My Skin, by Sarahmée | From song to children’s book

When she shot the clip for My skin in June 2020, Sarahmée wanted to celebrate the color of its origins. “It was shortly after George Floyd. I said to myself: “We have to make a clip, that we dance, that we show our joie de vivre”, because it was very dark at that time”, she says. Two years later, this festive spirit still sticks to the song, now transposed into a colorful children’s book.

Veronique Larocque
The Press

Transform one of his pieces into a paper work? Sarahmee had never thought of that. However, when the Kata publishing house contacted her with this idea, she hastened to say yes.

“I think a song is good. You can listen to it 1000 times. But a book is an object. You can keep it, you can put it in your library, you can give it to someone. The scope of the message and its duration over time are quite different. It’s becoming timeless, in fact,” she explains, sitting at a table at the Racines bookstore, a store on Saint-Hubert Street that showcases the works of racialized and Indigenous artists.

A “universal message”

” Yes my skin makes me who I am / It doesn’t disappear in the rain / I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world whatever people say », writes more than once Sarahmée in My skinthus taking up the chorus of his piece published on the album Irreversible in 2019.

“This song is about me, my childhood, […] the development of my self-esteem and the acceptance of my body, my hair, my skin,” explains the rapper.

At the time of its release, however, she realized that the words of this “celebration of black skin” resonated with many people of all backgrounds.

“I think it’s a message that’s universal. »

Learning to accept yourself, “it’s a step that everyone has to take in their life”, continues the singer-songwriter, who is delighted that the book is intended primarily for young people.

” Whenever you doubt, always remember / Some like you, there are no others / Be your greatest love “, advises the rapper to the readers who, in the paper work, will discover slightly modified lyrics of the song.

Make way for diversity

For Sarahmée, as for the illustrator Niti Marcelle Mueth, it was very important to show a great diversity among the characters who inhabit the pages of My skin. “In the book, there is not just one type of woman who is represented. It’s not just women either. […] We have all kinds of bodies, all kinds of hair textures. Guys, girls, non-binary people… It was important to me that if a young person opens this, they see themselves. »

At one point in the interview, Sarahmée takes a look at the many titles that surround her in the Racines bookstore. “I didn’t have those kinds of books. […] When I was growing up, we didn’t have as much literature with young black girls on the covers. »

This reality, Niti Marcelle Mueth also noticed it in her childhood. “It’s really the kind of book I wish I had when I was younger,” says the 26-year-old illustrator of My skin.

Especially since the book has a very festive side. “We didn’t want it to be heavy,” explains the visual artist to whom The Press spoke on the phone.

The one whose works can currently be seen on the facade of various businesses in Montreal North as part of the exhibition of Art on display was pleasantly surprised to have been chosen by Sarahmée to illustrate this children’s book, their first for both of them.

Between them, the chemistry immediately operated. “It was natural because we have similarities in our experiences. We also have a lot of values ​​in common. »

In the illustrations of Niti Marcelle Mueth, we find all the musicality of the words of Sarahmée. “We had to keep the movement, the beat. […] It’s very successful in the book, I think, ”rejoices the rapper.

In bookstores August 3

My skin

Text by Sarahmée, illustrations by Niti Marcelle Mueth

Co-published by La Maison Mère and KATA publisher

From 7 years old