Black Belt Eagle Scout – “Fantasy”

It's been a little bit since we've heard from Black Belt Eagle Scout, aka Swinomish musician Katherine “KP” Paul. She released her last album The Land, The Water, The Sky in 2023. In 2024, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and her new single "Fantasy" is the first song she's sharing since getting diagnosed. It was written after an MS relapse. The song was produced and finished with musicians Claire Glass and Nay Mapalo, who play in a band called Hikes."Fantasy" is a lush, sprawling track with lyrics that confront the pressures of outside expectations and a shifting internal dialogue, though the song recognizes that KP has outgrown imposed molds. Except there is one fun part where she sings "Fuck you/ Fuck you ideals/ Fuck what you have to say/ I'm done with you/ I just want to be free/ And listen to the trees." On paper, it seems harsh, but KP sounds reassured. It's a potent reminder that life is so much bigger and beautiful than this modern world acknowledges, and it makes me wanna say fuck all this bullshit, let me please go hang out with trees.In a press release, KP shared how the song came to be:I wrote "Fantasy" during a time in my life when I was transitioning out of the nonprofit world and into making music full time. I was feeling really burnt out and disconnected from the work I was doing. Working in the Native nonprofit world, I often felt this pressure to be some kind of superwoman representing Native people, while also trying to fit into systems that didn't always reflect who we are as Native people. I was at a point where I didn't want to keep trying to fit into something that didn't feel right for me anymore. I wanted to make music, feel free, spend time in the trees, and reconnect with myself outside of all those expectations.Watch the video for "Fantasy" below.