- [Narrator] Tonight on "Stage", take a front row seat for the inspiration, connection, and joy, you've been missing.

(soft violin music) Two back-to-back episodes of "The Lowertown Line", featuring performances by American indie pop musician Jeremy Messersmith, and Minnesota songwriters, Mayyadda, Barbara Jean, and Mayda.

- [Interviewer] Roll?

- [Man] We're on.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- You are the self-proclaimed King of Wuss Rock?

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Man] One, two, three, four (high energy rock music) (audience cheering) - [Interviewer] So, what does Wuss Rock means to you?

- Well, rock with feelings and maybe not the stereotype masculine feelings of fight, hurt, anger, destruction, death, but, like the other range of emotions that human beings are capable of experiencing.

("Dillinger Eye" by Jeremy Messersmith) ♪ Well I found honest work and lord knows I tried ♪ ♪ Well I found honest work and lord knows I tried ♪ ♪ Robbed a bank and ran from the fuzz ♪ ♪ They asked the teller just who I was ♪ ♪ She said "I don't know, ♪ ♪ but he had John Dillinger's eyes!"

♪ ♪ And for five long years I was wanted by the FBI ♪ ♪ Well for five long years I was wanted by the FBI ♪ ♪ I was shooting pool at the hall ♪ ♪ Wanted poster up on the wall ♪ ♪ "Ain't that you?

You got John Dillinger's eyes!"

♪ ♪ I caught one in my chest and two in my thigh ♪ ♪ Well I caught one in my chest and two in my thigh ♪ ♪ I saw a man rush to my side ♪ ♪ To my side ♪ ♪ Took a photograph as I died ♪ ♪ As I die ♪ ♪ And all because I was born with John Dillinger's eyes!

♪ ♪ Well that newspaper man won the Pulitzer Prize ♪ ♪ Well that newspaper man won the Pulitzer Prize ♪ ♪ He keeps it by his bed on a shelf ♪ ♪ But one thing that he'll never tell ♪ ♪ Is every day he thanks god for John Dillinger's eyes!

♪ (audience applauding) (soft guitar music) ♪ Making a good song about Mr. Nacado ♪ ♪ Nothing really rhymes with Mr. Nacado ♪ ♪ I'll try, I'll try ♪ ♪ Till the day he dies hopefully long from now.

♪ - I really, really wanted to be a guitar player like with mystique and it turned out, that I didn't really have any mystique at all.

And I also couldn't really play guitar all that well so just kind of, on like, on a whim I audited a songwriting class and then all of a sudden it was like, oh, okay.

Like these things have like a structure they can be like made and I'm good at structure.

I have a background in computer science, like I understand how to like build a program and that's all songs are.

Songs are like information and like certain sequences that like express ideas and like manipulate and hack people's like emotions like, okay, I think I can do that.

- [Interviewer] So, what's the trick to hacking people's emotions?

(Jeremy laughs) - You have to use yourself as a test subject, unfortunately.

It took a while to be able to figure that out.

I wrote like a lot of really bad songs and they weren't really about anything.

The subtext was always like a desperate cry of; Hey everybody, think I'm cool.

(laughs) I think that was about it.

(soft piano music) Eventually you just get to the point where you're like, why would anyone care about this?

Why do I care about this?

Oh, maybe I need to not write songs that project me as who I wanna be or I want people to think that I'm cool or funny or something like that.

And what if I just wrote stuff that was just as raw as I could make it ("Purple Hearts" by Jeremy Messersmith) ♪ I have a knack for awkward silences ♪ ♪ Late-night, drunk text messages ♪ ♪ I'm great at playing dumb ♪ ♪ She doesn't care much for my politics ♪ ♪ For sentimental atheists ♪ ♪ We disagree for fun ♪ ♪ We're off to an awful start ♪ ♪ Proudly showing off our purple hearts ♪ ♪ Comparing battle scars and who shot who first?

♪ ♪ Hiking skirts, rolling up our shirts ♪ ♪ And who hurt who worst, anyway?

♪ ♪ She had a thing for West Point graduates ♪ ♪ Thank God she grew out of it ♪ ♪ But men wasn't it a thrill?

