Izzy T Wants Women To Own Their Violence

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode mentions suicidal ideation and oppression against women. If you or anyone you know is struggling, contact 988 Lifeline. 

Does violence look different when a woman commits it? Solo artist Izzy T is in the building to break down all the misogynistic barriers women sometimes face in music. 

Because the subject is close to home for her, Val and Izzy chat about the current events happening in Iran and their impact on the world, and why Izzy is just using these moments as fuel to continue doing what she does.

Say hello to her violence. This episode cuts deep. 

Get more Izzy: https://www.instagram.com/izzytofficial/

STREAM "Say Hello To My Violence": https://open.spotify.com/track/7pJiczqLbsK2UN4WoJRWnu?si=f91b6bf2500f43ad

Get more Val at https://valkleinhans.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Women are literally the closest thing to God. We are life-givers. And you should be intimidated.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Welcome to another edition of Vigorously with me, your girl Val Kleinhands. Very special episode. I think I think we're gonna go the women empowerment episode. This episode. I already feel it. This is the energy that's in the building today. Solo artist Izzy T is here. I am thrilled to have you, lady. Thank you so much for being here. Yeah, thank you for having me. First question I have for you you you've only been in the States for like a year or so. How are we feeling about that choice now? It's a lot.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Uh the States is crazy. I get asked this a lot, and um, and you know what? I'm still grateful to be here, despite uh the amount of fuckery that's happening um in the country right now. I'm still grateful to be here. I've got I've got a good circle, I've got um amazing supporters that have yeah, really welcomed me to the states. And yeah, I'm extremely grateful. And if anything, it just fuels my music and my message, you know? Like it, if it's needed now more than ever, then I'm gonna be louder.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Yeah, I was wondering about that too, because uh Iran is obviously a hot topic globally, hot topic, especially there and in the states. Yeah, for anybody that doesn't know, you have British and Iranian roots, and I don't want to skip that part. Immigration isn't too far back in your family history or my family history or the community I grew up in either. Some immigrant parents, just getting getting the background on you a little bit, some of them raised their kids to assimilate, and some definitely encourage their children to hold on to their root their roots. So, what route did yours take?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

My mom always really encouraged it. Um and my dad is so white, he's so so white. If you look up like white man in the dictionary, there's a picture of my dad, like thumbs up too. Love him, love him, like proper white Yorkshire lad. Um, and my mom is just this beautiful Persian queen, and yeah, it was it was always encouraged uh by my mom in the house. It's funny because like I'm from northern England and also Persian, so half the time we're eating like a um, you know, Carvery, Yorkshire pudding, um, and back when I used to eat meat, you know, like chicken and stuff like that. Um, and then the other like half is kebabs and all these really yeah, all these really beautiful like Middle Eastern um like Persian dishes, like Sabsi. Um and yeah, it's just funny because it was like proper northern and then proper Persian. Um the most insane fucking cocktail of cultures. Um so that was fun. I grew up with nice food. Um I don't eat meat anymore, but yeah, I I grew up with like a lot of carvaries, and um if you ever go to like England, um just go have a Sunday dinner somewhere. It's it's lovely.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

One of my bucket list items is to do that and just get a get a proper fish and chips in a pub with a Guinness. That's that's that to me is that's on the bucket list. I feel like that's pretty stereotypical, but that's on the bucket list.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

I mean, I mean, you have to, you know. It's like when I moved to LA, I was I was like, right, Hollywood sign, gotta see it. Yeah, it's gotta be why not?

SPEAKER_02 4:13

So what when you got here, was there anything that you wanted to eat that was stereotypically American? I just don't want to get a heart attack, bro.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Like the food here difficult to do, I know. I'm just trying to stay alive, you know what I mean? The food here, I it's very um British food is bland compared to American food. Um, but it's considered bland because it doesn't uh it typically doesn't give you a heart attack as quick as American food. Like I was um really surprised by how much American food has colouring and like added like the amount of added sugar. So um yeah, like I guess I really when I came here I really wanted to try uh there's this thing something cake. Um it looks like a waffle no, it it looks like a waffle. Um the name is gone.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Somebody's gonna know what it is. Somebody in the comments is gonna know what it is.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Yeah, yeah. Can't remember what it's called, but um I really wanted to try it, and it was it was so sweet but so delicious. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

