You’re debuting your latest New Year’s poem on Instagram, a platform with over 450 million followers. How did this partnership come about and what was it like filming the video for this?
I just feel so fortunate that I’ve been able to do this project at all, let alone with a partner like Instagram. It’s very rare in anyone’s life that you might have the fortune, by which to call up one of the most global platforms in our world and say, “Hey, I have this idea.” And get such an eager and enthusiastic response.
I’m looking forward to working with Instagram because part of what inspired me to write this New Year’s poem was thinking about the narratives and the stories that I’ve seen shared throughout the past two years, whether it’s reconciling with grief, loss, social change, climate change. And so, many of those narratives, I feel, we interact or meet with on social media.
And Instagram’s a really interesting platform … that is heavily focused on visuals, but there’s also so much text going on — so much language. And often, more than not, when I’m having a difficult time writing a poem, I’ll actually turn to what are the photos, what are the messages that I’m seeing online, and how can I represent that through poetry?
For example, there’s a line in “The Hill We Climb,” which goes, “We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it” — that actually came from me just scrolling through social media, seeing people’s reactions to the January 6th Capitol riot. That is to say, I think the ways in which we interact and share our narratives is a huge source of not just poetry, but also power.
And there’s a special donation aspect to this project, as well?
Absolutely. I’m one of those people, where I always feel like I want to put my money and my actions where my mouth is. So, it’s insufficient for me just to write a poem. I want to think about, how is that poem living in a certain space? And how is it, literally, paying its way forward? And so, in working with Instagram, we felt that it would be a great coming together moment if this poem was also pointing people to some type of actionable step that they could take. And that’s, in part, a donate-able aspect of drawing attention to the International Rescue Committee, which is doing such important work globally, but also, all the more urgently in the time of COVID.
You collaborated with stylist Jason Bolden on your look for this Instagram collaboration. What has it been like working with him throughout the year?
I love Jason and I feel just so grateful that I get to have him on my team. When this year first started out, I had no stylist, no makeup artist, no hairstylist. And so, I was really just flying by the seat of my pants, showing up to covers or sets, and having no idea what’s going on. For the inauguration, my hair, makeup, clothing — that was all me.