Iyah May - Good Citizen | FIRST TIME REACTION

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]What's up, everyone? My name is Vaynard Fury. I'm a musician from Cape Town, South Africa, and I'm back with another react. And it's kind of crazy weather here in Cape Town at the moment. There's a storm passing through Cape Town, and it's just been like really cold and windy and stormy rains.

[00:00:16]But all good.

[00:00:18]Super happy to be back at the at the desk reacting to stuff. Things. I'm going to be looking at a buy me a coffee request from Gwen Lunsford.

[00:00:27]And yeah. Yeah, just super excited. Gwen said, "Hello, my friend. I am so excited to have found another artist who writes conscious music. In fact, her manager fired her because she wouldn't change her lyrics. I love that my YouTube algorithm is working for me as it popped up Aya May." I hope I'm saying that right.

[00:00:47]"Who has a fascinating story. She's from Australia but went to medical school in New York. She left medicine to focus on her music but went back to medicine to work as an ER doctor during COVID. She doesn't have an album out that I can find but some very powerful singles.

[00:01:06]I am super happy to share this one with you. This is Aya May with good citizen."

[00:01:13]All right. Yeah, guys. Let's check this out. Thank you so much, Gwen, for this request. I really appreciate it. And yeah, let's jump straight in. Badabing.

[00:01:23]Badaboom.

[00:01:25]So, this is ER doctor. That's crazy.

[00:01:28]Further a society drifts from truth, the more people hate those who speak Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[00:01:37]Okay, so the further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. Damn. George Orwell.

[00:01:45]That's crazy.

[00:01:55]>> 1, 2, 3, the end of the game, you lose. And she checks me so I don't blow for the haters.

[00:02:01]Keep up the palms, keep up the cams, keep up the walls.

[00:02:04]>> [music] >> Keep up the reps, keep up the gains, give them more.

[00:02:09]Stay silent, stay violent, stay plugged in and they riot.

[00:02:18]Cool, now let's get rid of the cat eyes, digital lightning, and let's turn out the dark.

[00:02:25]Mr. Teal, Mr. Anderson, they warned us with a gun pulled on the town before they do it in the movies.

[00:02:33]Really Gatsby makes a profit off disease.

[00:02:37]Buys out all the farms, a baby is what we Here my friends, I'm going to show you how to dream.

[00:02:45]Damn man. Going to party lately and it's So they killed Charlie and they killed Molly, both the Kennedys and Marilyn.

[00:02:53]They killed Diana and they killed Jackson. We are the legacy, this is the anthem.

[00:02:58]>> [music] >> Damn. Stay violent, stay plugged in and they riot.

[00:03:05]All the like Matrix references, uh Star Wars references, like it's the through the world we're done as well.

[00:03:13]Wow. Also and a body and a bow shooting me. Condemn a country, kill the children, Mr. Baby, how do you sleep?

[00:03:23]>> [music] >> This is an early dream.

[00:03:28]Up and strings are on the fret.

[00:03:32]Burn out souls about the [music] machine.

[00:03:36]Up and strings are on the fret. No heart left, no spirit.

[00:03:40]>> [music] >> Up and strings are on the [music and singing] fret.

[00:03:47]I am a wolf in a world full of sheep.

[00:03:51]>> [music] >> Up and strings are on the fret.

[00:03:55]>> Wow, puppet strings are under threat.

[00:03:57]Love that.

[00:04:00]>> [music] >> I love her outfits as well, man. Damn.

[00:04:15]>> [singing and music] [music] >> [ __ ] man.

[00:04:28]>> [music] [music] [singing] >> So much, so much >> [music] >> to talk about.

[00:04:49]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Burn out cells with the power of the machine. So man.

[00:05:17]>> [music] [music] >> See you all again.

[00:05:31]I like my purple laser, man.

[00:05:34]>> [music] [singing] [music] [music] >> That's so beautiful as well.

[00:05:51]>> [music] [music] >> Show, man.

[00:06:06]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Show.

