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"It's how it goes."
To whom it may concern.

iamamiwhoami is a Sweden-based audiovisual dream pop band fronted by Jonna Lee and produced by her long-time producer Claes Björklund. Every song has a visual component to it as well, available both on DVD and the band's YouTube channel; each album therefore is an audiovisual one. Short clips began appearing on Youtube on December 4, 2009, leading many to speculate that the then-anonymous project was a creation of The Knife, Goldfrapp, Trent Reznor or even Lady Gaga. A second arc of nine videos later appeared, chronicling the discovery and captivity of a mandragora (a mythical plant-based creature, here explored for its siren qualities) played by Lee. These were later released as the album bounty. Lee's identity wasn't revealed until the song "t", in which her face appeared unobscured for the first time.

A second album, kin, was released on June 11, 2012. Like bounty before it, each song off the album received a video, all of which were released on their YouTube channel bi-weekly up until the release of kin itself. kin's videos showcased Lee hunted by faceless, shaggy-furred creatures in a wide variety of landscapes. The previously digital-only collection bounty got a physical release a year later. Their third album BLUE followed suit, with the first single "fountain" released without warning in early 2014. iamamiwhoami also announced their involvement with two film designers in a project called WAVE.

Lee would seemingly end the project in 2018 with the announcement of her solo project ionnalee and its first album EVERYONE AFRAID TO BE FORGOTTEN. For this album, a 53-minute narrative-driven film, featuring only some of the songs, was released. 2019's followup REMEMBER THE FUTURE eschewed the audiovisual release in favour of a few traditional music videos. ionnalee and iamamiwhoami would then intertwine with both projects billed as double headliners in live concerts. iamamiwhoami would return in 2023 with Be Here Soon, an audiovisual album released identically to the project's first three albums. This time, Lee took the opportunity to simultaneously tell the story of coming to terms with her new motherhood (with all of the visuals shot late into her pregnancy) as well as doubling as her feelings regarding negative fan reaction to the ionnalee project and having to return to "playing the hits" as iamamiwhoami.

iamamiwhoami is wildly known for their evolving use of social media to spread their music. bounty's video series contained clues to a puzzle that was originally sent to an MTV blogger, as well as links to other videos on YouTube to allow fans to assemble a larger picture for themselves. YouTube user ShootUpTheStation was flown out to Sweden to take part in the concert / art film IN CONCERT, which was only broadcast once via streaming until its DVD release in 2017. Their first live concert was advertised via a phone number that featured an exclusive song. BLUE and every subsequent project was partially funded by fans donating directly through the band's website, and CONCERT IN BLUE featured fan-submitted photos and videos in the second half of the performance. BLUE also featured an online "island" where an extended version of the album as well as additional bonuses and a fan community were located. For the offline world, the band has sold DVDs videos of their audiovisual albums as part of each physical CD or LP copy.

Discography:

  • bounty (2010-11note ; physical release in 2013)
  • IN CONCERT (2010; physical released in 2017)
  • kin (2012)
  • BLUE (2014)
  • CONCERT IN BLUE (2015)
  • KRONOLOGI (2020; anthology of re-recordings)
  • KONSERT (2021; split live album with ionnalee)
  • Be Here Soon (2023)

Discography as ionnalee (solo, without Björklund):

  • EVERYONE AFRAID TO BE FORGOTTEN (2018)
  • REMEMBER THE FUTURE (2019)