♪ ♪ And she says lately she feels bored with guys ♪ ♪ I laugh, she just rolls her eyes, ♪ ♪ And gestures for the bill ♪ ♪ We're off to an awful start ♪ ♪ Proudly showing off our purple hearts ♪ ♪ Comparing battle scars and who shot who first?

♪ ♪ Hiking skirts, rolling up our shirts ♪ ♪ And who hurt who worst, anyway?

♪ ♪ Anyway, anyway ♪ ♪ Who shot who first?

♪ ♪ Hiking skirts, rolling up our shirts ♪ ♪ And who hurt who worst, anyway?

♪ ♪ Who shot who first?

♪ ♪ Hiking skirts, rolling up our shirts ♪ ♪ And who hurt who worst, anyway?

♪ ♪ We're off to an awful start ♪ ♪ Proudly showing off our purple hearts ♪ ♪ But maybe this time it won't leave a mark ♪ ♪ Always showing off our purple hearts.

♪ (audience applauding) (Jeremy laughs) - [Jeremy] This is me getting my first musical instrument, a trumpet.

- [Interviewer] And did you like the trumpet?

- [Jeremy] Yeah, I loved it.

I still have it.

It's literally right there, the same trumpet.

I don't think I ever thought of music as like a possible career option, until maybe I went to school to study music.

Even still half the time I'm like, is this my job?

Do I get like, this is what I do for living?

I go around and like, I make noises with my mouth that like, please the auditory organs of one mammalian species on this planet.

Like, that's what I do for a job?

That's insane.

That's literally me showing a chicken at the County Fair.

- [Interviewer] So, I mean, you had a pretty strong religious background growing up.

- [Jeremy] I was homeschooled until I went to college basically.

At some point I was like, nah I don't really buy much of that anymore.

And I think I'm actually much happier not having to carry around the... a lot of the cognitive dissonance that can come from a fundamentalist upbringing.

When you grow up and every single person that you've ever met in your entire life says the earth is 6,000 years old or whatever else, then it can be a bit of a reality check when you kind of arrive in the real world and find out that a lot of that stuff is literally not true.

I mean, it's like a textbook existential crisis where all of a sudden everything you know and believe has kind of like yanked out, then you're forced to confront it.

It's funny.

I've written about kind of that process for me in songs and things, and I've kind of mourned the loss of my childhood religion, I guess.

But, I think therapy is a great tool for that, for peeling off like social conditioning, for actually getting at the core of who you are, and I certainly find that also to be the case with songwriting.

Or I imagine like any kind of creative art people go through is you're ultimately just kind of dismantling yourself in order to get to know yourself and you're stripping away the things that maybe don't make any sense and hopefully finding out who you actually are.

- [Interviewer] Is it painful?

- It's painful in like the way that like taking off like a scab is kind of painful, and that it can hurt a little bit but it's really gratifying at the same time.

("Organ Donor" by Jeremy Messersmith) ♪ I was born in a mortuary ♪ ♪ Full of worry ♪ ♪ Ice water in my veins ♪ ♪ Gave my heart in the school library ♪ ♪ Never knew her name ♪ ♪ Lost my tongue in the sanctuary ♪ ♪ "Heaven spare me!"

♪ ♪ Hands raised above my head ♪ ♪ Sent my brain to the seminary ♪ ♪ Never seen again... ♪ ♪ So, swing low ♪ ♪ Grey bones ♪ ♪ I don't know ♪ ♪ If I'll ever be whole again ♪ ♪ Left my spine at the wedding chapel ♪ ♪ Full of people ♪ ♪ Feet turning into lead ♪ ♪ Lost a leg at the iron foundry ♪ ♪ Where they found me dead ♪ ♪ They drained my blood at the mortuary ♪ ♪ No more worry ♪ ♪ Ice water in my veins ♪ ♪ Took my bones to the cemetery ♪ ♪ Where they still remain ♪ ♪ So swing low ♪ ♪ Grey bones ♪ ♪ I don't know ♪ ♪ If I'll ever be whole again ♪ ♪ So swing low ♪ ♪ Grey bones ♪ ♪ I don't know ♪ ♪ If I'll ever be whole again ♪ ♪ So swing low ♪ ♪ Grey bones ♪ ♪ I don't know ♪ ♪ If I'll ever be whole again ♪ (audience applauding) - Dragons everywhere, look at this double handed flames of fire.