[00:06:26]>> [music] [music] >> And not always gently.

[00:06:42]Woah.

[00:06:45]Wow.

[00:06:46]Wow.

[00:06:48]That is some conscious music right there.

[00:06:52]Stay plugged in, stay divided. I love that line. It's like it's like exactly what we're seeing happening, right? Like like plugged into your phone, uh plugged into social media run by the tech bros, you know, like like uh just pushing content that divides, you know, like like pushing things that strengthen your own beliefs and your own ideologies um to a point where where anything else, any other perspective, any other insights or uh it just becomes uh your your mind is just fighting against that, you know, like you you are unable to to put yourself like we're we kept being fed so much information that's uh so much confirmation bias that we end up being unable to put ourselves in other people's shoes and and uh have empathy and and relate and and you just like you know like you uh I don't know like you it's like it's cool to like obviously like it's cool to have strong opinions about things and it's it's good to to know what you stand for and all that uh but I do think there's like a like we've we've reached a point where it's become so extreme like everyone is so extreme in their beliefs that that it's really like human compassion and and and empathy has has taken a big knock you know and uh Jacob Collier actually said it in a reel once that that the most uh the most rebellious thing you can do and the most humanitarian thing you can do um is change your own world and and show up with kindness I'm paraphrasing cuz I can't remember exactly what he said but basically show up with kindness and if you if you meet people with kindness and you're willing to to uh adapt your mind and open your mind to to perspectives then you've already done 100% of uh the work you need to do as a human being you know and and I love that you know like I love that that change begins within and and um I mean this is just like one line that I'm I'm covering in this song the song covers so many different things you know like there's it's covering like like wealth inequality it's it's covering you know it's just throwing in crazy references like you know like Matrix blue pill uh we have the whole like manosphere like the red pill manosphere thing happening. Um she's commenting on that.

[00:09:45]Uh she said something about Vader at one point, um which is really cool.

[00:09:49]And and yeah, and just like basically how how the whole world has been I feel like the song the song is just like it's it's it's an anthem.

[00:10:01]I mean, she even says the word anthem in it, but it's it's kind of an anthem to to the state of things, you know, of like like how we're supposed to just be good citizens and watch everything burn like like like sacrifice our humanity and like burn our souls to fuel the machine, you know, to to watch these [ __ ] billionaires just get richer and richer and gain more power. And and we're just supposed to kind of sit silently and and accept that, you know, because that's just the way the world works. And it's [ __ ] you know. And I I feel like this of course her manager told her to change the lyrics because they're probably benefiting from the way things are, you know. And and I love how there's like the sniper laser on her head, you know, like like she's saying all these throwing all these truth bombs out. And as soon as you I mean, the song even ends, you know, with them saying like you get cast out, but and not always gently. You know, um all the And she she even lists like people who got like who died by accident or who got assassinated. Um you know, it's it's it's like uh once you speak the truth and it goes way back to this quote that she was saying by George Orwell.

[00:11:21]The Orwe- Um you know, uh the further society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it, like it's Yeah. Yeah, this is deep stuff, man.

[00:11:36]Like I can I can probably talk for hours about it, but but I'm going to leave it there.

[00:11:40]It's really really amazing track and and she's got a uh such a good voice, such good production on the song. Um but she's really beautiful as well. Like imagine like like going for a COVID test in 2020 and then and this like gorgeous angel walks up to you and shoves a thing up your nose.

[00:12:01]That's crazy. Like that's just uh insane. All right, I'm going to do a little jam to this one because let's celebrate life and music by celebrating it.

[00:12:13]I don't know what that means, but yeah, you know what I mean. You know what You know what time it is.

[00:12:21]That first line, bro.

[00:12:35]>> [music] [music] >> Yeah.

[00:12:47]Silent.

[00:12:48]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> We got the Kennedys, and Marilyn, they killed Diana, and they killed Jackson.

[00:13:29]We are the legacy. [music] This is the anthem. Stay silent.