I know that's a tough part. It's the portions for me. The portions uh get to be too much. Like that, that's that's to me where I drive it. I might I might like the food, but I definitely gotta be like, all right, let's maybe maybe eat half of this and not the entire thing, especially at restaurants.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Oh yeah, yeah. I love pancakes. I love a good old-fashioned American diner and in uh pancakes, because it just it makes me feel like I'm in uh um like pulp fiction or something. Just being in an old-fashioned American diner and getting pancakes and coffee and yeah, yeah, like I I enjoy do I did that quite a bit in um whenever I visited the the Midwest. So I like diners.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Yeah, a lot of diners in the Midwest for sure. I'm in the Midwest, we're in Minnesota, so we we we've seen a lot of the chaos lately. We've yeah, and I I know how you're feeling. I know that it's a a lot to take in at once, but because I have the opportunity to ask, I I always want to because I want multiple perspectives on this podcast. Your family, your family, your loved ones, how is everybody feeling giving everything going on with Iran and this country?

SPEAKER_00 6:58

So my Iranian side of my family, I've yeah, I've right now I've I'm feeling a bit calmer. Um I think Iranians are just so used to trauma that we're like um very little phases us, and yeah, um, because ever since you know the the revolution in like 1979 and the country has been extremely oppressed, you know, women, you can't even walk your dog outside. It's illegal to walk your dog outside. Think about how insane that would be in America, like Los Angeles.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

Imagine if nobody walks their dogs, like alone as a woman, or or what do you mean?

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Like you can't do that alone as a woman walking the rock, or uh not even as a man, like it's illegal to walk. For some reason, like the um the uh IRGC who run Iran um they they're just I I think they think of dogs as like dirty creatures when dogs are dressed, we do not deserve dogs. But yeah, just simple things like that, you're you're not allowed to do. Um, men and women can't be at the beach together, um, women can't perform by themselves in public. Um and you know, even they're even trying to enforce wearing a hijab inside, inside your own house. Um, and the whole thing is just um in the name of like religion and protection, it's bullshit, it's just oppression. And um women are always at the the center of oppression, with I feel like not all religions, but a lot of religions, um that you know, with uh abortion rights and stuff, like women, oh, it says in the like book that you caught it's a sin, um, that everything is everything just pokes over women. Um in like a lot of religions, I've noticed, and it just seems like these are all rules made by men um to try and keep people under control, especially women. Really, if you think about it, if there's any fucking god, women are the closest thing to it because we give life, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Well, it's just it's I I I've always had questions when it comes to most religions, if not if not all of them. I'm not particularly religious, and there's a lot of reasons for that. But I I hear what you're feeling. Like I I understand that you're saying you're used to this, you're used to the suppression, you're used to what it's rooted in, you understand what is rooted in in these misogynistic ideals, which yeah, argument could be made that that's what's going on. It's interesting because I think the American perspective is well, for some of us, anyway, we feel like what's happening right now is a reversion because it wasn't always this way. There were moments where we had a little bit of a women, anyway, had more of a choice, and some of us are looking at what's happening now and going, damn, we're reverting. And yeah, some are fine with that, some are definitely not fine with that. Your song, big part of why we're talking today, say a little to my violence. That addresses all of this. So is is that is that really is what's happening now why this was written, or had this come before?

