Flooded with on-line hate, the musician corook determined to maintain swimming : NPR

Libby Danforth/Atlantic Data

Libby Danforth/Atlantic Data

corook was having a foul day.

After studying a slew of hate feedback on-line directed at their gender identification and the way they dressed, the 28-year-old Nashville-based musician wanted cheering up, so that they and their companion turned to what they do greatest: music.

“My girlfriend was supporting me and needed to do one thing to make me really feel higher and determined: ‘Let’s write a tune about it, let’s make like a extremely bizarre tune. As a result of you understand, I really like that you simply’re bizarre and it is great that you simply’re bizarre. So what is the weirdest concept that you would be able to provide you with?’

“And so I stated, ‘I feel if I had been a fish I feel that the entire bizarre issues about me could be cool,’ and he or she was like, ‘that is bizarre, let’s do it.’ ”

The result’s the hit tune “if i had been a fish.”

Initially a 49-second TikTok, corook (often known as Corinne Savage) goes on to sing about rocks and socks, adopted by the query that began all of it: “Why’s all people on the web so imply?”

corook explains that the lyrics got here from a second of vulnerability as they had been coming to phrases with their gender identification and feeling misplaced.

“I used to be clearly going via so much, personally, of accepting the truth that I am non-binary. … I feel it is exhausting to not match right into a field at any time when all people sort of desires to have the ability to outline you merely.”

Dwelling outdoors of the field can be one thing corook does musically.

“I do not actually have a style,” the musician says. “Like, I really like making music. I really like making songs that inform a narrative. And a few of them sound extra like a [singer] songwriter, and a few of them sound extra like a pop tune.”

Their mix of types shines on “if i had been a fish.” Whereas the unique TikTok recording was written on only a guitar, the total size model options guitar, percussion, and corook’s favourite instrument, the kazoo.

The musical combination provides to the tune’s optimistic spin on a troublesome state of affairs, a apply corook is understood for bringing to their music.

“I feel that utilizing an upbeat tone to speak about one thing critical is sort of my specialty. … And at any time when I found out that I may try this in music, it simply felt like a extremely large lacking puzzle piece for me,” they are saying.

And “if i had been a fish” is resonating with audiences. With over 7 million streams on Spotify, the tune has turn out to be a self-acceptance anthem.

“I feel it is an attention-grabbing factor that I wrote the tune from a spot of like, ‘I do not slot in, I haven’t got a group. I do not really feel like individuals get me’ after which to have a response of thousands and thousands of individuals say, ‘I get you and I would like extra of this, and I really feel this fashion, too,’ ” corook says.

“I feel that has been profound, not solely as a musician in my profession, however simply as a human being. It has been actually therapeutic to be seen and heard by so many individuals.”

You possibly can hear “if i had been a fish” on corook’s forthcoming EP critical particular person (half 1) out June 2.