Episode 013 – p1nkstar, La Princesa del Pop Queer: How can pop music be used to break down the gender binary?

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[0:00:20 Speaker 0] and students as well as friends and alumni of the department of mexican american and Latina latino studies, the latino Research Institute and the Center for Mexican american Studies join us for this episode of latin experts. Mhm Yeah. Hello everyone. My name is Laura Gutierrez um an associate professor in the department of mexican american latino latino studies and you are in for a treat Today we are going to be having a conversation with one of my favorite performers, local Austenite trans lutnick’s performer Pink Star, who if you are in Austin, you should know who Pink Star is and probably already seen Pink Star on the cover of the Austin Chronicle and splashed in other places around town. Or maybe you’ve even gone to one of the performances that pre pandemic period. You had a chance to go out into the nightclub scene in Austin. So we’re going to get started and I just have a brief question in the mode of introductions. I’m going to ask Pink Start to introduce herself to all of you or reintroducing the case if you already know, hoping Star is. Hi Pink Star. Hi, thank you so much for having me. My name is Pink Star and I’m your favorite electronic pop superstar and I’m in the Austin based musician and performance artist. I create spaces and nightlife. I have played artists like charli, xcX, Dorian electra, the ladies of LCD sound system and my work has also been exhibited at the blend of Museum of Art, the roots and culture. Um Contemporary Arts Center in Chicago as well as local galleries. Um yeah, I’m so happy to be here. Thanks for having me. What a delight. No, of course. This gives us an opportunity to also get to know each other a little bit more. So I’m going to I mean I’m going to ask a few questions. Feel free to you know say as much or as little as as you want. I am really interested in you telling us a little bit more about you know the time you have spent in Austin because I know that you came to Austin to you know be a student at U. T. So I’m wondering if you can tell us a little bit about first your time at U. T. And then also your time in Austin and how they you know work together or differently to help you get to where you are now if that makes sense. Yeah I am from Mexico and I came to Austin to be a student at U. T. I came here specifically to study fine Arts and my focus was always experimental time based digital art and performance. And on top of that I mean my time at Youtube was pretty good. I think having such a big university as a student you kind of have to find your way and you have to find kind of your people and your classes and what speaks to you. And so during my time here I also declared a double major as humanity’s which is kind of like design your own major in liberal arts and they focused a lot on great studies, performance studies and american studies. And it was just I think that was kind of like the most fruitful part of my time at U. T. I mean I think being an art student was really great but there was definitely a lack of representation and staff and like as a student coming from Mexico it’s kind of talking about different issues that none of my faculty really under. Soon I was making work in spanish which no one spoke and I was talking about queerness, which none of my professors were clear even in the art department. And so there was definitely a barrier there and I still learned so much and many of the things and the motives and kind of topics that I talk about an article were interested in my work were introduced to me in the art department. But then I think for me it was really beneficial and important to have those other classes that kind of explored my queer history and kind of different performance practices within the queer spaces and queer artistry. This is bringing back beautiful memories of the time that you approached me to do an independent study course on latin american and Latin X. Queer music video. And my brain was just like, what? Why have I never thought of creating a course like that? Yes please. So we spent the summer analyzing queer music videos from latin America and from the U. S. And I just loved it. So I just wanted to say that such a good time. I have very great memories of being at your office. Just fan girling some wa oh that’s right. Simo uh dear Simo shout out to beautiful trans performer singer based in Mexico city. Z E M O. A. Look her up. Yeah, but I mean that was kind of I mean that really exemplifies my experience at UT I found my people and through that was able to kind of study what I wanted and focus on what I wanted. But it was it took it was a learning curve for sure. Yeah. So, you know at the same time we actually did not meet at the moment where you approach me for this course I think we might have met out outside of U. T. In sort of an Austin club or something. I can’t recall. I do remember you know seeing you and then seeing you perform out there. So can you tell us a little bit about what Austin has meant for you in terms of its nightlife and in terms of what you’ve been able to do and discover their that has also been important for your practice. Yeah well more specifically I’m trying to remember when we met I just remember the first time we talked I think was that of Christine concern hotel Vegas. Yes that’s right but I don’t I feel like we knew of each other before. But yeah I mean Austin is has been great for me. Um I grew up in Tampico um kind of like a very conservative environment, like very much family values and just like conservative mexican values and so to me, I