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Um, this was this was mostly inspired by events in Iran. And this is this is how long it's been going on, you know. I wrote this song like two years ago with uh with John Cass from the band as everything unfolds. Um great friend, great producer. And the fact that it's still not only still relevant to Iranian people and especially women, because when women fight back, it's you know, we're being um emotional or violent um when we're just reacting to a violent regime. But it's now also relevant to women in America because you guys are having your rights taken away and we're going back to the 50s, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Yeah, it's it's a lot to take in right now, yeah. And I'm I'm glad that not all of us have the outlet that you have, like not all of us are magicians, not all of us have the outlet that you do. So I'm so grateful that somebody is saying something, and it's nice to see what you're doing now. Are there plans for this sentiment to continue? Is this the kind of vibe you want to continue with? Speaking out, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Um I think I'm I'm always gonna I'm always gonna use my mouth. Yeah, like I I'm knowing I was given a big mouth, I might as well fucking use it. And yeah, like it's always gonna be a a part of me and my music. Um, I really I feel like it's a big part of my purpose, and I wasn't always like this. So what changed? I don't know, just something clicked. I used to be a very quiet girl. I was bullied a lot in school, and then just suddenly I had a beautiful moment of I don't give a fuck anymore. This is my life, and I'm not gonna spend it worrying about what other people think when their opinion doesn't even matter, you know? Um, and it sounds like a very simple thing, but you'd be surprised how many people um conduct their life around what other people are gonna think, like their family or their friends or people at work. Um because at the end of the day, like we all, you know, we all bleed the same, we all shit, we all die. That's right. Not booking for not booking for school talks, no, but like we all bleed, we all shit, we all die, we are all the same, um, we all have a lot of the same issues and problems, and the fact that we we think that other people don't um is is crazy, and we can just yeah, we just need to stop caring about what other people think so much and judgments and just really kind of um just almost block everything out. Yeah, even meditate if you have to, just to kind of bring yourself back to your center and be present. Um, and yeah, in a nutshell, I just had this beautiful moment of why am I giving such a fuck? And I just started going full speed with things that I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it, which was um, you know, through uh through my music. I felt like that was the biggest thing that was helping not only myself but other people. Um and you know, I did a few rallies for the liberation of Iranians, like a few protests in in London where I um I spoke and then I also sang, and I I saw the effect that this had on people, and I really felt like I was living my purpose, which was such a beautiful feeling, and that's that's the route that I want to continue down, and not that every song is gonna be super serious and super political, you know. Like I have like a couple of songs about sex, I have um songs about you know um other stuff because life is big and beautiful and complex, and um I feel like the for the times that we're in now, it felt like the right time to drop say hello to my violence because it's very relevant. Um, but hey, I'm gonna be releasing way more music this year, so I'm looking forward to just really showing people uh multiple sides to my artistry and and just getting my music out there. I have I'm actually playing a show in New York. I'm playing Loud Women Fest on the 16th of May. Um, so I'm in Brooklyn, so I'm super exciting. Yeah, I'm gonna be because I love sex in the city. So I'm New York moment, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Like, yeah, that in your head non-stop. There we go. Just get a couple cosmos, grab three friends. Oh yeah, no, New York is great, but it it is definitely it's a totally different vibe than LA. It's so funny that I think sometimes even even Americans themselves, sometimes we forget how big this country really is and how diverse this country really is. And yeah, you could live, you could grow up in one part of the country and never interact with a particular group. And then all of a sudden, something calls you to that area and you're treating it like, what is this? This is unknown, this is this is safari. We are exploring right now. I don't know what to do with this. Like people, people forget that, and it's part of the human experience. I understand, you know, I understand that that's important to you, and I I hear what you mean. That's why you have a variety of subjects touched on throughout your music, throughout everything that you've done so far. It wouldn't be human if you didn't. It makes complete and total sense. I think the nostalgia factor is also what brought us together, too, just getting into your background, like musical background, because I caught the vocal coaching videos when you're analyzing like the way Pink belts, Graceina Aguilaros runs. I mean, one can only dream of being able to do those things. So, like, but you're actually able to teach us how. So tell me about the decision to dive into music, take it seriously, and then be a coach for other people.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Um I guess it's that I guess it goes back to that thing of wanting to inspire other people because um, yeah, like during my time being an artist, I've had multiple people come up to me, whether it's uh at after gigs or online saying, Hey, I I'd really love to learn how um how to do some of the stuff that you do with your voice. Um, can you teach me? And I've been like, Yeah, of course. Um, but then it continued to happen, so I was like, I could I should probably make a career out of this as well. Um, yeah, because it just made sense. Like, I've never really kind of got along with being in a a system and having a normal job. I'm way too ADHD for that. I'm way too um anti, like um I'm so tired, so all of the words are disappearing right now. Um but like I get it. The environment is different.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

It's it's about creating a conducive environment for yourself, and the arts is one, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Like just way too kind of anti-authority and establishment, and um because I used to work in schools for a bit um when I was back in London, like part-time working with SCN kids, and I was gigging at night and then coming in at nine in the morning to um like hang out and teach SCN kids, and I was fucked, I was just so exhausted. Um I remember one time like I was I was helping this kid, and then um I heard him say, Miss, why are your eyes closed? And I was like, What?

