“If you had to wear my shoes, you’d probably take them off too,” starts singer-songwriter Shea Diamond before launching into a soulful new anthem of self-realization, “I Am Her.”
A New Yorker via Flint, MI, the new musician says she was born into a gender role that she did not accept, so Diamond ran away from home as a teen, ultimately ending up incarcerated for ten years—where she discovered others of trans experience who helped her find her voice.
“There’s an outcast in everybody’s life, and I am her / There’s a shadow in everybody’s front door, and I am her,” Diamond sings in the stunning ballad with raw, rich power.
The sparse black-and-white video takes her from the scenes of the Black Lives Matter movement and demonstrations for rights for trans people to the action at dance party, all while Diamond belts out a celebration of her identity. As an anthem for an “outcast,” this one sticks with you.
“‘I Am Her’ means that no matter how the world treats me, no matter if I’m rejected, accepted, denied or misunderstood, I will continue to live out my truth,” Diamond explained.
Watch above.
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Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com