Oh, I missed them man, look at him - [Interviewer] Nerd culture?

- [Jeremy] Yeah.

- [Interviewer] You're into it?

- Well, yeah, I'm a nerd, I guess.

So, yeah, I'm kind of like into nerd culture and the like.

The nice thing about a nerd is that you can kind of just pick whatever thing you're interested in and be a nerd about it.

So, I find that it's a culture filled with lovely obsessive people.

I mean, intelligence isn't a requirement just that you love it.

(laughs) The Legend of Zelda for Nintendo is still my favorite video game of all time.

It was just this exciting giant world and probably about every four or five years I'll pull it up, and I'll play through the original Legends of Zelda but I've never actually beaten the game before.

There are two kinds of quests.

So you beat the game once and then the whole world kind of changes and you can play through the game again but it's a totally different map and I've never finished the second quest for Zelda and I think, it's just because I don't like the idea of it ever really ending.

So, I always get to like the last dungeon and I kind of stop 'cause I don't ever wanna, I just never wanna finish it.

It just is too much fun.

("Once you get to know us" by Jeremy Messersmith) ♪ On the far side of the Universe ♪ ♪ There's a little sphere we call the Earth ♪ ♪ It's a non-discovered paradise ♪ ♪ You'll love it here, ♪ ♪ People are nice ♪ ♪ We're far from perfect, ♪ ♪ We spend a lot of time ♪ ♪ Inventing ways to kill each other ♪ ♪ Still, we think you'll find a lot to love ♪ ♪ Once you get to know us ♪ ♪ We have everything you'll ever need ♪ ♪ The Internet, ♪ ♪ Daytime TV ♪ ♪ We used to have these things called trees ♪ ♪ But who needs them ♪ ♪ Not you and me ♪ ♪ We've made mistakes, and ♪ ♪ Many of them are ♪ ♪ Sadly irreversible, still ♪ ♪ We think you'll find a lot to love ♪ ♪ Once you get to know us ♪ ♪ If you lined up all the broken hearts ♪ ♪ On earth it'd form a trail of bread crumbs to the stars ♪ ♪ Guiding you, in your spaceship ♪ ♪ And provided that you're not too soft and tasty ♪ ♪ Your life, oh, might just be the start ♪ ♪ Of a beautiful friendship ♪ ♪ We're far from perfect ♪ ♪ And some of us are genocidal maniacs ♪ ♪ Still, ♪ ♪ we think you'll find a lot to love ♪ ♪ Once you get to know us ♪ ♪ Once you get to know us ♪ ♪ Once you get to know us ♪ ♪ Not all that bad ♪ ♪ Once you get to know us ♪ (audience applauding) - It helps me to have an idea of the album as a whole and I think of it like, when you first start playing guitar, for instance, like you learn one note and then you learn to add like another note.

And then, once you know like three you can play a chord and it builds that way.

And then you realize, you can take a chord and add another chord and then that grows.

And then you realize, you can have like sections of chords and then you realize, oh, I can put like a melody onto those two and then I can put words on the melody and you just keep stacking and stacking and stacking.

And then once you have all those, you have a song and that's cool.

But then, you can also like take a song and put it next to another song.

And sometimes that will kind of like, one song can be used to prepare another song like prepare an idea, and then you can string those along until you're telling like a bigger story filled with a lot of ideas and then you have a record.

And then you take the record, and then you think, is there like a visual concept that can express all the ideas and just the flow of the songs and the records and all that stuff.

Oh, and then, how did we make this record?

Did that also like have to do with the values espoused in the songs?

Like, what does the media landscape look like?

Is there a way that we can express this on music videos or through print?

Or what does a live show look like?

What's the ideal environment for that?

Like really there are like creative things that like every single level of putting out a record.

And I think I didn't really realize that when I started out and now I'm kind of starting to enjoy the whole process of making a record and putting it out.

Whereas before, I would've been like, oh, I wrote a song and I'm done, not so much.

Like I think being an artist is also about like preparing people and preparing the context.

