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serpentwithfeet On World Cafe

To my ear, serpentwithfeet's debut full length album soilis one of the most intriguing albums of the year. serpent blends his classical music training with his church choir upbringing and swirls it all together with ideas about love, sexuality, identity and honesty in a way that is devastating and uplifting at the same time.

When serpentwithfeet visited World Cafe to perform live, he told me stories about growing up in Baltimore, where he was involved in his black church's dance, mime, step and drama teams, and where he feels he was conditioned to appreciate European classical music because it was seen as "a ticket out." He moved to Philadelphia with dreams of becoming an opera singer, but eventually found inspiration and community in New York City.

serpentwithfeet told me why "being black and gay, I feel like I won the jackpot," and explained why it's so important to him to use both of those words. He also taught me how to properly pronounce Björk, his mentor and friend. You can listen to our conversation and his live performance in the player.

Copyright 2021 XPN. To see more, visit XPN.

Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.