Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Pink Light of Los Angeles

We recently had the chance to connect with Pink Light and have shared our conversation below.

Pink Light, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: Who are you learning from right now?
Neptunia – Right now I’m learning from my peers in the scene and from myself. Being surrounded by incredible talent and such wonderful people, I’ve felt so inspired to push myself and my art to reach a higher level. I’ve learned from myself by facing my past mistakes and I’m learning to let go of old ideas that no longer serve me and my art.

Peanut – Right now I’m learning from my past self. A lot of themes and lessons have been reemerging from when I was younger and I’ve been handling them differently this time around. I’ve learned how to move on faster and to alchemize my grief.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Pink Light is a synthpop duo that consistes of LA based artists Neptunia & Peanut.

Neptunia – Hi I’m Neptunia! I’m a multimedia artist, performer, and the lead songwriter, producer, & creative director of the chicana synthpop group – Pink Light. Pink Light is performing as a gothic duo with cursed visuals and haunted choreography. Together, Peanut and I create a Lovecraftian dance floor drenched in the healing energy of love, nostalgia, and Queer-Chicana excellence with a deep connection to Spanish and English-speaking Darkwave, Post-Punk, and Latin Freestyle.

Peanut – My name is Peanut. I’m an artist and entertainer 🙂 I am a drag performer, vocalist and host. My drag name is Peez Nuts and he’s an effeminate Chicano himbo. I am backup vocals and choreographer for Pink Light, lead our sister band Las Brujitas and host goth/alt events in LA. My favorite show to host is What Queers Do In The Shadows.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Neptunia – I used to believe that I was small and not good enough to be who I am today and do what I do today. Being someone that didn’t connect with their queerness and wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until adulthood, I felt very disconnected with myself and with who I thought I was capable of becoming. As I grow into my full authentic self, my creative voice has become something that I am very proud of and I hope I can inspire others to connect with and be their authentic selves.

Peanut – I believed that I had to be perfect at something before I started a new project. I am now learning that the best way for me to perfect something is if I showcase talents I already have first. When I started making my own music I was set on taking a certain amount of vocal classes before I was ready to share. The same was true for drag – I felt like I wasn’t ready to start getting back into performing until I took a certain amount of dance classes. I already have a background in performing arts so neither of these things were true. I just think it was something I told myself because it had been a couple of years since I was on stage. When I was younger I would always make excuses for not showcasing myself.

What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
Neptunia – After feeling like I’ve failed at being a music artist and giving up on my artistic dreams, I chose to create a final song as a “last hurrah”. With this “final song”, I freed myself of the previous creative cages I put myself in and allowed myself to be creatively authentic to what I wanted to create and listen to instead of what I thought other people would want to hear. With this effort, I wrote the song “Obscuridad” and began the groundwork for what ended up becoming the synthpop horror album “Your Gravity Belongs To Me Now”, which I’m insanely proud of. This debut album marked a new beginning for Pink Light and I continue to work on freeing myself from creative boundaries I impose on myself.

Peanut – To listen to my intuition above everything else. If there is a little voice in the back of your head telling you something doesn’t feel right, listen to it. A big reason why I failed was because I let other people project their insecurities on me. I stopped claiming those and started listening to my own voice.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
Neptunia – That extraterrestrial/extradimensional beings exist and my childhood household was abducted by them when I was younger. I recall waking up in the middle of the night feeling intense fear and I get out of bed to leave my room and I see a creature in the corner watching me with its big black eyes. I remember yelling at it to leave and it yelled back with a loud and distorted voice that I can’t fully describe yet I can’t forget. It sounds like a nightmare but on the next day as my mom was taking me and my sister to school, I asked them what they dreamt about the previous night and while my sister could not remember, my mom dreamt that she was flying.

Peanut – There are people that live in the mirrors or they can travel via mirror. I have seen paranormal phenomena multiple times in my life and the experiences that stuck the most were when I’ve seen “people” walk across reflections in windows and mirrors. I know a lot of people will think this sounds crazy but I think it’s crazier to think that we understand dimensions we’re not part of.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. When do you feel most at peace?
Neptunia – I feel the most at peace being at home with my cats. I love spending weekend mornings with the windows open and feeling the breeze while playing Mario Party or Pokemon and cuddling with the kitties.

Peanut – I feel most at peace at home with my cats. Especially when it’s rainy or overcast out. I love reading and drinking tea in bed with them. Bonus points if my place is clean!!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pinklightmusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pinklightmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pinklightmusic
• Other: https://pinklightmusic.bandcamp.com/music

Image Credits
Kaylee Colton