Trying to create a scenario in which when, by the time I get up and play on stage, like I can't fail when I'm up there.

Like people have already, like they know a bit of the songs.

They know a bit about me.

They know maybe a bit about how things were made and they are primed and ready.

("It's only dancing" by Jeremy Messersmith) ♪ Late night call, and I'm at your door.

♪ ♪ Teenage tears, on the kitchen floor.

♪ ♪ I pull you close and hold my breath, ♪ ♪ Feel your heart beat through your summer dress.

♪ ♪ Shuffle our feet, slowly to the stereo.

♪ ♪ And if your boyfriend suddenly appears, ♪ ♪ If your father comes home and finds us here.

♪ ♪ You and I we wouldn't need an alibi.

♪ ♪ It's only dancing ♪ ♪ It's only dancing ♪ ♪ Mirrored ball and a cover band ♪ ♪ Just for kicks, wont you take my hand ♪ ♪ It's something that all good friends do ♪ ♪ It's not like I'm in love with you ♪ ♪ What a crazy idea, and where did you get that?

♪ ♪ So, let's tangle up our finger tips, ♪ ♪ So now I'll rest a hand upon your hips ♪ ♪ There's nothing to see it's all so innocent ♪ ♪ It's only dancing ♪ ♪ It's only dancing ♪ ♪ It's only dancing ♪ ♪ It's only dancing ♪ ♪ Clip on tie, and a sweater vest ♪ ♪ You wear a veil and a wedding dress ♪ ♪ I watch you part a crowded room ♪ ♪ A perfect bride and a perfect groom ♪ ♪ As you float across the ballroom in his arms ♪ ♪ And I wanna scream, I wanna burst, ♪ ♪ I wanna blame the whole damn universe, ♪ ♪ But the same three words I whisper to myself ♪ ♪ It's only dancing ♪ ♪ It's only dancing ♪ ♪ It's only dancing ♪ ♪ It's only dancing ♪ ♪ Uuuuh uuuh uuuh uuuh ♪ ♪ Uuuuh uuuh uuuh uuuh ♪ ♪ Uuuuh uuuh uuuh uuuh ♪ ♪ Uuuuh uuuh uuuh uuuh ♪ (audience applauding) - [Narrator] This program is made possible by, the State's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(bright techno music) (slow paced music) - [Mayyadda] I tried to write for years and everything I was writing was trash.

And I just got to my senior year, like halfway through my senior year of college and I was like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with my life.

And then it just kind of settled on me, like if I don't try this music thing I'm gonna get to 50 and really hate myself for not even trying.

And it was just like, peace settled over me with that.

That's kind of the genesis of it me actually thinking like, I can do this.

Like, I might actually be able to write songs like who knew.

("Mississippi" by Mayyadda) ♪ Fount of the river ♪ ♪ Three foot by three ♪ ♪ I can cross over so easily ♪ ♪ What's to become of ♪ ♪ This trickling stream ♪ ♪ Answers are only known in God's dreams ♪ ♪ For the M-I-S-S- ♪ ♪ I-S-S- ♪ ♪ I-P-P-I ♪ ♪ Oh me oh my ♪ ♪ For the M-I-S-S- ♪ ♪ I-S-S- ♪ ♪ I-P-P-I ♪ ♪ Oh me oh my ♪ ♪ Oh me oh my ♪ ♪ Oh rushing river ♪ ♪ Shake hands with the sea ♪ ♪ You've carried your cargo ♪ ♪ From point A to point B ♪ ♪ From cold Minnesota ♪ ♪ On through Tennessee ♪ ♪ Finally ending up ♪ ♪ In the Big Easy ♪ ♪ Oh, the M-I-S-S- ♪ ♪ I-S-S- ♪ ♪ I-P-P-I ♪ ♪ Oh me oh my ♪ ♪ For the M-I-S-S- ♪ ♪ I-S-S-I-P-P-I ♪ ♪ Oh me oh my ♪ ♪ Aaaah aaaah ♪ ♪ Oh me oh my ♪ ♪ Oooh oooh ♪ ♪ Yeay yeay yeah ♪ ♪ Oooh oooh ♪ ♪ Oooh oooh ♪ ♪ Mighty river ♪ ♪ Wash over me ♪ ♪ Let your currents remind me ♪ ♪ Of the powers that be ♪ ♪ How all of the greatness ♪ ♪ That lies inside me ♪ ♪ Has to develop ♪ ♪ Like the great Mississippi ♪ (audience applauding) - Thank you.

