Jayli Wolf Releases 'Child Of The Government'

Indigenous, Queer, and proud of her post-traumatic growth, Jayli Wolf is a doomsday cult survivor turned activist, actress, and an alt-pop singer-songwriter-producer and filmmaker. A by-product of the controversial Sixties Scoop, the Canadian rising act and one-half of Once A Tree debuts "Child Of The Government" as her first solo release.

"Child Of The Government" arrives alongside a chilling short film (written, directed, and produced by Jayli herself), which encapsulates Jayli's father's experience during the Sixties Scoop and won 'Best Music Video' at Venice Shorts of California (an IMDb qualifying monthly and annual festival). Loaded with a vital message of justice and rebirth, the new single serves as an introduction to her upcoming concept EP featuring stories about Jayli, her family, and the Indigenous community. Haunting synths and bold poetics layered with high-powered vocals, Rolling Stone calls Jayli Wolf's music a crossover between Phantogram, Crystal Castles, and Chvrches. Jayli Wolf's critically acclaimed prowess is living proof that you can find your truth despite a tumultuous past. On this journey of protest and redemption, Jayli Wolf authentically connects with her community by-way-of social media, including her viral TikTok video that has reached over half a million viewers and received countless comments from people whose Indigenous family members have had similar experiences.

"Child Of The Government" exhibits Jayli Wolf's family's experience during the Sixties Scoop, where the Canadian Government and Catholic Church were responsible for taking or "scooping" more than 20,000 First Nation, Métis, and Inuit children from their families and communities in the 1950s through the '90s. The children were placed in foster homes or adopted (with accounts of children even being sold) into non-Indigenous families across Canada, the United States, and beyond. Along with the loss of cultural identity, the government went so far as to change some children's true ethnicity on file. Many experienced severe sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Jayli's father was one of these children.

"All the children that were misplaced can never get back what was stolen from them. Survivors try their best. My dad and I are lucky because we were able to find our way back home to our blood family, to our community, to each other even," says Jayli Wolf, "But that's not the story for everyone. Some kids were sold to the USA, or even as far as Australia. Some survivors have since learned that their biological families have passed - those ties are broken forever. I am lucky that I found my way back home, but now the work starts. Now the reclamation begins for me."

Jayli Wolf is an Anishinaabe/Cree artist and creative based out of Toronto, Canada. She is a Jehovah's Witnesses doomsday cult survivor and works to be a role model in her community; speaking to Indigenous youth about the entertainment industry and empowering them to follow their dreams. Jayli started creating music, producing, and directing films with her partner and collaborator Hayden Wolf as Once A Tree. Their releases and self-directed visuals since have resulted in features on Billboard, CBC, Clash, Complex, Exclaim!, HYPEBEAST, PEOPLE, MTV, NYLON, Rolling Stone, The FADER, Vice's Noisey, among others.

She now begins a new solo musical journey to explore her past, present, and future as she tells the tales of the hardships her family endured from the colonial genocide inflicted by the Canadian Government; the exodus of leaving the doomsday cult she was born into; releasing the shame and guilt instilled in her around her bisexuality. The new EP is a musical and visual exploration of Jayli's experience leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses religion she was raised in, working through issues concerning mental health, sexual abuse, and high-control religious groups, and concludes by looking forward through post-traumatic growth, celebrating life, and the reclamation of her Indigenous heritage.

"I finally have the courage to use my voice to tell these stories. I hope this project will be able to shed light on and raise awareness of these subject matters," Jayli Wolf notes, "We can forgive for our own healing. The road ahead is long, and change takes time."

Listen here:

Photo Credit: Hayden Wolf

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