This month marks the return of GRAMMY.com's annual TRANScendent Sounds performance series, a virtual showcase that celebrates artists while also bringing awareness to the ongoing social roadblocks faced by the global transgender community.
In particular, the series aims to highlight the violence that disproportionately affects Black trans women and trans women of color. With that in mind, there's no better place to start than with Mila Jam's powerful, reverent speech at Stonewall from June 1, 2020.
Jam, an Illinois-born singer/songwriter who rose to fame as a YouTube star and has continued to make a name for herself as a pop singer-songwriter, often braids her passions for music and activism. In 2019, she participated in the #StopKillingUs campaign, posing on a subway train in New York City.
Her June 2020 speech also takes place in NYC at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, venue and national historic landmark that stands on the site of the 1969 Stonewall Riots. In the clip, Jam leads a back-and-forth with an attentive crowd. "Remember this moment because we are loved. Because we shine bright and we belong here," Jam tells the crowd, emotion on her face, as the onlookers chant each phrase back to her.
Afterwards, Jam reflected on the event, which honored the trans and queer people who have lost their lives to police violence. "It was a historic moment. It was a moment of unity and community I will never forget," she said. "As we continue to fight for Black lives, trans lives and queer people of color everywhere, let us not forget that this is a marathon, not a sprint."
Even as she underscores the gravity of the moment, Jam makes sure to leave room for joy. She ends her video with a performance of her synth-soaked "Eye on You," a giddy, flirtatious ode to the euphoria of love.
After she put out the music video for the song in 2019, Jam told Billboard that her inspiration for the visual was the "untouchable, influential" image of Beyoncé and Jay-Z posing at the Louvre for their music video, "Apeshit." "The relationship onscreen is all about beauty and support, exactly what every trans woman deserves, what everyone in the community deserves," she explained. "I think it gives people hope."
Press play above to watch Jam's sobering, hopeful performance, and return to GRAMMY.com on June 22 and 29 to catch two more 2022 installments of TRANScendent Sounds.