So, I have a "Periscope Show" that I was doing kind of regularly, now it's just kind of, whenever life allows me to.

Okay, so this is, "Black is Beautiful", and I hope you all like it.

(bright guitar music) So, Periscope is an app.

It's a livestream app.

And when you follow different people on Periscope, when they start streaming, you get a notification, you just tune into their show.

♪ My mama used to tell me ♪ ♪ To love the skin I'm in ♪ ♪ I didn't always understand her ♪ ♪ I didn't always listen ♪ ♪ But now I know better ♪ ♪ Now I know better ♪ - It was just something different to try.

YouTube is really saturated.

And I love that it's like a live stream and people can comment, and invite people to the stream, like as they're doing it, like, it felt more comparable to a performance than getting a YouTube video together.

♪ To proclaim her beauty ♪ ♪ Ebony chocolate or cafe au lait ♪ ♪ Our skin is gorgeous, no matter what they say ♪ ♪ So block out the noise, hear the voice ♪ ♪ Of God who made us well ♪ ♪ As He whispers to you ♪ ♪ Let it break through ♪ ♪ And know your black is beautiful ♪ ♪ We are Maya's brilliance ♪ ♪ Nelson's resilience ♪ ♪ And with Harriet's strength, we move ♪ ♪ We are Ruby's daring ♪ ♪ With voices worth sharing, ♪ ♪ Like Billie and Mahalia ♪ ♪ So sing it loud, sing it proud ♪ ♪ Oooh oooh ♪ ♪ Ebony chocolate or cafe au lait ♪ ♪ Our skin is gorgeous, no matter what they say ♪ ♪ So block out the noise, hear the voice ♪ ♪ Of God who made us well ♪ ♪ As He whispers to you ♪ ♪ Let it break through ♪ ♪ And know your black is beautiful ♪ ♪ Oooh oooh oooh ♪ ♪ It's beautiful ♪ ♪ So beautiful ♪ ♪ We're beautiful ♪ ♪ And know your black is beautiful ♪ (audience applauding) - Thank you.

(soft piano music) - I double majored in Arabic Language and Religious Studies and coming back home and being like, hey mom.

So yeah, you sacrificed for like 12, 15 years for me to go to private school and then go to this university, the super expensive university.

And I think I wanna be a musician and she didn't freak out at me.

I was very surprised.

- I told Mayyadda two things.

One, just so you are able to support yourself for what you do.

And two, I will pray for you that if that's the door God wants you to go through, he will open those doors for you.

If he doesn't want you to go through those doors, he will shut the doors.

Mayyadda is capable of being whatever she wants to be and I feel that whatever she wants to do, she would give it her best and her all.

And I say from past experiences.

("Mars" by Mayyadda) ♪ I've heard it said before ♪ ♪ Don't win the battle and lose the war ♪ ♪ Chasing after the settling of a score ♪ ♪ Will only leave you lying dead on the floor ♪ ♪ In my chest lies a purple heart ♪ ♪ Bruised and battered from being torn apart ♪ ♪ On my way across the galaxies and stars ♪ ♪ As I tried to find an audience with Mars ♪ ♪ And get the god of war on my side ♪ ♪ But my trouble multiplied when he said ♪ ♪ Little girl, little girl ♪ ♪ You're so far away from your world ♪ ♪ And all this time you spent ♪ ♪ Laboring for revenge ♪ ♪ Won't amount to anything ♪ ♪ You're a peasant and he's the king ♪ ♪ But if you really wanna lay him low ♪ ♪ My price is your immortal soul ♪ ♪ So I say let it go ♪ - What I have learned so far is just to be very present and to find the joy in what I'm doing.

The technique, I mean, it's important.

But like, the emotion and the actually inhabiting the moment covers a multitude of technical scenes.

And I think that's the thing I'm definitely just gonna carry with me is like be present and like be joyful in what you're doing.

