The Toronto-based queer, BIPOC, East Asian rock artist Feura has released her debut single Lose Your Head. The tune is a sharp, unrelenting rock anthem that calls out every system, every person, and every institution that has ever had a problem with her existing.
Feura grew up as one of the only people of colour in a small rural Ontario town, excluded early and excluded often. For years she tried to shrink herself to fit in, and it was never enough. At some point, she stopped trying. Lose Your Head is what came out of that decision: not a grievance, but a verdict.
“Lose Your Head came from this feeling that no matter what I do, people will find a reason to react to me just existing,” Feura said. “I’m queer, BIPOC, East Asian, and a type 1 diabetic, and whether I want to define myself by those labels or not, they’ve always shaped how people treat me. So, at a certain point it became: Screw it. If people are going to lose their minds over me anyway, I’m going to be fully myself. This record comes from that switch.”
Feura is clear-eyed about what she represents and what she is up against. “Even existing as a queer East Asian artist in rock music feels radical, and it shouldn’t,” she said.
“There’s so much pressure now to assimilate, to be digestible, and this record pushes back against that. At its core, it’s for anyone who’s ever felt like they had to ‘edit’ themselves to be accepted. It’s about being unapologetically yourself, even if it makes people uncomfortable, because that discomfort usually says more about them than it does about you.”
In coming months the artist will launch her debut album and play some high-profile shows including an appearance in London during their Pride season.
