Kae Tempest ‘can actually exist in his body’ after coming out as trans
Kae Tempest performs during Pitchfork Music Festival at KOKO on November 05, 2024 (Lorne Thomson/Redferns)
Kae Tempest performs during Pitchfork Music Festival at KOKO on November 05, 2024 (Lorne Thomson/Redferns)
Rapper, playwright, and poet Kae Tempest has reflected on coming out as a trans man, saying he can “actually exist” in his body now.
Tempest’s fifth studio album, Self Titled, his first since coming out as a trans man, was released on Friday (4 July). On it, the 39-year-old discusses his experiences and other trans issues on songs such as “I Stand On The Line” and “Diagnoses”.
Tempest formerly used they/them pronouns while identifying as non-binary before coming out as a trans man earlier this year and using he/him pronouns.
Speaking to the i paper around the release of Self Titled, Tempest commented on lyrics like “the T’s putting hairs on my chest, spots on my chin / my emotions are not what they’ve been.”
Tempest said, “Once you’ve been through something like I’ve just been going through, it gives you a bit of a different perspective on… ah… just on every day.”
Asked whether the lyrics of “Statue in the Square” (“It’s not a disorder or a dysfunction / disgusting the way they discuss us”) could be seen as foreshadowing the UK Supreme Court’s ruling on the legal definition of a woman given it was released a month prior to the ruling, Tempest said, “it’s a celebration.”
He went on: “The whole album has a celebratory spirit to it. Not to shy away from the conditions that we’re celebrating within. But that song hopefully will feel resonant and rousing for those of us who need a bit of that right now.”
On whether writing as a trans man has changed how he writes music, the rapper responded that writing has always been a sanctuary.
“Writing has always been the space I go to retreat or to recover from the pain of existence, life, my body in this world and the stuff that was, yeah, really difficult. The part of me that went to writing, creativity, lyricism, music – I still felt that was my true essence, and it lived there.
“The difference is now I can actually exist in my body as well as in my imagination. Now I can actualise. It doesn’t hurt to be sitting in a room!”
Tempest’s autobiographical album also features appearances from Annie Lennox, Neil Tennant, Connie Constance, and Young Fathers.
Self Titled is out now.