♪ So, now I'm lying here dead on the floor.

♪ ♪ I won the battle but I lost the war.

♪ Thank you.

(audience applauding) (soft violin music) - I don't remember a time when music wasn't a part of my life.

It's a huge part of my family.

It kinda all started with my grandma, who grew up in Superior, Wisconsin.

And began playing violin as a young girl, and piano as a young girl and she's passed that on throughout our family.

And I was begging to play the fiddle as a little kid.

At first I had a shoe box with some rubber bands.

That was my makeshift fiddle when I was like, one and two, but eventually that wouldn't cut it.

So when I was three, they got me my first little tiny violin.

It was a rough adjustment, moving down here from Grand Marais, I like to say I had wolves, wild animals in my backyard and I still do.

It's just a different kind of animal now.

(audience laughs) ("The City" By Barbara Jean) ♪ Leaving defines me as those tall pines roll behind me ♪ ♪ This new city is as cold as stone ♪ ♪ The snow is out there falling ♪ ♪ And the traffic's out there crawling ♪ ♪ And I'm living in this dirty little room ♪ ♪ What happens after flee the disaster ♪ ♪ Will you make it or break it on your own ♪ ♪ Across the canyon lies in my heart ♪ ♪ Is a new life that is tearing me apart ♪ ♪ At night I try to sleep ♪ ♪ but I can still feel my heart beat ♪ ♪ From the place I used to call my home ♪ ♪ The men out on the corner ain't got nothing to prove ♪ ♪ The record's spinning "Walking the floor over you" ♪ ♪ What happens after flee the disaster ♪ ♪ Will you make it or break it on your own ♪ ♪ Across the canyon lies in my heart ♪ ♪ Is a new life that is tearing me apart ♪ ♪ I look back and I see you standing there ♪ ♪ Down by Devil Track River where we once lay bare ♪ ♪ Your dark brown coat and your eyes of winter ♪ ♪ Only way to be with you now is in dimness of my dreams ♪ ♪ What happens after flee the disaster ♪ ♪ Will you make it or break it on your own ♪ ♪ Across the canyon lies in my heart ♪ ♪ Is a new life that is tearing me apart ♪ (audience applauding) - Thank you so much.

(bright banjo music) I think I'd probably be playing sort of Americana folk type music, no matter what instrument that I played but certainly playing the banjo kind of gives it a pretty heavy influence unlike the country folk roots side of things.

Just, I mean, it's an iconic American instrument in that way.

(bright banjo music) I think the hardest part about song writing is getting from the inspiration to completion of a song.

I feel like I'm using all of my brain and my heart when I do it.

You have to think like a mathematician and like an artist all at the same time.

It's very rare that a full song drops out of the sky, although that does happen every once in a while, and that is really awesome when it does.

("What's Right" by Barbara Jean) ♪ I spend my time how I want to ♪ ♪ If you knew me you'd agree ♪ ♪ After 40 years of working ♪ ♪ I should kick back and be free ♪ ♪ I spent all my life ♪ ♪ Tryin' to do what's right ♪ ♪ I traded years for dollars ♪ ♪ Exchanged my life liberty ♪ ♪ I grew up in harsh world ♪ ♪ Dreams were buried in the ground ♪ ♪ I learned first hand as a young girl ♪ ♪ Tears that fall make no sound ♪ ♪ I spent all my life ♪ ♪ Tryin' to do what's right ♪ ♪ I traded years for dollars ♪ ♪ Exchanged my life liberty ♪ - [Barbara] I love to perform, and then, I sometimes hate to perform.

I think it is nerve wracking to get up in front of a bunch of people and put your work in front of others.

Who knows what they're going to think, they might hate it.

But every once in a while, you just make a great connection with an audience or even just with one person in an audience.

(audience applauding) - Thank you.

Thanks so much - [Mayda] Hey, let's speed up How you doing?

(bouncy drum music) I think I need a cigarette.

Song is about beautiful things.

And I see a lot of beautiful things.

Aaah!

Yeah.

♪ Do you see her dancing on the red wick?

♪ ♪ Look, unless you need to call a paramedic, ♪ ♪ But she's looking like she's doing it on purpose ♪ ♪ She got a message and shes wanting to send it, ♪ ♪ Did you see the smoke fully rising?

