Jessye DeSilva's New Single 'Dysphoria' Arrives Just In Time For Pride Month

Jessye DeSilva shares their new single “Dysphoria” from their forthcoming album Renovations, which releases July 14.

The bright piano-pop song kicks off Pride Month with a direct and unapologetic message to the people who make DeSilva uncomfortable in their own body and identity.

The track was featured yesterday at The Boot, who called it “a defiant and critical story-song” and praised the “rich piano and intricately layered banjo accompaniment.” Earlier this week, DeSilva was also announced as an official showcasing artist at the 2023 Americana Music Festival & Conference.  

“Sometimes it can be hard enough to see myself as a trans person without having to navigate the opinions of others,” explains DeSilva. “Even well-intentioned comments about ‘bravery' and other (perhaps unintentional) tokenizing can feel harmful. Sometimes I think gender dysphoria, feeling as though my body/physical presentation and gender identity are at odds, is actually more of a ‘you' problem than a ‘me' problem. I wasn’t born in the wrong body, I was born in the wrong world.”

Queer and trans empowerment are at the very heart of Renovations, with instrumentals from fellow LGBTQIA+ musicians including Aaron Lee Tasjan, Jake Blount, Ellen Angelico and more. Chronicling an ongoing journey to acceptance, Jessye DeSilva explores themes of privilege and marginalization, identity and trauma, and reconciling self-image with public perception.

Over the course of 11 songs, DeSilva delivers the album they wish they had as a kid – one that will be immediately relatable to young queer people, yet remains universally impactful with moments of both deep resignation and revitalizing triumph. The debut single “Proud & Lonely,” featured recently as one of Rolling Stone’s Songs You Need To Know, offers a powerful meditation on finding inner peace set to a comforting melody of acoustic guitar and fiddle. 

A classically trained vocalist and a voice teacher for musical theater students at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music, Jessye DeSilva has a knack for seamlessly blending theatrical pop elements with the traditions of folk and roots.

Renovations follows their ‘70s-rock-influenced 2022 release Landscapes, which earned them a nomination for Americana Artist of the Year at the 2022 Boston Music Awards and garnered widespread acclaim.

No Depression declared “Comparisons to Elton John and Brandi Carlile are easy — DeSilva clearly takes a page from these idols, anchoring their songs in pop melody juggernauts, gauzy textures, and vocal bravado,” and American Songwriter said their “catalog doesn’t skimp on razor-sharp lyrics, paired frequently with an almost ethereal vocal.”

They were also named a 2023 Artist To Watch by Nashville Scene, who said “DeSilva could inject new life into a genre that could definitely use a little more pretzel logic.” 

Photographer Credit: Emma Delevante