SPEAKER_02 20:23

Tired, we are tired out here. So what what's S E N? Just for America, what's S E N? Special needs, special needs, got it.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and I was like, My eyes are closed. I didn't know that my eyes were closed, bro. Like I was I was there, but my eyes were closed, and I didn't realize that they were, and that is how tired I was. So I thought, okay, I yeah, I can't this isn't sustainable, so I just went music full-time, and it was honestly the best thing that I could have done, you know. Like I I'm in charge of um you know, when I can perform, when I when I teach, and um it just fits my personality and my lifestyle so much more. And I would recommend anybody, no matter like what you do, if you're an artist, or um if you know you're really struggling with like certain kind of routine, uh try try other things, you know, because maybe you're not meant to be fixed into that routine. I'm I'm a night owl, so yeah. Uh the the early mornings and late nights thing, it just really wasn't working for me. And you need to listen to you need to listen to um your body and your mental health.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Right. So we're coming from a background of we're seeing a lot of oppression, we're seeing a lot of confusion. Conformity, and yet one day we had this revelation that I'm gonna start making decisions for myself and I'm gonna make that the priority. How what was it that changed that allowed you to even get into that headspace? Because it takes people for people pleasers, anybody, anybody of the same ilk, like it takes us a minute to even get there to say, oh no, it's okay to make my own choice in this instance, and then you start to do that more and more and more, and then you continually build that confidence to continue doing it.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

What it was for me, um, and I feel like this is this is like a very common kind of thing with a lot of people. Uh, we sometimes you can't mend until you break. Uh me, it was when I was really broken the fuck down. Um, I I got depression, um my long-term relationship was dying. There was things happening within my family circle that was very stressful. Um I I wasn't feeling fulfilled with what I was doing for like in my artist career and my like my like day job, everything just was not working for me. And um, I also lost three family members within a short space of time. It was really fucking weird, but everything kind of happened at once, and I'm typically the kind of person that you know um I have an autistic family member, so I have a lot of patience and a lot of resilience, but then like you can only fill up the cup so much, you know, and yeah, the kettle was just kind of boiling and steaming up and then just exploded. And yeah, I I went into quite a deep depression, and I was just still trying to hold everything together, you know, trying to be the super glue in my family, trying to be the um the alpha figure in my relationship, like trying to initiate conversation, and always I've always been kind of the super glue or um resolution finder, the fixer. I've always been the fixer, but I couldn't fix this, and it was a lot to process, and um I just felt so out of control. I felt like I was just like so many feet deep down underwater, and everyone else, and everyday life was just above me. Um, and yeah, depression is such a it's such a trip, it's such a weird feeling. And it's a pit.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

