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PAIN AND GLORY
Musical artist Jonah Mutono, whose new album GERG comes out May 15, writes about finding romance and embracing his queer self. PLUS listen to his beautiful new song “The Low.”
Jonah Mutono has been making music for years, but one thing has always been conspicuously missing from his releases: his real name. He went by the pseudonym Kidepo—after a region of Uganda, the country of his ancestry, and his recent on-and-off home.
Home is a slippery concept for Jonah Mutono. The 25-year-old musician was born in London before his parents moved to Philadelphia to pursue their career; the family returned to their native Uganda nine years later after struggling to find a sense of belonging in the United States.
GERG is an album that blends R&B and pop and the avant-garde. It is Jonah’s music reborn. The songs go further into his reality than they ever have before, detailing the beginning, middle, and end of this intense relationship. GERG brings Jonah’s experience of self-discovery to light—the good and the bad, the beautiful, the challenging, the sacred and the profane—in songs as revealing as they are captivating.