Being Human Is Insane, An Interview with Elohim at Lollapalooza
Photos © 2021 by: Roman Sobus
It was one of those moments where the schedule for Lollapalooza made things a bit more challenging, catching part of the sizzling set from Emotional Oranges on the Grubhub stage, but then tearing myself away to see the thunderous performance by Elephant heart and run back to Elohim to catch as much of her phenomenal set as possible.
It was a bit chaotic, but it was well worth it.
Having only seen some of Elohim’s performances online, I (kind of) knew what to expect, but there is something to be said about experiencing her music then and there and sharing an “emotional purge” with her as was the case with her song, “Buckets“. Artist and fans, after a year and a half, finally getting back together again and it was a magical and emotional experience.
In fact, Elohim was due to perform at Concord Music Hall in 2020 for her Group Therapy Tour only to have COVID shut everything down, so her last show was in Chicago and her first show back was in Chicago and we couldn’t be any more thankful for her return. She had already played an official Lollapalooza after show the night before at Lincoln Hall with the aforementioned, Elephant Heart, so this performance on the Grubhub stage was already her second show and if Elohim would like to just keep coming back to Chicago over and over again, that would be perfect with us!
When asked about the shows, she said, “It was absolutely incredible, just feeling the presence of the Elohim community in one room was really special.“
Elohim has grappled with severe anxiety attacks and before COIVD shut everything down, she had finally been getting a handle on it, but after the year and a half, she admitted that she felt like she was doing her first shows all over again, adding, “But I’m not playing Lollapalooza at noon, I’m playing Lollapalooza at 5:15 and I’m not opening for somebody, I’m doing my own headlining show, but it still has been very, very challenging.”
Elohim could have taken an easy route early on, bottled herself up and let no one see her, but she didn’t, and it wasn’t until her brutally honest song [about] her panic attacks, “Xanax” that she started receiving responses from fans, that she learned she wasn’t the only one suffering from this affliction.
It is how she handles her personal challenges that inspires us all. Through her music, through her daily life and the strong connections she’s developed over the years with her fans, she provides so much more than your average, everyday performer.
“I feel its almost my duty to get through it so I can inspire other to face their fears and get through it as well, because we’re strong humans, but being human is… insane… its weird, and its crazy with how we’re supposed to navigate this, there are so many feelings and emotions…” and that is so true, people are so much more than two dimensional images and there are so many complexities that we all face. And God bless Elohim for how she navigates her life, because her (one life) is lifting up millions of others by giving them hope and comfort.
Getting back to her live set at Lolla, she breezed through a great amount of her hit songs like, “Nice” off her of latest release, Journey to the Center of Myself, Vol. 1, with lyrics that start of with:
When I count all my flaws I run out of fingers
I give love to my friends from the moon and back
I wish I could just treat myself like that
Lyrics like that are a prime example of the honesty in her songwriting that everyone has connected with, (myself included) and why she packed in the crowds at the Grubhub stage. Other songs in her set included, “I’m Lost“, “Xanax”, “Journey To The Center Of Myself“, “Hallucinating” and “Strut” all strung together in trippy, psychedelic ways, blending from one song to the other.
At the time of publication, Elohim has two big events coming up next month, she’ll be at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on September 15th and then she’ll be hitting up the Firefly Music Festival in Delaware on September 23rd through the 26th.
Make sure you follow her on her socials because she will be releasing Journey To The Center Of Myself Volumes 2-4 and she told me that volume 4 was recorded in her bedroom and this is the first project that she worked on completely on her own. So, there is a lot to look forward to from Elohim yet!
And for those who have been following her on TikTok, she confirmed for me that she did not find anything more in her backyard than what she already showed in the videos; which was a good thing because she didn’t need to worry about having to get a building permit to keep digging… check out the videos right here.
And with that, check out her latest song, TREAT YOU BETTER that was just released today!! Enjoy!
JUST RELEASED TODAY!
Check out our live photos of her performance at Lollapalooza here!
Video:
Links:
Elohim:
Official: https://elohimxelohim.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elohimonline/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/elohimmusic
Instagram: http://instagram.com/elohim
Lollapalooza:
Official: http://www.lollapalooza.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lollapalooza
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lollapalooza‘
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lollapalooza/