It's a pit you don't feel like you'll ever get out of, and it takes a minute.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Yeah, yeah. It was only when um I had I just had this moment, um, and just like it's dark, but I'm gonna be so fucking real with you. Yeah, because I feel like a lot of people only kind of mentioned the highlights and the victory moments, but they don't really tell people what depression is actually like, and for me, it was the moment where like I was I was stood at the side of a um a freeway something really fucking stupid, and I called my friend Leo because you know half of you is I just wanna get rid of all of this pain, and this would be so easy. But then the other half of me was just thinking of my um my autistic family member and how much they needed me, what this would do to my parents. So I called my mate, and thank god I did. He spoke some sense into me. I moved away from the road, um, and and I thought like I cannot I can't do life like this anymore. So I started getting therapy, I started meditating, started exercising, I started boxing and I loved boxing. How is that going? That looks so fun. I see it on social media. So I'm yeah, I'm looking for uh like a new boxing gym at the moment because I I've moved like more in Hollywood. Um so I'm looking for a new boxing gym to get started at, and yeah, I'm looking forward to just getting more consistent with it because I was really consistent with it. Like, bro, I had abs at these multiple. I I did like when I first moved to LA, um I I needed to make kind of like fast money, and I just saw this thing on Craigslist where it was like earned 300 bucks for three minutes in the ring, and I thought I could slap a bit and it'll be therapeutic at the same time. Right, and there's there's something about uh it's this is where I sound fucking nuts, right? But there's something about um the danger of you know being in a fight and possibly being hit in the face, um, or like hit in the head that makes my head feel better. Like it because it um mentally, like it just I feel amazing after it, like after a boxing session. It makes because it makes me it brings you so present, it makes you so present and in the moment, and that is so beautiful. And a lot of my music is inspired by combat. Um what like one of my songs was uh synced in this film called Lights Out, and it comes in in this fight scene, and it's like all without me, and it's so cool because they're like throwing hands and stuff, and I think that was a big career highlight for me was having my song in a Hollywood film, and hopefully there's gonna be many more sinks like that.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Keep uh yeah, keep the energy. That's what we want to see. Like the Kill Bill soundtrack. Are you joking? Of course, I want to see more like that. I want to see more badass women in movies. I mean, do but does violence look different when a woman commits it? I think people would say yes. Oh, that's a really good question. I think people would say yes. I think the violence looks differently. I think it is more mean girls. I think it is like if you're watching Real Housewives, like it's that subtle, it's like the subtle passive aggressive or manipulation, the emotional abuse, sometimes flat out verbal abuse. I think that's kind of what it most of the time violence looks like when a woman commits it.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

That yeah, that's a good one. Um a point that I like to make sometimes is when when men are authoritative or fight back, it's powerful. It's uh demanding, it's um it's inspiring, like they're a leader. If a woman does it, she's a bitch, she's emotional, she's unreasonable, and she's a diva. That happens a lot, and the perfect example of that is Taylor Swift, and whatever the fuck you think about her music, she has done so much for the music scene, so much for artists, um, so much for you know women's rights speaking up with that. She like whatever you think of her and her music or her voice, her voice speaking up for for artists and for women is you can't and and the amount of money that she gives to charity and that people who work for her, that is power.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

You respect Taylor. I hear that. I didn't realize everything that she went through until she laid it out for us in Look What You Made Me Do. When Look What You Made Me Do. Like the video literally shows all of those moments in her career, all of those little Easter eggs that are callbacks to things we heard in the news, stories that we heard about, tabloids, whatever, whatever. Like and and you sit back and you watch it and you go, Oh, damn, she really has been through a lot. Like, I didn't realize, I didn't realize how much she truly, really had been through. I mean, yes, we know that she's talked about, yes, we know that she's successful, but how often are we talking about the times that she's called out and why? And was it justified? Well, we didn't start asking those questions until look, but you made me do, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

Yeah, um, I I'm happy to give Taylor her flowers, seriously. I feel like she she doesn't get enough recognition, and I feel like um I feel like male artists that do half of what she's done get so much more recognition and so much more praise than her. And um I mean, look at the situation with Chapel Rowan. Yeah, she's probably been a little bit of a bitch to some fans, and it's not right, you know. It's to me, it looks like she's a a black cat in a golden retriever in the TV, right? Because we're all meant to be so approachable and hey, and yeah, yeah, and even on days where you don't feel like that, you're still meant to be like that, and I you know I get it because the fans put you there. Um, but Kanye West literally had uh like a Nazi sign on his merch and his music, and thousands of people are still going to his gigs. Chris Brown beat the shit out of Rihanna, he's still selling out arena tours. It's like when when famous male artists or figures do something, people get amnesia. It's easily forgotten about, but there's a witch hunt, if God forbid a woman does the same thing, or something even less than that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

Yeah, the argument can definitely be made that not only does violence look different if you're talking if you're gonna talk about gender, it does look different, or at least it's perceived differently by society for sure. But I think some people almost maybe subconsciously, or maybe totally consciously, they almost are more afraid of a woman who's upset, of a woman who's pissed, than a man who's pissed. We almost we're all we're men are fine to act out, throw hands, whatever, whatever. That's just another day. But when a woman does it, we sit back and go, I don't know what to do with this. It's either I don't know what to do with this or I don't want to deal with this. Is yeah you kind of kind of the way that I sometimes see it, or at least my own observations. Do you think that people fear angry women more than angry men?

