Mickey Guyton: Lean into your uniqueness
Meditative Story
WaitWhat
4.6 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2020
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As a young girl raised on the gravel roads of central Texas, Mickey Guyton falls in love with country music – but as a Black woman in a traditionally white industry, her authenticity is constantly questioned: Too Black. Too white. Not country enough. Plagued by self-doubt, Mickey's breakthrough comes when she leans in to what makes her unique – and finds her true voice.
Mickey Guyton's new EP, Bridges, featuring the songs "Heaven Down Here" and "Black Like Me," is available now.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Something's missing. |
| 0:17.6 | I have a unique story, and yet here I'm trying to look and sound like every other artist that's making country music. |
| 0:27.0 | Trying to fit in. |
| 0:29.2 | Trying to act the part to be noticed. |
| 0:32.5 | It can't work. |
| 0:35.6 | It just isn't me. |
| 0:47.3 | In my life, I'm always taught to listen. When I was younger, I'd listen to my elders. I'd listen to my mom. I listened to Micah. If I listened, I could fit in. If I listened, I could get approval. |
| 1:00.8 | I do everything they tell me, and nothing works. I feel like a stallion tied up in a stable, |
| 1:10.8 | itching to run free. |
| 1:16.9 | Mickey Guyton is as country as they come. |
| 1:20.3 | As a young girl raised on the gravel roads of central Texas, |
| 1:24.1 | she fell in love with the music of Dolly Parton, |
| 1:26.9 | an influence that still informs her approach to singing and songwriting. |
| 1:31.2 | But as a black woman in a traditionally white industry, Mickey has had to brave questions of authenticity that would never be asked of her contemporaries. |
| 1:40.1 | Her new EP is called Bridges. And if the old saying that all country music is is three chords on the truth, |
| 1:47.6 | then Bridges truly is a kind of gospel itself. |
| 1:51.2 | A record filled with songs as courageously personal as they are defiantly political. |
| 1:57.1 | Do cue it up. |
| 1:59.6 | In this series, we combine immersive first-person stories and breathtaking music |
| 2:04.5 | with the science-backed benefits of mindfulness practice. |
| 2:08.8 | From Wait-to-Wat and Thrive Global, this is Meditative Story. |
| 2:16.2 | I'm Rohan, and I'll be your guide. The body relaxed. The body breathing. |
... |
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