THE LIGHT ISSUE WITH RIMON

Born in ERITREA and raised in AMSTERDAM, RIMON marks the latest wave of R&B and Soul music. Her sound is a potent blend of nostalgia and artistic abundance, all tied together by her deep love for hip-hop. Now a beacon of possibility within the Dutch music game, I have been hooked on her softly seductive sounds since first catching wind of her debut track GRACE back in 2018. That single has now racked up an impressive 13 million streams on SPOTIFY and following this electrifying beginning, Glamcult has been keeping a watchful eye on RIMON’s artistic growth ever since. Right now, she’s on tour with the one and only GIVEON, and as the documenter she is, has shared with us this visual diary shot on the road with fellow Dutch photographer and friend ZAHRA REIJS. From dancing backstage to the sounds of BEYONCE’s Renaissance to sleeping in the parking lot of a Walmart; RIMON’s life on the road was something to behold and I wanted to know more!

Hey RIMON! It’s been so incredible watching your journey on the Giveon tour. How did this all begin?
It all began when I went to LA in 2019 to work on music. My producer mentioned that there was this artist named Giveon who has “the sickest voice ever”. Naturally, I looked him up on Instagram and at the time he had only dropped one song. I DM’d him, saying “Yo, you got a crazy voice. You should come through to one of my sessions”. Fast forward to this year, our booker reached out saying we were on the short list of openings for Giveon on his tour… Now, after having done the North American leg of the tour, it’s surreal to think about how this small interaction helped move this whole story forward.

Why was it important for you to document this journey?
For me, performing in North America was a huge deal. I’ve never done that before. The idea of performing on the other side of the globe at all of these iconic venues was so exciting and new. I’ve always been very adamant about trying to document things. I document a lot and I think it’s my way of keeping track of my life amid everything moving so fast.

With this series, we have VIP access to your visual diary. How does it feel looking back at all that you’ve achieved?
The other day I watched a little movie that we made on Super8 with my mum for the first time and she was in tears after seeing it. There’s an intimacy that I was able to reveal in this series. I think in the creative industry very few people understand the depths of the behind-the-scenes because the whole point is to make everything look glamorous, perfect and easy. 

Totally. Within this behind-the-scenes look into your life on tour, you also share some particularly vulnerable moments. You’ve also spoken about self-sabotage and watering down your vision. What are the steps you’ve kind of taken to move beyond this?
On tour, there was a moment I realised I was presenting a safer,  less ‘delusional’ version of myself, simply because I thought it appeared more ‘doable’. Moving away from this, my tour became a manifestation of breaking through those limited beliefs. At some point, I decided if I downplay my ideas or what I want to do any longer, I’m not living up to what I am, can be, or what I said I was going to do in the future.

Tapping back into these uncompromisable fantasies. It’s a shame that as we get older, we tailor ourselves to what others expect of us.
Exactly. I knew I was sabotaging myself when one of my bookers asked me what type of venues I wanted to play and I said “just intimate small ones”. I used the word “intimate” as a way to minimise my dreams, latching onto the idea that I only wanted to do intimate venues, when in reality that wasn’t the case. Of course I want to play on bigger stages!

Fighting against those insecurities now, what are some of your goals today?
I’m reaching for stadiums. That’s the biggest that you can achieve as an artist. I’m not going to limit myself to anything less than that. I’m gonna go for diamonds.

You represent Amsterdam in everything you do. Why is this important to you and your identity as an artist?
At the end of the day, even though I haven’t lived in Amsterdam my entire life, it’s the place where I feel like I discovered myself, where I met my friends, where I started music, where all the big things happened in my life. I think it’s important because when I grew up there, I didn’t have a lot of people I could look up to. All the artists were more focused on just Holland and making Dutch music. For me, it’s important to keep repping Amsterdam as maybe there will be people out there who can be inspired by that.

You are currently working on your debut album. What is your mindset going into a body of work like this?
I have followed my own pace with this album (even though it’s gonna be the first time that I’m working with a deadline). I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself because this is my debut album, and that is something that as an artist you anticipate your entire career. However, I don’t want to release it before I am 100% ready to.

Build Me A House is reminiscent of your journey. Not only on tour but also throughout your career. Tell me about the song!
The moment I heard about this tour I decided to leave my apartment in London. I moved out and went straight onto the tour bus. Ever since then, I haven’t had a base. The song goes deeper though. It’s more about the feeling of running away from safe situations. With the things that I have been through in my life, and my childhood being pretty all over the place, I would just run away and distance myself from certain situations. But there was a moment when I felt like my life turned around, everything suddenly seemed good and healthy, as though nothing could go wrong anymore. I found that such a strange feeling. I was like, okay, so where’s the catch? I always was looking for a catch, and the moment that I didn’t find a catch is when I removed myself for some reason.

Recognising these feelings, how would you describe home today?
I’m learning to understand that home is more of a feeling, rather than a place. So for me, what makes Amsterdam home (aside from the nostalgia and the memories that I have), is all my friends that are there. But spiritually, home to me in Ethiopia. Whenever I set foot on the ground there, it’s just a different feeling.

Favourite tour moment?
At the second show, Zahra Reijs (who shot this series) asked me if I wanted to go outside the venue to take pictures. When we got to the front, these two girls walking past came up to me and said, “you have no idea how big of a fan we are!” I was so in awe and excited to meet them, I felt so many emotions. I later found out they didn’t have tickets to the concert and had decided to have dinner in the area in hopes of seeing me on the street. The fact  Zahra at that specific moment wanted to go outside, at the same time that they walked past, made me think about how we all collectively manifested that moment. Ultimately, they reminded me of myself.

That’s a beautiful full-circle moment.
Back in the day, I would find myself doing the same for my favourite artists

What is your favourite song to perform on tour?
We added the song Feeling Good by NINA SIMONE mid-tour. Singing this song, I remember sensing the energy shift at that moment. It was very intimate. The lights were out, there was a spotlight and people were singing along. 

Something you wish people knew about you?
I am not as active as I present myself on social media. People have this idea of me from Instagram, but I’m very goofy and not that serious in reality.