[00:13:33]Stay violent.

[00:13:34]>> [music] >> Stay active.

[00:13:37]Get the riot.

[00:13:39]>> [music] >> Bombs drop from heaven just like rain.

[00:13:43]Light your own till the world burn [music] away.

[00:13:47]When the ocean and the ballot and the power shoot at me, >> [music] >> find a country, kill the children. Mr. Baby, how do you sleep?

[00:13:57]>> [music] >> This isn't a world we would dream.

[00:14:01]Hop in the streets around the town.

[00:14:04]>> [music] >> Burn us holes through the power of the machine.

[00:14:09]Hop in the streets around [music] the town.

[00:14:13]No spirit.

[00:14:17]>> [music] >> Hop in the streets around the town.

[00:14:20]But you will find a world >> [music] >> full of [ __ ] Hop in the streets >> [music] >> around the town.

[00:14:32]>> [music] >> BlackRock Starbucks after BlackRock star.

[00:14:37]BlackRock >> [music] >> Bail out your watches like homes, and BlackRock is back to his core. [music] Funding the digital war.

[00:14:48]>> [singing] >> Stahli like Judas in tow.

[00:14:51]Now be [music] a good civilian.

[00:14:55]While the firms on the hill >> [music] >> keep making millions.

[00:14:59]Keep up the war. Keep up the cams. Keep up the war, war, [music] war. Keep up the revs. Keep up the things. Keep up the war, war, war.

[00:15:07]Stay silent.

[00:15:08]>> [music] >> Stay violent.

[00:15:11]Stay active.

[00:15:13]>> [music] >> Get the riot.

[00:15:15]Come on, let's turn up the cams.

[00:15:18]>> [music] >> Digital lighting, and let's turn up the dial.

[00:15:23]Mr. Taylor, Mr. Hayes >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Once you perceive what lies beneath [music] the surface, once you glimpse the truth behind the polite illusion, you are faced with a terrible choice. Do you speak or do you remain silent? If you speak, [music] you disturb the dream. If you stay silent, you disturb your soul. This is not a simple [music] dilemma. It's an ancient tension between truth and belonging, between authenticity and acceptance.

[00:17:01]>> [music] >> When you speak, when you dare to name what others deny, you risk being cast out, and not always gently.

[00:17:12]Charming.

[00:17:19]Catchy.

[00:17:21]Catchy stuff.

[00:17:23]Real hectic.

[00:17:25]And important.

[00:17:27]We need We need a listen to music like this. It's important.

[00:17:32]You know, like I heard someone say to be to choose to be a musician means you're an activist.

[00:17:43]Just the the pure act of being a musician.

[00:17:46]It's already like it's your duty >> [snorts] >> to speak up about stuff. And I think that's great.

[00:17:54]Wow, what an artist. Guys, please go and subscribe to Iya.

[00:18:03]Aya?

[00:18:04]Iya May?

[00:18:06]I think it's her name.

[00:18:07]How I pronounce it, I mean.

[00:18:10]Yeah, go check out her music. Apparently she's got She doesn't have an album, but she's got a couple of singles that are really uh like powerful and probably in the same kind of uh genre and vein as as this track.

[00:18:25]Uh thank you so much Gwen for this request. That was awesome, epic. I hope you guys liked the jam. I sure did. Like I was in it. I even brought my tremolo in at one point cuz I thought like it gave it a little bit of a electronic feel to it.

[00:18:41]Um Yeah. Yeah. Check out Check out uh her music. And also if you are curious about my music, go check us out.

[00:18:51]We're called Droneiak.

[00:18:53]Me and two friends made a band and we are super happy with how it's sounding. And we shot [snorts] a music video over the weekend.

[00:19:04]That's going to come out on Thursday.

[00:19:06]Super excited for that as well. So join us for the premiere if if want.

[00:19:11]Um, leave a link in the description where you can find our page. Uh, thank you so much and I will see you guys for the next reaction. Okay? Bye-bye.