A-Natural: Homelessness, Rape and Conversations with God

Gay Music: In the Key of Q

In the Key of Q is a weekly podcast featuring inspiring Queer musicians from around the world as they share stories, inspirations and of course their music.

A-Natural founded Natural City Music recording label and has himself won two international independent music awards. He's opened for T-Pain and has written and produced for multiple major artists. In 2020 he released the album, 'Kwame', a seminal autobiographical piece in 12 tracks.

Gospel church music has been hugely influential on A-Natural with the church being very present throughout his upbringing. B Slade (formerly Tonex) is mentioned as a particular inspiration - a "gospel Prince"!

Coming into college A-Natural discovered new kinds of music and went into writing and performing his own material. But the task is not easy, and as a friend of his said, musicians sacrificed their lives so that everyone can have a soundtrack to theirs.

He faces the challenges of being Black, American, Queer and Christian helped particularly by the book Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch. He tells us, Faith doesn't just have to be about God. Faith is about understanding that the things that you want for your life can come to pass. If you just believe.

After a period of homelessness he gets onto his feet, but is raped on the night he loses his virginity. It's a traumatic memory that has laid dormant until viewing the BBC show 'I May Destroy You' by Michaela Coel in which the character Kwame experiences a similar experience.

He goes on to plea for musicians to give themselves time and space to be creative; to allow themselves to make their art and not just 'content'. He says with sadness, We're demanded to be these caricatures of ourselves. And we get exhausted and burnt out trying to please an algorithm that really doesn't know who we are.

Additional Material

• A-Natural's homepage.
• A-Natural on Twitter and Instagram.
• A-Natural on Spotify and Apple Music.
• Leaflet providing assistance to those affected by sexual violence.
• Help after rape and sexual assault from the NHS.

If you enjoyed this episode why not take a listen to Wuhryn Dumas.

In the Key of Q is a weekly 30-40 minute podcast publishing every Tuesday. I’m your host Dan Hall, and in each episode, I chat candidly with a gay/bi musician about their life and music.

Access exclusive interview content and support the production of this podcast by heading over to Petreon and making a small donation.

Enjoy the music of previous guests by listening to these playlists with tracks selected by the artists themselves.

Credits

• The podcast can be reached on email and on social media at Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The podcast’s forever home can be found here.
• Theme tune is by Paul Leonidou.
• Press & PR by Paul Smith.
• Many thanks to Kaj and Moray for their continued support.
• In the Key of Q is presented and produced by Dan Hall and made at Pup Media. Dan has recently produced the landmark BBC film, "Freddie Mercury: The Final Act" (dir. James Rogan) and is the producer of the podcast series Been There Done That. For audio or video production inquiries Dan can be reached here or at Talent Manager.

Would you like to appear on the show? Or have an artist you'd like to recommend, please tell them to get in touch via email.