Contains examples of:
  • all lowercase letters: everything but "Prelude 699130082.451322-5.4.21.3.1.20.9.15.14.1.12", IN CONCERT, and BLUE.
  • Alone in a Crowd: At the end of play.
  • Ascetic Aesthetic: The video 20101104; set in a sterile white-colored residence.
    • The residence returns in CONCERT IN BLUE, where Shadows (actors in white zentai) appear to live.
  • Anonymous Band: Formerly. iamamiwhoami kept silent about names and identities for almost two years, finally speaking about the project in 2012, although it was already known that Jonna Lee and her long-time producer Claes Björklund were behind iamamiwhoami. It was later revealed the duo were collaborating with director Robin Kempe-Bergman, cinematographer John Strandh and set producer Agustin Moreaux for the visuals aspects of the project. Björklund, drummer Thomas Hedlund and backing vocalist Beatrice Johannson are the current live band.
  • Arc Words: "To whom it may concern."
  • Ash Face: Played for Drama in the IN CONCERT version of "y".
  • Anti-Love Song: "o".
  • Awesome Moment of Crowning: "t".
  • Brown Note: According to the myth, the screams of the mandrake root plant when dig up would kill all who hear it. During "15.6.6.9.3.9.14.1.18.21.13.56155", the mandragora screams at a black dog barking at her, who is implied to have died in the next video.
  • Call-Back: Some of the videos from kin make direct references to the bounty era videos. As each video takes place after the one before it, this is bound to happen.
    • The first two lines of BLUE, "What lies beyond the fringe of the woods? / Dust to dust, so we leave for good," reference the fact that the first two albums were full of forest imagery, and that the entirety of BLUE takes place in and around the ocean.
    • Done quite frequently with music itself with the melody or lyrics of various short songs and preludes later being expanded into fuller songs. A key example would be "Shadowshow" which was first used twice on "In Concert".
  • Concept Album / Concept Video: To the point that every video on her YouTube channel more or less links straight into the next one — only BLUE's videos are separate. Each album also has its own plot line:
    • bounty: A mandragora blossoms from nature, only to be captured by humans and used for its healing song properties. The mandragora eventually is corrupted enough to be a prostitute. And it may have all been a dream.
    • kin: A woman is confronted and dragged across miles by large hairy beasts, only to be struck by lightning and engage in a fevered dream state. She awakes, returns to the apartment building where she began and escapes into the desert via her closet. Or she's dreaming that too. As she closes a door on herself into a black void, she appears dancing in an-all black room, which is revealed to be a rotating black cube on a table.
    • BLUE: The same woman (or a different one) leaves the woods for the ocean, and is chased by three all-black figures. Notably, the cubes that represent the previous two albums appear in active firepits at different points of the narrative.
    • Be Here Now: Lee comes to terms with her elated and cautious feelings regarding her own pregnancy. The narrative features a recurring wolf figure who causes Lee to flee in terror, before ultimately capturing the beast; it is speculated that the narrative doubles as her reaction to fans's muted / negative reception to the synthpop-leaning ionnalee albums, the wolf representing iamamiwhoami and/or her detractors.
  • Continuity Nod: In "t", Jonna sings "I'm on a hunt to find the cure," which is later referenced in goods: "Now we found the cure."
  • Cryptic Conversation: Her exclusive interview with Bullett magazine consisted of her own song lyrics as answers to questions.
  • Demonic Dummy: The puppet of the Mandragora in "u-1".
  • Dream Pop / Shoegazing
  • Dream Sequence: The video for "in due order" is implied to be one within the kin narrative, even though she wakes up in the outfit she was dreaming in.
  • Drone of Dread: Used as intros and outros to various songs.
  • Dying Dream: 20101104 depicts a double suicide, who are thought to be the "real" bodies of the mandragora and the "bearded" man.
  • Epic Tracking Shot: the concert version of "u-2".
  • Female Feline, Male Mutt: The black cat gets associated with the mandragora; the black dog(s) with the human men.
  • Foil: Appearing in sequence, "play" and "in due order". The former is a frolicking romp whose video is set in a barn where Jonna and the monsters dance carelessly, the latter a no-nonsense militant stomper performed to a strictly choreographed routine in a completely sterile IKEA-esque room.
  • Floorboard Failure: Several consecutive times in the appropriately named drops.
  • "I Am" Song: "."note 
