American-born musician and "accidental" NZ resident Amanda Palmer has gone viral on TikTok with her cover of the song 'Surface Pressure' from the hit Disney film Encanto.
@theamandapalmer Out now everywhere, powered by patronage, link in my bio ♥️ #encanto #surfacepressure #amandapalmer #dresdendolls #patreon #fyp #disneycover #vocaltake #linmanuelmiranda ♬ original sound - amanda palmer
Palmer's cover – which was recorded with The Black Quartet at Auckland's Roundhead Studios – initially received a really positive reaction but then got "really blasted" as it spread well beyond her fan base, she tells Jesse Mulligan.
"It hit the Zoomer generation who just couldn't wrap their heads around it. Here's this old crone woman – to them, I look, like, 90 – in a recording studio singing their favourite song but not doing it with any autotune, not wearing any makeup, just like letting it all hang out and screaming into the microphone."
Waiheke Island-based musician Amanda Palmer Photo: Amanda Palmer
While Palmer says the flood of hatred did hurt her feelings, it also brought "some beautiful debris along with it" – her TikTok following went through the roof and a lot of people signed up to her Patreon – a crowdfunding website whose members provide the money she lives on.
And anyway, she's had "20 years of practice digesting people's hatred".
"I'm the kind of artist who has done work where literally thousands of people will pile on and tell me to kill myself, on the internet. I've had death threats and I've really been through the ringer. So when something like this happens, it's still painful but I'm older and wiser… people can say anything to me on the internet now and I can pretty much digest it."
Palmer recently celebrated two years living in Aotearoa and says she's loving life on Waiheke Island with her six-year-old son Ash.
"I've made a great bunch of friends. I've slowed down to the pace of a Kiwi and I'm working in my garden."
The lyrics of 'Surface Pressure' are highly relatable to parents, especially solo parents, she says, and also older siblings who bear the emotional load of their family, like the Encanto character Luisa.
"[Luisa] is the really strong, stable, predictable one who holds the family together with her strength. And she sings this song about the constant pressure she feels to perform and be perfect and carry the family."
Listen to the whole song below:
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