Black Belt Eagle Scout pauses music career due to health issues

Black Belt Eagle Scout, a Swinomish musician, shared that she abruptly had to stop performing due to health issues, according to Pitchfork.

She released her latest album, The Land, the Water, the Sky, in early 2023 and toured extensively to support it before her health forced a pause in her music career.

The artist explained that she wrote her song 'Fantasy' during a period of transition from working in the Native nonprofit sector to focusing on music full time.

She described feeling burnt out and disconnected from her previous work, facing pressures to represent Native people while fitting into systems that did not always reflect Native identities.

Her desire to make music freely and reconnect with herself outside of those expectations motivated her career shift before health concerns intervened.