“For me, this is a big disappointment, because I would have liked people to discover me more organically than an article in a newspaper or listening on Spotify,” he explained Tuesday morning in an interview with The sun.
“However, I am really grateful. Because at the same time, several people wrote to me to tell me that they did not know who I was before, but that I had now won a new fan And that they would have really liked to see me in concert. ”
The 27 -year -old artist, who grew up in Toronto, but established himself in Montreal in 2019, learned Thursday that the American tour that he and his agent planned since the fall could not take place.
Visa problem
He can no longer ask for a visa, which he had done for the festivals and events in which he had participated in the past in Uncle Sam.
“As part of my transition, which started somewhere in 2019, I decided to change my kind of feminine to male on my passport,” he explains.
“And as the new Rule of the Trump administration requires that the genre on documents for obtaining a visa corresponds to the sex attributed to birth, it has now become impossible for me to apply for a visa in the United States,” he explains.
No regrets
Despite everything, Bells Larsen does not regret his decision. “That’s I am!”, He admits, adding that it is not all members of the Trans community that are prohibited from tour in the United States.
“There is not only one way of being trans. I chose to change my identity. Other people in the community are not in a situation secure enough to do so. Those who do not change this information can still tours in the United States, “he explains, adding that he knows that he has a lot of privileges.
“I am a white guy and I am cispassingthat is to say that people who see me do not necessarily think that I am trans. This is not the case for everyone in the community. ”
“I don’t even dare imagine how my friends and my community now feel in the United States. I would like to cuddle them all, but I can’t … “
— The singer Trans Bells Larsen
“I went to Texas in 2023 and I had no problem, but I’m not sure I would go back today. There is misunderstanding [envers la communauté trans] And when people don’t understand something, they are afraid and it can start a very violent cycle, “continues the singer.
Fears
The artist admits that he had already had certain fears about his possible American tour since the election of Donald Trump in November 2024 due to the hostility that the American president demonstrated towards trans people.
“I am a little anxious, used to imagining the worst. I realized that it became less and less security for people like me, but I wanted to do this tour, ”he explains.
“No one is preparing a tour to cancel it!” But I also wanted to do it in the most safe way possible, ”he continues. “It’s sad, but in the end, it was not I who made the decision.”
On the new album of Bells Larsen, you can hear his pre -transition voice and his posttransition voice. (Lawrence Fafard)
Two -voice
The irony in all of this is that Bells Larsen’s second album, Blurring Timeswhich will appear on April 20 on Royal Mountain Records, deals with its transition. “I started to understand who I was really in 2019 and I started my physical transition in 2021.”
The artist had even recorded his voice high before his transition to use it on this album. In short, where one has the impression of hearing a man and a woman sing together on the nine pieces of Blurring Timesit is rather the Bells Larsen Pré and Posttransition that we hear.
“I wrote these songs before starting testosterone. It was by writing them that I understood who I was, but I had an uncertainty compared to my voice. ”
“I recorded my loud voice in early 2022 and, two months later, I started testosterone. I recorded my deep voice in 2023. It is a bit of a departure gift from my old identity and a gift to arrive at my new identity. ”
— Bells Larsen
His American tour canceled, Bells Larsen is now focusing on his four launch shows that will take place in early May in Toronto, Hamilton and Prince Edward, Ontario, as well as in Ritz, in Montreal.
This fall, he will go on tour with the folk singer of Vancouver Dan Mangan, which he describes as a friend and one of his heroes. “What is positive in all of this is that despite the borders and the new rules, with cell phones and the Internet, it is always possible to be connected anyway!”
