoned projects with great regularity back then, careful to always avoid the frightening terrain where my true ambitions lay.
Then I changed my name and it changed me. In my new incarnation as Alina Simone, I had no reputation, no history of unmet expectations, nothing to lose. I started singing; I formed a band. I poured my best self into my new name.
- Alina Simone in the NYT
(via Austin Kleon)
Until five minutes ago, I knew nothing of Simone’s music. I found this, though, and like it, which would tend to suggest that songs in Russian still exert a mysterious gravitational pull on me.
If I’m wrong about it being Russian, please let me know. I’m relying on my own semi-ignorant ears and on the YouTube description (in French), which mentions “un morceau de son album en russe” or “a piece of her album in Russian.”