mean I didn’t have any history are like I couldn’t pinpoint my ancestry, like my queer ancestry or I just didn’t have a community, like everything that was queer was wrong for everyone around me, so it was a hard time but I think moving to Austin and kind of finding such a thriving queer community that is always supporting each other um specifically I think in nightlife with entertainers and artists and performers and like all these beautiful spaces that people create in Austin and nightlife that was magical to me and I think, I mean also probably detrimental to my career as a student because I just started partying immediately. I was like like as fast as I could um as most students do. Yeah, but I mean, it was it was it was great to find kind back type of community and also, I feel like I’ve always been very supportive and doing the work that I do here, not really sure like why or why not, or who gets supported, but I think from the very beginning, I felt really supported by the community, and I’m just extremely grateful to the community here in Austin. I think I want to be able to make the things that I make are like create the spaces that I do if it wasn’t because people trusted me. Yeah, amazing. So another local performer that was not longer uh living in Austin that was just mentioned, Christine, also look Christine up if you dare, but what I wanted to um say is that you’re also recording, you’re also putting your work out there and I know last year you released an album, can you tell us a little bit about that? And I’m interested in you know, the process as much as you want to share, but more specifically, I want to get into the content for those of you that are not familiar with Pink Stars songs and and or have not had the pleasure of being in the performance is one of the things that I was just like, what is this? Why is this speaking to me? And then all of a sudden I realized, oh, it’s bilingual, it’s in spanish spanish. I mean, pop music in spanish, right? So all of sort of the pop divas in my head kind of like, you know, where they’re you know, sort of been embodied through you from latin America, specifically from Mexico. But so anyway, your album is has that has those elements as well. Can you tell us about that album? Yeah, that’s so magical to hear. That makes me so happy. Well, I mean process, I think we made this album at the right time. I mean kind of but like it took for almost five years of me performing live to feel that I had like found enough resources within my community to work in a project like this. And I’m so glad that I didn’t just start releasing a bunch of music before because I’m just so grateful. I mean, I got to work with Ben Aqua mr kitty and Boys him who did the production of the album and we kind of like all collaborated on it. I created the visual world. I we all like wrote most of the music cover up with some of them and then kind of like worked on production together and that was just such a magical process. And it was I mean, from beginning to end the entire album for that entire ap like every artist that touched it, it’s part of the Austin queer community and just queer artists in Austin from photographers, from like people helping with behind the scenes to the producers and just like all of the artists featured. So that was really magical process. And yeah, it feels so good to have like those types of connections and kind of support from the community to let’s drop the name of the mps. Yeah, it’s number one hits. Yeah. And I mean, I’m so glad that just like your comments and um how the songs are bilingual and how there is music in spanish. I think that’s something that’s really important to me, just to continue to create work in spanish that can speak to people back home in Mexico. I obviously feel like living in Austin, I have to create work that yeah, that’s an english that people can understand that people can relate to, but I think, I mean there’s also like a big community of spanish speakers and queer spanish speakers in Austin, and I think that community really identifies with my work and like the music in spanish specifically the songs in spanish. So, I mean, I think that’s wonderful and I’m so happy that like, yeah, you saw kind of all the pop mexican divas and body through me because I mean, yeah, that feels nice and that’s how that sense of something that I think about a lot just kind of how different my experience of pop music is to other people in in the US and yeah, I pulled from those references, beautiful for me sort of a you know the ways in which you’re pulling from different references and you know I see sort of the legacy of the pop diva both in the US and also in the context of latin America come through you. So and that’s you know I’ll do a full on confession here. I think that that’s the reason why my heartbeats when I’m you know um and I’ll share a little anecdote as well. Um it’s you know so you know the ep came out and I downloaded it or you know was playing it in the car this last summer and my two nieces are in the back seat. I’m driving them around trying to find cooling spots and water for them to dip into. And my youngest niece who at that moment was eight let’s just say it uh was like who’s that Pink Star? Oh can we play that again? And it was girls like us. And then we heard the rest of the E. P. And you know she’s trying to decide which you know is it girls like us or glitter queen as her favor. She couldn’t she couldn’t set up but she finally did with girls like us anyway so it’s also it’s like speaking to me an elder and elder queer but it’s also speaking to my eight year old knees in some ways. So the sort of the ways in which the possibilities for an expensive