'You can't unsee what you've seen': Why iskwē's music is political by nature

Legendary singer/songwriter Nina Simone once said "an artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times."

It's a quote that iskwē holds dear.

The Winnipeg-born, Hamilton-based musician's latest release, Acākosīk, is political because, as she explained, her very existence as a Cree and Métis person is political.

"You can't unsee what you've seen," iskwē said. "I see these things and it's now just a part of me."

Acākosīk is nominated for the Adult Alternative Album of the Year Juno award, while iskwē's video for Little Star is up for Video of the Year.

The nominations came as a surprise for iskwē, whose traditional name is waseskwan iskwew or Blue Sky Woman. "It was just one of those things where when you create a piece of art, it's hard to imagine that people are going to respond," she said.

"It's such a vulnerable place to be that I tend to shy away from it."

Her video for Little Star is focused on how the media presented the trials of Colten Boushie and Tina Fontaine, two young Indigenous people who were killed, and whose cases both resulted in acquittals for the accused. 

"Certain media in particular were quite reckless with the way they were running headlines and reporting on the cases," iskwē said. "If you could find the deepest nook of your soul and stick something sharp in there, that's what it felt like. And I didn't know what else to do other than to write this song."

It's surprising to iskwē that people are on board with her political messaging, and it's taken a bit of time to digest the nominations and support she's received for her latest record. 

"It's been a huge uphill climb for me," she said. "People are starting to support that in ways that they hadn't before … it's pretty powerful."