Raye Zaragoza - Joy Revolution

“I love the quote ‘our existence is resistance,’” says Raye Zaragoza about “Joy Revolution,” the first advance single from her forthcoming third album, Hold That Spirit, slated for late summer 2023 release. “And love the thought that our ancestors fought so hard for our freedom - and it’s out of respect for them that we fight to experience laughter and joy. I definitely have been one to think that I have to earn rest and earn joy - but that way of thinking has caused me pain and anxiety. It’s time to experience radical and unconditional joy, and let joy exist even when life isn’t perfect. Over the past couple albums, I have written a lot about the darkness I see in the world and have been known to write “protest songs” or “social justice songs.” I think that joy is a cause worth fighting for, and this is also a “social justice song” in many ways. It was an incredible experience creating this song with fellow social justice warrior MILCK, and singing this song with her is pure joy. In march, I showed up at her house and we made an impromptu video for this song. We had no plan, and just wanted to capture the joy we feel when we’re hanging out and being goofy together. It was honestly one of my favorite experiences making a video because our only goal was to have fun and capture it.”

Named "one of the most politically relevant artists in her genre" by Paste Magazine, Raye Zaragoza is a galvanizing presence, a self-assured artist making music to fight for, represent, and celebrate those left too long outside the spotlight. Known for tenacious feminist anthems and fearless protest folk, her stage presence teems with determined morale. As a Japanese-American, Mexican, Indigenous woman, Zaragoza spent much of her early life trying to assimilate with the world around her, to meet punishing standards of beauty synonymous with just one color of skin—and not her own. She has come a long way from that youthful pain, proclaiming “I am proud to be a multicultural brown woman with insecurities and a vibrant intersectional identity that I continue to grapple with. I hope young girls of today will know that the It Girl is whatever the hell they want to be.”

Her sophomore album Woman In Color, named Best of 2020 by NPR Music & PopMatter, spent seven weeks at #1 on the NACC Folk Radio Chart.