  • Idea Bulb: The imagery is invoked on "y", when Lee climbs out of a tree and receives a glowing bulb from its hole.
  • Indecipherable Lyrics: 9.20.19.13.5.723378.
  • Innocent Fanservice Girl: In "t" where Lee marches around a forest in the nude nonchalantly.
  • Jittercam / Jump Cut: ShootUpTheStation's handheld videos of his journey.
  • Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: BLUE's digital exclusive version, BLUE island, that features additional audiovisual content, including a longer album, a full length film version of the album and exclusive galleries.
  • Looped Lyrics: "u-2" which consists of "You can't be the knight."
  • Lyrical Dissonance: Many, if you look up the lyrics. The most clear example is t, which is an upbeat track despite the suicide by drowning lyrics in the chorus, "Water fills her lungs and she's inhaling."
  • Madness Mantra: "Come on, just kill this." in 'kill.
  • Minimalistic Cover Art: For the album cover of both kin and bounty, and the singles' covers. The covers are supposed to represent the cubes (kin's black cube as seen in "goods" and bounty's white cube as seen in fountain.)
  • Mood Whiplash: goods.
  • Murder by Cremation: what iamamiwhoami does to ShootUpTheStation in the concert.
  • Nature Spirit
  • New Sound Album: This is quite different from anything else associated with Lee's old music. Also, compared to bounty, kin is starker and more minimal, subsequently spawning some They Changed It, Now It Sucks! arguments.
  • Non-Appearing Title: All the songs of bounty except clump.
  • One-Letter Title: All bounty songs spell out the album's name, with the exception of the later releases, ; john and clump.
  • The Oner: IN CONCERT consists of several lengthy takes strung together with stealthy editing to appear seamless. Some of the edits are noticeable, particularly the abrupt continuity changes seen when the cardboard coffin is sealed. ShootUpTheStation's handheld footage at the start lasts just under 10 minutes before cutting to a film-grade camera for the rest of the video. The final shot lasts over 16 minutes.
  • Re-Cut: BLUE appears on iTunes as a standard edition album, but any version (CD, vinyl or digital exclusive) purchased through the band's record label nets the listener an "expanded edition", with three segues and the entire album Fading into the Next Song (though an edited version of "thin" appears on these formats.) The digital version, BLUE island, is a Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition that includes even more audiovisual content.
  • Sanity Slippage Song: After iamamiwhoami is struck by thunder in play, her appearance looks disoriented. kin could probably be considered a Sanity Slippage Album.
  • Scenery Porn: On full display in the film for kin. The videos for BLUE somehow managed to outdo kin in the first song alone.
  • Self-Backing Vocalist: Lee herself.
  • Singing Simlish: "13.1.14.4.18.1.7.15.18.1.1110"
  • Starts with a Suicide: 20101104
  • Subdued Section: In the middle part of y.
  • Surreal Music Video: Almost every music video of iamamiwhoami.
  • The Reveal: The video for t was the first time Jonna Lee's face appeared entirely free of makeup or obstruction.
  • They Have the Scent!: The black dogs in "15.6.6.9.3.9.14.1.18.21.13.56155".
  • Uncommon Time: "u-2" is in 7/4 time. The remix of both parts of "u" by Khonnor suggests that "u-1" is also in 7/4, despite its apparent lack of a time signature.
  • Viewers Are Geniuses: A working knowledge of mandrake root folklore (including the German novel Alraune) helps to understand the Prelude and bounty series of videos. Each of bounty videos links to another user's video as a parallel, often requiring lateral thinking to get the connection between them.
    • The lateral thinking trick was used again with "; john" and "clump". The semi-colon marks the differentiation between the rest of bounty and these two songs, and the metaphors from the previous 7 videos are really straightened out in these 2.
    • The prelude series of videos introduced a riddle that was sent, in full, to a journalist at MTV. Clues peppered the group's first 13 videos on Youtube. The solution was revealed during their streamed concert film IN CONCERT, one full year after the riddle was put out into the wild. Each of the six animals shown produces a sound similar to a letter in the word "bounty" (in order: goat braying, owl hooting, whale singing, bee buzzing, llama spitting and monkey crying.)
  • Visible Boom Mic: Purposefully in shot early on during IN CONCERT, but played straight towards the end.
  • White Void Room: The ending of kill.
  • Wild Hair: After being struck by lightning during play, Jonna' signature flowing hair is a frizzy, chaotic mess.
  • World of Symbolism: The amount present within the band's work has led to many Epileptic Trees.

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