SPEAKER_00 34:36

Yes, yeah, because we're we're powerful, we as I said, women are literally the closest thing to God.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

We are life givers, and you should be intimidated, bitch, let them know, and if you throw something their way, they will rise above. Let's let's go back to say hello to my violence. I grow taller than the walls you built around. Bar, absolute bar. Anybody who has experienced any type of misogyny knows exactly what you said there. So, what has overcoming some of those barriers personally, professionally, however you want to describe it? What does that look like for you?

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Just thinking of all the time. Too many, too many, it's hard to pick, hard to pick one, fucking hell. Um I think just dealing with mantapting, you know. Um if I'm in uh like a a meeting, just calling people out on their bullshit more comfortably and openly, of course, in a respectable way, um, but I really do not give a fuck about being called a diva anymore. Call me that. I don't care. Like if you know, if you're saying something that, you know, if you're gonna interrupt me, I'm gonna say, excuse me, I'm not finished talking. And I feel like we should normalize that because if we were to do it the other way around, they would just talk over us and be louder. So yeah, so um correcting people when they interrupt you, and um yeah, have just having those moments of realization, like I used to have this guitar tutor when I was younger, like a lot younger, um where I used to shake before his lessons, and um that's not a good sign, you know, it's like this kind of like old, like bitter kind of white dude teacher that was like play like a girl, ha ha ha ha, and just make these really lame jokes, um, and instead of just kind of mirroring his reaction um and like laughing with him, just not giving nothing, yeah. Like if someone says a misogynistic joke or anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, don't laugh with them to ease the moment or make it feel more comfortable. If anything, lean more into the discomfort because it'll let them know that they can't say shit like that. Yeah, if we constantly allow it, you've gotta you've gotta teach people how to treat you. That's it and I think I think I get a lot of my uh my verbal spice from from my mom because um yeah, she's uh she's the Persian one, and again, like going back to like the 47 years of oppression in Iran, women have really had to like learn to be fierce and speak up for themselves, and we you know, because we don't want to deal with this shit anymore. And um, I feel like a lot of my resilience and the power in my voice, not only musically, but with what I sing and speak about, has come from my mum and her pain of being an immigrant and her fight, you know, with racism and and everything. Um one time we were we were in we were in the car and she was in, and sometimes she forgets her age, like she's kind of like she's this high, and and she's a mom, you know. Um, but she acts like a 20, she moves like a 21-year-old. And um, this guy on a bike, something happened, and but it was him in the wrong. Okay. Um they were kind of like looking at each other, my mom and this guy in the bike, and he says, I'll go back to your country because he sees her dark hair and dark eyes and stuff. Right. And she gets the car, and I'm like, mom. In um, in traffic, like the cars are are stopped, but this this woman, she gets up the car and she's ready to beat his ass, but then he yeah, uh, he rides away very quickly on his bike because he knows that shit's about to go down. And at the time I was kind of concerned and scared, but now when I look back at that, I I think fuck yeah, mom.

SPEAKER_02 40:12

Well, you see it as necessary, you see it as necessary at that in that moment. I'm hypothetically, I don't know, just theorizing. She probably is uh doing the most because she's got you right there, and she's trying to protect the both of you, and she's gonna let this she's gonna let this man know, don't cross me. I'm not having this today, like very quickly and in in a very direct manner. Like get it done. Well, I mean, and that's kind of and shout out to her because that's incredible. I'm sure that I don't know this. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I would imagine it would that was hard for her to even to do, given everything that she probably had experienced. I would imagine maybe possibly it might be a little bit easier to speak out now than it might have been for her.

SPEAKER_00 41:01

Yeah, yeah. Because yeah, that was years ago, but I've I've just always remembered it because I was a kid and um it scared me.

