Los Angeles vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Cassie Marin has shared a new single with the release of “Tanto,” a vibrantly kinetic new bop that centers on her now seven-year-long battle with an autoimmune disease. Singing in her first language to pay homage to her Cuban-American identity, the new song is a bass-thumping mix of indietronica and concussive Latin beats that soundtrack its invigorating cries of growth and persevering strength amidst the exhaustion of each new day’s struggles.
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“After waking up one day completely covered in burning hives, I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that no doctor I sought out could seem to give a name to,” Marin said of her experience. “I felt helpless and defeated looking at my body in the mirror covered by this red shape that seemed to be snaking its way along my body, taunting me with a loss of control. My hives come and go, making themselves known on what felt like the most inconvenient of days.”
As a childhood gymnast whose dreams of reaching the Olympics were severed after she suffered a serious injury at thirteen, Marin is no stranger to adversity and the bitter disappointment of unchangeable realities. But “Tanto,” with its ecstatic dance-hooks and Marin’s unflinching optimism, rallies against the things she cannot change in favor of the things she can. Rather than let it control her or crush her she extends appreciation for how much she has overcome in a celebratory affirmation of the very body she used to view as limiting or betraying her.
“Every morning I would wake up with something new on my plate to face, and that’s exactly what ‘Tanto’ is about,” she said of the single. “I’ve bloomed so much from this experience and I’m still learning how to approach every obstacle with a sense of excitement and curiosity, but most importantly, I’ve grown to have so much gratitude for my body and all that she does for me.”
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Listen to Cassie Marin’s new single “Tanto” below!