fan base are there. So I would just say that they love that. I want everyone everyone play number one hits here. These is please. Yes that’s so magical. Mhm mm hmm. Bands like us how much we keep a gun? Pop music speaks to everyone and I think finding a way to break that barrier, I think that’s something that I think about now a lot kind of like how do we push this out of a queer context? How does this project and this music and like this world that we’re creating the pain of move beyond the realm of queer nightlife. Like when when when does that happen? And how does that happen? And what does it mean when that happen? Yeah. And you know, I want to sort of underlying here the importance of trans folks within that pop music world. So I’m wondering also if you can speak to that, right? Because we’re so used to sort of the queer nightlife spaces where we bring in our pop divas, you know, whatever Britney spears, lady gaga or whatever, you know, and and we love them and we dance to them. But can you talk to us a little bit about the importance of trans pop music makers? And then also the fact that you’re working with these influences, right? The trans latin mix pop music making in you. That is breaking binaries, gender binaries. It’s breaking down all kinds of systems. Yeah. Well, yeah, I think speaking to influences, I I love pop in Spanish from the 80s, specifically coming from Spain to like La Movida Madrilena, the entire group of artists that are making pop music. But it’s really punk pop. It’s just it’s like the attitude of it and kind of like the sexual liberation then kind of even speaking about like queer themes through their music. I think. I mean that’s something that I think about a lot when I’m thinking of references and people that inspire me and like yeah Maria anne like this Anita lasses like that entire kind of movement, silver Tronic um like the entire like air half Mexico city pop music. That’s something that speaks to me. I don’t know. It’s it’s it’s camp, it’s electronic, it’s techno. I just it’s a lot of things that I really like and I think to me that was kind of the first iteration of queer pop coming from Mexico that I ever encountered. And so I was very dear and near to my heart. But yeah, I mean speaking to trans musicians and trans artists working in pop music, I mean I think we are seeing now kind of like some sort of introduction to the trans identity in the mainstream. And I mean we have kim Petras has someone that I like I love but kim Petras, Dorian electra, there’s someone obviously in Mexico um Sophie R I P I just had a conversation I think last week about this and I think we’re kind of heading in a good direction I think in mainstream culture specifically like kind of mainstream media in America embracing trans identities and then also with banana. No in spain um I don’t know if you watched banana but it’s iconic and it’s the best thing I’ve ever watched. Um But it’s yeah it’s such a I think I mean I think that’s really cool that kind of pop culture and mainstream media are kind of paying attention in a more sensible way to like what trans identities are and what trans people experience and telling trans stories in the eyes of trance people and not through like some weird fetish or like death uh lands for sure. Yeah. Yeah and I think I mean I think it’s really it’s really important and I think just having these stories. No I really do think that we are, you know, we’re at a different moment and you know if we continue to play ping start to our our nieces and nephews, they could also begin to help down with the breaking of the gender binaries. And I think you your work and sort of your commitment. I’m gonna you sort of move us to the performance that you did in january. The extended music video shot live, you’ll explain it better. But you know, sort of working within the context of the pandemic. You know the ways in which the pivoting to online performances and just the work behind that, the labor. So I want to acknowledge all of the work that you all did to put that out there for us. But can you tell us a little bit about what girls like us, this extended music video, which again, it might be the wrong categorization. So please correct me. Um Yeah, I’m not entirely sure what the best way to describe it is. What we landed on as a team was a live music video experience. And so it’s a live performance. It’s kind of like a digital concert. Um but it’s shot cinematically, so it’s more like a music video with live vocals and live performance. That project is so amazing to me. I still can’t believe that we were able to create it. And essentially, um I cast it for musicians including myself, um for musicians that had kind of their own little segment. And so we didn’t, it’s like an hour long show. Um I started and I’m kind of waving through their sets and each of them have their own said with a couple of songs and everyone who’s casted is trans. Obviously I kind of focused on people who are like me. It’s a transform and trans women and also I mean non binary gender queer and I mean that project to something that I’m really committed to is kind of casting and booking from beginning to hiring from beginning to end kind of queer talent. So that project is also like from beginning to end just queer talent from like the musicians that we featured which are like hey belladonna Quantum tourists pay to the our cinematographer, Hannah Varnell Director Y two K and myself and like the production team. Yeah. Every everyone from behind the scenes, front of camera, behind camera was queer and it was like super super special moment um to share kind of that space and share talent with each other to create this magical hour long music