SPEAKER_02 41:14

Scared you at first, but now we're like, shout out to you, shout out to you, thank you for getting it done.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

Yeah, exactly. Like it scared me at first, but now I look back and I think, what a fucking badass. Um, and maybe subconsciously that's where say hello to my violence has come from is that resilience and that okay, bro, let's go, kind of mentality to fight back when someone really tests you. Because um, if you know, if you let people continuously uh talk down to you and walk all over you, then your whole life is gonna be like that, you know?

SPEAKER_02 41:56

Yeah, I understand. You gotta let them know there's a reason we say you gotta check somebody. I completely get it. Yeah. So how do we coexist? How how do what do we do to do better?

SPEAKER_00 42:08

We educate. So start young, start in schools. Um, I mean, start from home. That's that's the first school. Um, if you have a son, teach him how to be alpha in a healthy way. Being alpha is it should be protective, you know, not oppressive. That to me is a real alpha, is protection. Um teach him how to be protective, teach him how to be respectful, teach him resilience, resourcefulness. Um, because that is that's true power is uh speaking up for other people and protecting those who need it the most. And uh teach your teach your daughters how to not fall in line, how to how to stand up for themselves, teach them boxing or wai tide, like teach them anything that is a useful tool for defending themselves if they you know, god forbid, ever need it, because this is the kind of world that we live in, and some people don't like hearing that, but here we are, it's reality. Women need to know how to fight back, yeah. But um, because we're we're naturally it's just we're inherently very um nurturing humans, which is so beautiful, but at the same time, the the world we live in now, we need to Know how to not only nurture but take care of ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

That's it. That's it. Just keep your what's about your situational awareness, all the above. I love that this is a power that you are not afraid to step into. You say a lot of my violence. You've a I mean, it's out now. We love it. We're here for it. I know that you alluded to some more music on the way, but the question that I want to ask is are we getting a video for such a badass song? Are we gonna see you kick some ass? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:32

Yes!

SPEAKER_01 44:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

I can't I can't wait for this. It's currently being edited. There's um there's fight scenes. Okay, put that box into use, get it done. Yeah. Um, I'm again, I'm I'm so I'm so rusty on my boxing, it's unreal, but um, I pulled out a few of the moves um for like a few fight scenes, and they were so fun to do. Oh my god. Uh the video will most likely be out by the time this comes out. So yeah, there's um yeah, there's like a couple of villains, and one of them was ex-military, right? And we do this fight sequence, very simple one, but in the military they they learn how to fall safely. And uh, I had this kind of um I'm not gonna say strap-on, but it was like a yeah, like it was a harness, and it was like a a strapped-on camera. Um like a tripod that comes out. I can't remember what the fuck you call it, but had a tripod that comes out here, the camera's here, and uh as I'm falling, you get the most awesome POV shot, and um yeah, just watching the footage back made me so excited and filled me with adrenaline. So I really hope that it has the same effect on other people who watch the music video, and um I kind of wanted it to be almost like a short film to really show what some women have to endure, and yeah. Um, I'm not sure when this is coming out, but all I'll say is get the fuck ready. And it's expect uh violence in in the best way, but also expect a very unapologetic example of what women in the Middle East have to endure.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

And the message is everybody is allowed to stand on business, especially when it comes to self-defense. Let's yeah, let's go. We're so ready for that. Izzy, I'm so excited for you. I'm so excited for what to come. Is all of this leading up to a full-length album at some point?

SPEAKER_00 47:08

I would so I would love to release an album, but an EP has gotta come first. So yeah, I'm gonna release a few more singles, and then it's gonna be an EP, and then who knows?

SPEAKER_02 47:22

The limit does not exist. We're ready. You've already you've already broken down that barrier. Barriers are not here anymore. Let's go. I love that energy. Izzy, I can't wait to see what's next. Thank you so much for joining me, and thank you for your time. Thank you for having me. You're awesome. Say hello to my violence is out now, everywhere from Izzy T. Keep an eye on the socials for everything else that is on the way. And she did say there's more on the way, so make sure you keep checking that out. I'll give you all the links to do so in the show notes, and of course, at valkleinhands.com. All the captions wherever you see this on social media, yada yada, yada, YouTube. You know, you know what to do. You know what to do. Thanks for joining me. I'm Val Kleinhands. We'll see you next time. Bye.