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sally watanabe

@swataa

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🌀i’m glad you’re here🌝
🎤singer-songwriter, producer & DJ
📸: @ikigai____studios

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TLDR is I cut ties with Spotify! 🎉🥲

Is it a deconstruction? Or a reconstruction? A reconciliation of what it means to create and share art. Maybe a statement of OPT OUT more than anything else, but if you’re an artist who has gone down this route, curious if it’s changed anything for you? 🦋 we’re really shape shifting now 🐛 by @swataa

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2 months ago

Been waiting 364 days to be back in the valley and I’m SO STOKED to play a renegade set @nomadcoffeecompany this Sunday 5:30pm at @sevenstarsfest ✨ they’ve got cold brew and DJ sets all weekend so pull up! 🪄

GRiZ has been my no.1 since seeing him at my first music festival 6 years ago & has inspired me to make and perform my music— no doubt it’s gonna be a healing and raging weekend 😼 Will you be there? 👀

Thanks to @jb_photo.png for the 📸‼️ taken in Valley of the Seven Stars 2026 by @swataa

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10 days ago

Feeling kinda blue at the end of the year but looking back on some of my favorite DJ sets in 2025 and feeling so much gratitude for these people, places and memories!

Glad you made to the end of the year too. The horrors may persist but so shall we. 💜

Comment to let me know where I should DJ in 2026?Weirdest suggestion gets a sticker. by @swataa

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10 months ago

“When it rains, baby I don’t mind cause ima make that sunshine til there’s rainbows in the sky” 🌈 -@probcause

✨ SEVEN STARS 🌟 year 2 ‼️ Dancing in the mud and rain releasing it alllll, man I’m so thankful for my friends @_teenybop @nimbus0122 for running it back this year and supporting me before during and after my first renegade DJ set! 🥹 THAT WAS FUN

Thank you @nomadcoffeecompany for hosting and @kamaloscope for organizing this opportunity, so awesome throwing down dubstep with people that love it as much as I do lol. Endlessly grateful for all the people that @griz has brought into my life, mentors like @jacycunningham and so many other friends and artists who inspire and remind me of what life is all about 🫂

ALSO ‼️ im super excited to be doing a takeover on 88.7 WXDU @wxdu tomorrow night where I’ll play my set from 7 Stars on the radio at 10pm and a set of original Swataa songs at 11pm. Tune in at WXDU.org and catch my regular show Mondays at 11am ⚡️🤩 LOVE YA 💕

Ty @_teenybop for the 🎥💟😈 taken in Valley of the Seven Stars 2026 by @swataa

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3 days ago

Swipe to see what I learned in the first year of grad school @dukeenvironment … year 2 incoming 🙀 let’s run it back 🤓🌱 taken in Cackalacky by @swataa

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2 months ago

Big DUB!!! Wow, so much gratitude! Third year in a row with @lucid.district- getting to play a set and lead another workshop was such a highlight!! Thank you to all who came and supported 💕

Another super magical moment was playing the new remix I made of @kara.levchenko ‘s song “Next Life” for the talent show while @silver.inferno flowed poi!! As I reflect on my relationship with music and performing, I can confidently say that doing it in collaboration with friends is what’s filling my cup and makes it worth it✨

Check out the full remix on SoundCloud! 🔗bio by @swataa

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3 months ago

The best proverbs come on a conditioner bottle…let the emotion and hair be liberated together.

It’s giving 🌀 releasing new music this week and leading a workshop at Big Dub on Friday and finding what we thought we lost… on our own terms. by @swataa

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3 months ago

Last week I posted the biggest documentary project I’ve completed, and it took nearly 5 years!! 🤯

The how and the why of this taking so long is a story for another time, but what feels significant now is the choice to return.

Returning to memories, feelings, and different versions of ourselves. Honoring the roots of our interconnectedness with different forms of consciousness as we navigate changes in our shared world. If you’re curious, I hope you’ll take a look. 🐒

Worlds Between Us is out now on YouTube! (Link in Bio) by @swataa

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6 months ago

What do spotted salamanders and the new single by @blackhouse_us & @swataa have in common? They’re both going Back to the Past ↩️

These salamanders return year after year to the pond here to breed- crossing roads and emerging from underground when it rains (almost like clockwork).

I wrote the lyrics for Back to the Past a couple of years ago, and the time it took for us to sit on the song, re-do parts and release it to the world reminds me that slow art is good art.

In an age where everything seems to be more automated and artificial, it feels important to remember the roots of where we come from, and to place more of an emphasis on slowing down and creating with intentionality. 😌 Only on SoundCloud cause we done with that Spotify BS!!!! by @swataa

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7 months ago

Back to the Past is all yours on SoundCloud 2/22 ✨

🖤 Swimming in the memory of writing and singing the vocals for this track produced by @blackhouse_us a couple years ago— it was a much needed outlet at the time and it feels fitting that it’s come back around 🙏

Trust the process and the timing! by @swataa

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8 months ago

There’s a desk (I swear)! It’s tiny 🤓

Grateful for this Durham crew of talented musicians @riverpupchild (🎹) @a.sarwer22 (🥁) @megobrien (🎤) playing along Infatuated Dreaming for @npr Tiny Desk Contest— and Axie for holding it down as always.

Public radio is cool again!! In fact, you can catch me spinning tunes in a regular radio slot every Tuesday at 8am on 88.7 WXDU Durham 😇 tune in!

Full video on YT 🔗 taken in Durham, North Carolina by @swataa

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8 months ago

How’s errybody doing?

When I heard this cover of “Someday” by @juliajacklin I thought the lyrics were “I’m worthy so I don’t have to try so hard” instead of “working”, and honestly imma roll with that cause it’s still a season of rest and you don’t gotta work so hard to be worthy. 💗

Allow yourself to recalibrate.

new music on 2/22 👀 by @swataa

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8 months ago