♪ ♪ Over the same horizon.

♪ ♪ So when you ask how she got her groove ♪ ♪ She will start to say ♪ ♪ Rubies ♪ ♪ I'm looking at the rubies ♪ ♪ You don't know what it does to me ♪ ♪ When I'm looking at the beauty ♪ ♪ Yeeeah ♪ ♪ His prerogative is to show you all of it ♪ ♪ If you're interested, he can make you dance, ♪ ♪ He can make you sing, he can make you do crazy things ♪ ♪ All the kids have said they have ever heard his song ♪ ♪ Will never be the same 'cause they cant help themselves ♪ ♪ Not to sing along ♪ ♪ Like rubies ♪ ♪ I'm looking at the rubies ♪ ♪ You don't know what it does to me ♪ ♪ When I'm looking at the beauty ♪ ♪ Yeaaah ♪ ♪ Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather ♪ ♪ Whiplash girl, child in the dark.

♪ ♪ I'll shine your shoes if you want me to ♪ ♪ I'll shine your shoes and then I'll lick your boots.

♪ ♪ Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather ♪ ♪ Whiplash girl, child in the dark.

♪ ♪ Rubies ♪ ♪ I'm looking at the rubies ♪ ♪ You don't know what it does to me ♪ ♪ When I'm looking at the beauty ♪ ♪ Yeeeah ♪ ♪ Rubies ♪ ♪ I'm looking at the rubies ♪ ♪ Yeaah ♪ ♪ And you don't know what it does to me ♪ ♪ You're so beautiful ♪ (audience applauding) - My music definitely got all the pop elements, but it also includes hip hop, a little bit of rap, funk, blues, and rock.

I want my performances and my music to be an experience.

I wanna be able to channel as many senses I can 'cause I like to be crazy and I'm a guard and push the limits especially when I'm on stage.

Just like with fashion, clothing, makeup, or music, or a prop on stage, or design.

I like using different mediums in order to express yourself.

♪ And if there was more time ♪ ♪ In the day ♪ ♪ And if I knew the right word ♪ ♪ To say I could focus ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Maybe a little less talking, sh!

♪ ♪ And a little more movement ♪ ♪ Maybe a little less pressure, urgh!

♪ ♪ And a little more music ♪ ♪ But docs are lying ♪ ♪ You don't notice ♪ ♪ I take my time ♪ ♪ Tryin to focus ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Focus, urgh!

♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Turn it up ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Right here focus ♪ ♪ Well people change like the weather ♪ ♪ Change can break them or bring them together ♪ ♪ In the middle of heatwave or the solstice ♪ ♪ I concentrate so I could focus ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Focus, urgh!

♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Turn it up ♪ ♪ Focus ♪ ♪ Right here, focus ♪ ♪ Right now ♪ ♪ And if there was more time ♪ ♪ In the day ♪ ♪ And if I knew the right words to say ♪ ♪ Three, two , one ♪ ♪ Turn it up ♪ ♪ Eeeh, aaah ♪ - The tattoos that I'm getting represents two identities trying to meld together and communicate into one thing.

- All right, you ready girl?

- Yeah.

(tattoo machine buzzing) I was adopted when I was not even one-years old.

I've always known that I was adopted and then I'm different from everybody else.

I just didn't understand my feelings about it.

And I'm realizing that it has really had a huge impact on how I think and why I write the things I do.

And why am I ended up even funk music or blues music?

And I kind of attribute that to being adopted.

("Night Vice" By Mayda) ♪ Now it's late at night ♪ ♪ I can hear your voice ♪ ♪ Calling my name ♪ ♪ Now it's late at night ♪ ♪ For I can hear your voice ♪ ♪ Calling out my name ♪ ♪ I don't have a choice but to get down on my knees ♪ ♪ Yell out to the world ♪ ♪ Baby, I don't need you ♪ ♪ Baby, I don't need you ♪ ♪ No, I don't need you anymore ♪ (audience applauding) - [Narrator] This program is made possible by, the State's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

- [Announcer] "Stage" is made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, the citizens of Minnesota, and by viewers like you.