“At this point, people are forgetting what we’re fighting for,” Payge Turner tells me.

We’re engaged in a discussion over Zoom about the merits of the Capitol Hill Occupied/Organized Protest (CHOP, formerly CHAZ) as her cat’s tail wanders on and off the screen. With the coronavirus pandemic forcing everyone inside, virtual interviews are our new reality. The internet connection glitches here and there as Turner pours out thoughtful responses about music, religion, and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in Seattle. 

Turner, 28, grew up in Trinidad and Tobago before moving to Kansas at age 13. Since moving to Seattle in September of 2018, she has established herself in the local scene as a genre-mashing singer-songwriter, self-describing her tunes as “soul/alt/progressive vibes.” Inspired by musical legends like Sade and jazzy artists like Lianne La Havas, Turner is taking classic-cut neo-soul and making it her own. 

The following is my interview with Turner, edited for length and clarity.

Q: How did you get started with music?

A: I was raised in music. My mom is a choral musician, so she’s a vocalist more than anything else. I was raised behind the stage, and I think from the age of like, 5, I was like, this is what I want to do.

Q: Did you take music lessons when you were younger?

A: I hated them. I took piano as a kid and was like, “This is stupid. Let’s move on.” I was definitely the student that learned by ear. As much as I liked the concept of sheet music, I thought it was just moving too slow. I read a lot slower than my ears worked.

So I took lessons, and I also learned from my grandma and my cousin — they were both classically trained. When I got to the high school level, I took band my senior year and then majored in music in college.

Q: What did you play in high school band? I played the clarinet for like, six years.

A: Dude, that’s a beast of an instrument. No one understands how beastly the clarinet is. Especially bass clarinet, that shit is sexy. I didn’t actually get into band until my senior year, but I played percussion, so I did auxiliary percussion. 

Q: What brought you to Seattle?

A: One of the biggest draws for me was nature. I do music for a living, so it became really difficult to have it be my escape as well as my artistry and my living, so I was like, “Dude, I really need nature.” So I moved out. I did a backpacking trip out in Forks in 2018, and I was like, “I gotta go. I gotta move here.”

I didn’t even research the music industry because I knew Seattle’s got a music scene, and my objective is to be a sore thumb.

Q: What did you listen to growing up?

A: Sade, Brian McKnight, Toni Braxton, of course Whitney Houston. A lot of island music. A lot of old school r&b. Even some like, old-school rock stuff. I remember that a lot. And LeAnn Rimes.

Q: What artists have had the most influence on your work?

A: Sade, for sure. She’s one of them, but my biggest inspirations right now are Hiatus Kaiyote, Lianne La Havas, and RY X. Hiatus Kaiyote is a progressive jazz meets neo-soul kind of vibe. Lianne is very much soul-rock-neo-soul kind of like, jazzy vibes. And RY X is kind of out there. I don’t know how to explain him. He’s super great.

Q: Tell me about your song “Aftermath.” What was the songwriting process?

A: This song’s a heavy hitter. I was actually in a — I won’t say a relationship. I was talking to the person; they didn’t consider it a relationship themselves. It was a pivot point of my life because I grew up very — not necessarily conservative — but I grew up with a Christian background. At the age of 24, my first kiss was a female, and from that point on I just started unlocking things. I’d never really been attracted to females, but I started coming to a realization that there might be a little bit of attraction to just anybody. That song was written during our relationship, the talk thing. This person had me going back and forth like, “I like you, but my religion, blah blah blah.” It was just a constant back and forth.

I don’t like breakup songs, so “Aftermath” was the breakup song to myself. My persona is very bold, and oftentimes I feel as though people misinterpret my intentions or my opinions, and that song really came from a place of saying, “Hey, it’s okay that you’re misunderstood. It’s okay that sometimes life sucks. Sometimes people don’t understand and they take advantage of you, and that’s okay. It’s okay to love yourself throughout it.” It’s a rough song. 

Q: What has been your favorite show to play?

A: I loved the The Black Tones show. That was awesome. I knew who The Black Tones were, but I didn’t understand them until I pulled up and saw that I could barely get through the crowd, which was amazing. That was a great show, but the shows that really stand out to me right now — I just did a Sessions in Place livestream that stands out to me a lot. That’s currently one of my favorites. As far as before COVID, I had a Barboza show that just kicked ass.

Q: What are some of your musical goals for the future?

A: My goal as a singer-songwriter is to make sure my voice is heard clearly, and also to inspire people who have been in similar situations as I have: coming from broken homes, immigrants, and people that come from a Christian realm. I still claim God; I just don’t claim Christianity. People that are struggling with that in-between of, “Okay, is it acceptable to be queer and love God at the same time?” That’s a huge struggle for me, as well. So just to be a voice of reason, because musicians have a job, and our job is not self-gain — it’s self-emptying. You’re putting yourself in a vulnerable position, and your job is to educate a population. 

That’s what I want to do. I want to be an educational outlet for people, as well as someone that’s a role model. I really don’t want anything huge, but enough that I can make money off of it.

Q: Have you been to CHOP/CHAZ?

A: Yes, I have been! As far as CHOP — I know this is going to be very controversial — I don’t necessarily agree with CHOP. Being a foreigner, I think I have a different perspective. I don’t think CHOP is really benefitting me. What is this doing for my fight? As a Black person in the United States, I don’t feel like it’s moving the fight forward. At this point, people are forgetting what we’re fighting for. Breonna Taylor is no longer trending; Black Lives Matter is no longer trending. To me, it seems like Cov-Chella — that’s what I call it, COVID-Chella. 

I have my restraints against CHOP. I need to know more about it, but from what I do know, I’m a little uneasy.  I feel as though a lot of Black people are uneasy by it. I’ve heard Black people say they like it, but I’ve also heard more Black people say they don’t like it.

Q: What do you think is the best way for white/non-POC to be allies during this time?

A: The biggest thing is education, but also resources. America does a really good job of letting people know what the problem is but never having a resolution. The resolution is conversations. There need to be more conversations, one-on-one interviews online — Instagram, social media, all of them. They need to have one-on-one conversations with maybe a person of color and a white person, I don’t know. There’s a lot of things that need to be done.

The biggest thing right now is educating the white population of how corrupt the government is. I had a conversation with someone yesterday that was so ignorant. She was upset that [Confederate] statues are being pulled down, and I was like, “Here’s the thing. There’s a reason they’re being pulled down. We’re glorifying people that are crappy.” I used an example of Germany and how they removed the swastika, and she was like, “I can’t believe you would compare Hitler to America. Hitler literally euthanized millions, and America’s not the same.” And I’m like, “Do you know your history?”

This country started on the murder of millions, and it continued with the murder of millions until 2020. As an immigrant, I had to learn U.S. history. And I think that’s really important. We need to start burning stupid-ass textbooks and understanding what’s really going on here. We need to go under, and really go back to [learning about] slavery. We really do.