The physical Arrivals album comes as a special-edition 22-page unbound magazine. 11 cards each feature a previously-unpublished photograph from my childhood and travels illustrating a track on the album, and on the reverse is a poem, quote, or story further exploring that song's theme - only found here, never to be reproduced elsewhere!
The album regular edition comes with a digital download code - upgrading to the deluxe edition* adds in a physical CD, along with two more photographs and poems!
*To upgrade to the Deluxe edition, pay $15 plus shipping and add a note during checkout that you want the DELUXE edition!
VERSE 1
New eyes that look at the world in new ways
New eyes make contact, blue green and grey
New eyes I realized I never knew
When you realized [the?] feelings you trapped inside of you
New eyes that see the respect you earned
New eyes that test the lessons you learned
New eyes attract new guys and new games and tonight those eyes will be filled with new gazes
New eyes thrilled the first minute you saw, world through new lashes, no chains involved
New eyes insist you’re taken serious
New eyes fill with confidence and trust
New life written with the passage of time
New eyes that gleam with color but won’t die
Who knew I’d see such beauty and love through eyes that combine perfection - and flaws
CHORUS
I may not be what you think
As standard beauty
But I love my face, my eyes
And body
VERSE 2
Those eyes were once made middle school jokes
Those eyes are stories of our kinfolk
Those eyes are dark but glow in sunlight, our people been hurt but still we gon fight
Those eyes contain five thousand years of pride
Those eyes saw dyin stars in old skies
Those eyes are shy but those eyes are kind, those eyes are so wise, those eyes are like mine
Those eyes speak of turnin the other cheek
Those eyes turned down so I couldn’t see you weep
They teased you because those eyes were too thin, synonymous with “cheap” or prostitute skin
Those eyes are me, those eyes are family, those eyes are ID of your identity
Those eyes are not weak, those eyes are not wrong, those eyes are holy, those eyes are from God
VERSE 3
What’s the price of confidence?
What’s the cost to be happy in our own, skin?
Not my place to question, but do you see a stranger when the mirror is reflectin?
You said I’d never understand, the pressure from magazine covers, Asian mothers, and men
Whether tan, bleached, or blonde, we remix our colors like we cover pop songs
In a bottle how we battle all the barriers, right?
Some drink, some color their hair evry night
Some like to stand out, some like to act white
Found music, but I never been the stereo, type
New eyes break old lies
New skin needs new wine
New vibes and new highs come through with new life, second coming like Christ
You told me that therapy
Taught you so much about our parents,
we got a chance to re-set the path, through us, our generation bring the future to the past!
credits
from Arrivals,
released September 2, 2016
Produced by David Kim (LCKSMTH) and Joe Kye.
Engineered by Sean Stack at Fat Cat Studio (Sacramento)
Written and performed by jason chu, Ruth Cho