video special that we can all watch now. Right and enjoy and experience on Youtube. Yeah. So it’s um it was a collaboration with Hotel Free tv. And so kind of a little back story and the project is um Hotel free tv is just platform that emerged from the pandemic and kind of as a way to keep the Austin music community connecting. Um and so a friend was kind of like the they have an artist in resident who helps them curate each month of programming. And so I had a friend who like had reached out to me about possibly being part of her residency and that ended up not working out. And so later on Hotel Free Tv reached out to me about collaborating and potentially having me as a resident artist. And I think um myself and why I took a took it like pretty I mean, we we were excited to do it and we also knew like right off the bat that we wanted to focus on trans artists and putting trans artist kind of um on a platform that doesn’t necessarily pay attention to like queer nightlife or that it’s just kind of like a different world, you know, like queer nightlife and music. They interact sometimes, but not all the time. And so I was like, okay, let me bring, let me bring the girls. Um this is going to be great. And I think the more we thought about it, the bigger our project got and we were like really inspired by kind of pop performances that have emerged through the pandemic that are essentially live music videos. It’s a live performance with live vocals, but it’s all like pre plan, it’s kind of like a television performance. And so we’re pretty inspired by artists like chlorine, Halloween does Yukon and do a leap which are all mainstream, amazing artists with amazing budgets. And so we’re just I mean the entire like first half of the project was just figuring out kind of what we could achieve with a way smaller budget. And also yeah, I’m getting really creative about how we planned the the performance is how we did the production designed to set design, how we got costuming for everyone. Then I was like, I don’t know, gathering our resources and talking to all of her friends who are dancers and talking to all of our friends who like may know someone who can be the director of photography for a project. And just yeah, I mean it’s definitely like a labor of love and the labor of community. But I think what really drove us to do all of that is like we really believe in these artists and we just wanted to show case kind of like what is happening in texas and put all of these trans artists in a good light. Like um I think our commitment to the community is just like we want to show people what is happening in texas. We want these artists to have like be represented in a way that they feel proud of and not just kind of have some sort of live stream performance. I think we really wanted this to like go beyond like what we had seen come out of Austin before and kind of put the clear arts community of texas in a really good light and it does do that, it does do that work and it does it does so much more than that, right? It also I mean, I think it’s an important intervention into sort of the ways in which we need to also think about the joy and sort of queer trans joy and that it’s often kind of sideline or overshadowed by the other kinds of horrible news days that we continually have and also horrible events that are affect us directly. Right? So this this is a a little sort of pink star moment glimmers. I love that. That’s something that I think about two a lot and we were just talking about this, but there’s so many serious and horrible news happening all the time, specifically talking about trans and queer people that I think whenever I’m thinking about making spaces or creating work, I all such as one people to celebrate themselves, to celebrate themselves, to celebrate their community, to celebrate each other and build these faces where like we all can share love with each other. And I think that’s that’s I mean that’s what I’ve gotten from Austin and that’s what I want to keep giving to Austin. Yeah. I have a friend um Sweet Wendelin who manages this facebook page called positive L G B T Q I A Plus News and it’s always so refreshing when one of their posts pops up on my feet because I’m like this is what I needed him today. I just think there’s so much stuff going on all the time. I just needed good news. Oh that’s a good thing to know about. I’m going to also start following. So I think we’re kind of at the end we could keep talking obviously for hours, but for those of you who are tuning in just, you can stream Pink Stars, E. P. Number one hits on your streaming platforms. Please do so or download it from bank camps. So that Pink Star gets more money. Um that’s how I do it, but also girls like us, Youtube, life, music, performance experience, watch it. You will not be sorry. Um, So Pink Star, some closing words remarks or whatever you want. How do you want to take us away from, from our conversation? Yeah, well of course, stream number one hits. Watch girls like us, it’s online, you can find the, just google it, it’ll show up and I just wanna tell everyone who’s listening. I want you to find space to celebrate yourself even throughout this pandemic. I think that’s something that has been hard for everyone, including myself, but just find little moments actuality for yourself and for your community and yeah, I think that’s, I think that’s it. Some, thank you so much. Thanks for having me by. Hi, all this is Ashley Nav. Um, Otero’s the Communications Associate a latino studies. Thank you for listening to this week’s episode. Make sure to check out the latino studies instagram page. Follow us at latino studies. Ut to keep the conversation going. Mhm Yeah