Orion Sun unveils her path to self-discovery in a new album

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Amid a creative spiral, Orion Sun found comfort among the words of the late Audre Lorde’s essay “Poetry is not a luxury.” The poet’s writing provided a mental redirection for the musician while working on her new album, “Orion.”

Lorde wrote that poetry is a pathway for women to process long-forgotten feelings and ideas, and use the art form as a tool for revolutionary change. “She wrote that for me,” says the recording artist and producer. “But she never knew me. She doesn’t know all of the people that she’s helped. And I swear she left like guidebooks.”

For Orion, poets like Lorde, Pablo Neruda and Maya Angelou “understand life in the way that she wants to understand.” She admires the duality they tapped into as they acknowledge the weight of the world while pushing themselves to find joy and create works not only for themselves but also for others — a lesson that Orion has embraced within her own creative process.

“That alone made me be like, ‘Okay, no matter what, I’m releasing my music,’” she said. “I don’t care what anyone says. If this helps someone understand something about themselves, like poetry does for me, that’s my job. That’s success to me.”