Be Who You Are is a kids’ album with music and spoken word pieces that teach kids to choose love over fear, shine bright, be kind to other people and follow their guts!
There are a lot of tough moments to live through as a kid, and every one of those moments is a chance to learn and grow. Sometimes kids take away the wrong message from these moments, which is very easy to do. Messages like: I won’t be loved if I stand up for myself because it makes other people uncomfortable. Or, My opinion doesn’t matter because I’m just a kid. Or, I didn’t do it right, so I should stop trying. We carry these messages into adulthood and become afraid to live our lives to their fullest. This record is meant to empower kids with the freedom to choose their own thoughts, feelings and emotions – ones that make them feel good, big, strong and important. Because every kid is important.
And we don’t mean that in an “Aw, kids are so cute and ‘important’” way. We mean that these future adults have the power to relieve pain, suffering, injustice and inequality in the world as they grow up and become teachers, doctors, artists and leaders. It’s a complex society we live in with very real challenges like systemic racism, poverty, greed, and all the unfair things that go along with that. Rather than shelter our kids from this storm, let’s give them the proper gear to handle the weather. They’re not afraid to splash in puddles, but they need to be told it’s okay. It’s okay to say what you think, it’s okay to go against the grain, it’s okay to fail, it’s okay to speak up when you think something’s not fair, it’s okay to trust your gut, it’s okay to Be Who You Are. Authenticity is the greatest gift humans can offer the world. When your heart is behind something, you can make anything happen.
The BWYA team is three main partners, Paula Tiberius, Tara Samuel and Richard Duguay. We have one title track recorded which you can listen to here, and we’re working hard on many other tracks, including some radio plays and spoken word pieces. You can read more about the inspiration for this album in Paula’s first blog post here. Our home base for making music and recording plays will be at Paula and Richard’s home studio, Into The Black, where Richard will be recording and engineering – not to mention performing and helping Paula and Tara write and sing! It’s a group effort, and MANY more artists are already involved – you can track the adventures here on this blog! We’re excited to keep you posted!
BWYA team : )
Be Who You Are 