Billy The Elephant by Persona Non Grata
by Lana Fleischli
A couple months ago, I went to dinner with a friend. After about an hour, I got a DM. The name popped up as Persona Non Grata and they had asked me something about the person I was at dinner with. They were in different grades, but were in music class together at the same school. How funny! They reached out in pursuit of some sort of collaboration with Desperately Seeking Serious. After texting them for a bit, I decided to check out their music.
Immediately, I was struck. Their music is very original and unique– so much so that I have trouble categorizing it into any kind of music specifically. I started listening to it in the car. There was a very raw feel to it. As a listener, I can hear the craftiness of it. There are parts that aren’t super clean, but that’s what makes it more personal. This got me thinking about a conversation that I had had with some friends over the past few weeks.
I spoke with one of my oldest friends about the future of music when we disagreed on if Bladee’s music is good. Personally, not my thing. I was shocked that he was into it. I asked why and he said that that is the future of music. That got me a bit. I brought this same conversation up with my other friends and they said that it’s not Bladee’s music specifically, but the rawness and “homemadeness” of it. That made me understand it much better.
When I was listening to Persona Non Grata’s album Billy The Elephant, I understood what they were saying. It’s not just about the music talent, but also production. Persona Non Grata is able to add just a personal touch by giving the beats and music a rawness that listeners are attracted to. It’s like hearing an acoustic version of a song: it feels more personal.
Besides the musicality of the album, the lyrics were just as, if not more striking. The album as a whole told a full story of identity. From being bisexual and hiding it to recognizing how Persona Non Grata personally treated people.
The song “Fake Friends” stuck out to me. In it, they sing about how everyone is “fake” and merely masking their truths and darknesses with lies, but by the end, they come to the realization that they have been doing that too. Billy The Elephant captures the feelings about being self-aware and making realizations about oneself.
Another track that stood out to me was “Cloud People,” in which Persona Non Grata explains how they have never been “normal.” Throughout the song, they being to redefine what “normal” means. Just because a bunch of people are saying the F-slur and are homophobic and anti-semetic, doesn’t mean that they are “normal.” “Normal” isn’t defined what what everyone is doing. Like the album as a whole, “Cloud People,” feels like a massive revelation.
Though an album like Billy The Elephant isn’t what I’m used to listening to, it is quite an impactful piece, and I’m so glad I learned about it. It’s brutally honest, and weird in such a wonderful way. It’s a story has such an honesty to it that I love to find in music. It brings out so much empathy in me, because it is painful. I agree with what my friends said, rawness has a place in music and it makes the album that much more truthful.