Essay 2: Why Blinking Aisles?
The only way I could compartmentalize having to participate in a digital world (in order to become a successful musician) was if I had an internal rebellious purpose.
I have had many phases on social media. With its unpredictable nature, I let it carry me wherever it decided. I knew I wanted to be a musician, all the advice I encountered was: “you need to build an audience online.” I figured it must be true. I didn’t have any music connections, covid hit, and I was really left to my own devices. Well really, a singular device.
I recently noticed a pattern in my approach to social media: The only way I could compartmentalize having to participate in a digital world (in order to become a successful musician) was if I had an internal rebellious purpose. I have had many covert rebellious phases online, but the general gist of this includes:
1. Astrology:
unveiling pop astrology, educating people that trivialize it
tying this to music by- writing songs from the perspective of each zodiac sign, covers for each zodiac sign, music playlists, etc.
2. Music Gatekeeping:
challenging gatekeeping in music by sharing my lengthy curated music playlists, then playlisting my favorite rap artists on the rise
tying this to music by- producing my own music and playlisting it too
3. Marketing my Music:
proving that you can consistently promote your music on social media in a resonant, authentic way without blatantly telling people to listen to it, or solely relying on gimmicky trends to so.
Each time I evolved online, I did it with the same goal in mind: become a full time musician. I didn’t recognize the internal rebellious purpose aspect of things until my latest stage, Marketing my Music.
In my attempts to devise my next social media marketing conquest, I hit a wall. I knew deep down there needed to be a change. In the past that change was always terrifying, building an entire audience and starting over, but I did it anyway. From astrology, to music curation, to promoting my own music, these transitions were not easy. Still, with each shift something inside of me would scream, “I can no longer go down this path.” So I trusted that feeling and pivoted. Listening to that inner voice has always rewarded me in the end.
This time was very different, however. This time, I felt completely disgusted by social media. I could no longer find an internal rebellious purpose within the framework of social media because
I deeply desired to reject it all together.
In my stint of blowing up on Instagram in 2023, I went from 6k to 70k followers in three months. For years I only posted my short-form videos on Tik Tok. It was through Instagram, however, that I began to understand the type of video that goes viral on these platforms. It was almost always the case, I found, that if a video of mine had something that inadvertently oppressed & divided us further, it would go viral.
Now that’s a big statement, I of course would never seek to further oppress & divide us. It went over my head because Tik Tok does a great job at hiding what it does, Instagram, however, less so. This is because Instagram has an explore page. So, when I wear a crop top showing my stomach in a reel, and that reel is paired on an explore page displaying girls with a similar body type showing their stomachs, I start to pay attention.
In contrast, Tik Tok doesn’t give us an “explore page” collage of what we’re consuming. Instead, Tik Tok’s “for you page” is more true to a “blinking aisle,” which allows us to endlessly scroll without seeing an obvious pattern in what we consume. As a creator on Tik Tok, I am privy to what’s beyond the aisle because I am contributing to it, thus witnessing the interactions & comments most people would whir past. In this way, like Instagram, when I post a Tik Tok about helpful advice from my dermatologist and suddenly get 7.2 million views, I pay attention. Anytime I complain about some guy that upsets me and it goes viral, I pay attention.
On a core level, I came to understand that the goal of these algorithms is to make us insecure, overwhelmed, and divided. I now scroll through blinking aisles asking these questions:
Does this make me unnecessarily insecure, overwhelmed, or divided? If so, is it helpful or harmful?
Most of the time it is unnecessarily harmful.
My message with Blinking Aisles is not to say we need to boycott social media, turn off our phones, etc. We are too deep into this technological age for that to take place. Instead, my message is meant to help people see things with a clearer lens.
As Gil Scott-Heron famously said, “The revolution will not be televised.” The revolution will not be televised because it first starts in our minds. The more people are aware of what is going on, what we are susceptible to, the more we will be able to claim back our rights and demand our right to free thought.
Our thoughts are no longer free. When social media becomes a tool for propaganda, our thoughts are no longer free. Social media being “free” and “social” is an illusion that sets us up to being controlled, divided, and profited off of by algorithms and billionaires.
The purpose of Blinking Aisles is to have an accessible outline of what’s truly wrong and of our personal power to make things right. It is meant to set in stone what is happening right now so that no one can tell us it didn’t happen later.
Blinking Aisles is a personal reminder to stand guard at your heart and mind while facing a digital warfare orchestrated by an authoritarian & oligarchic regime.
The goal for Blinking Aisles is to inspire courage in its listeners to take action and make a real difference. Ideally this involves: 1) getting the billionaires out of our government, 2) regulations on social media’s intentionally harmful & addictive qualities, propaganda, etc. 3) fair wages for creators and artists on the part of social media apps, now that it is a leading job in the work force.
Music has always been an incredibly powerful tool. In fact, historically it is one of the most powerful tools. Music has carried Americans through important movements and helped them achieve successful outcomes. Music has educated us and empowered us to achieve what was once deemed impossible. Despite what social media wants us to think, we are not in a doomed and hopeless time. We have everything we need right now in order to take action to make sure of that.
I created Blinking Aisles to be the change I desired to see in the world, to slow down the machine so that we can process it before we lose ourselves to it.
Will we live for love? Or live for blinking aisles? We might not be able to afford the first, but that simply means we need to defend our right to.
Thank you for reading and appreciating my art.
More next Tuesday.
Click me to listen to Blinking Aisles :)
Date posted to Instagram: September 2, 2025