Butterflies go through different stages throughout their lives, the last one usually being the stage where they normally develop colourful wings and are able to fly. It is very significant to recognize that Sebina’s song celebrates and speaks specifically of black butterflies, which are rare to find, hence unconventional. By acknowledging their existence and bringing this to the forefront, the song validates those that continue to not be appreciated, and remain underrepresented. The song also recognizes the different phases that these bodies have to go through in order to ‘become’, therefore acknowledging that the process of learning how to be comfortable in one’s skin is gradual and that each end result, if any, is valid.
Mpho Sebina’s song, ‘Black Butterfly’, is a piece aimed at uplifting and reaffirming the voices of people who tend to be placed at the margins of society. Sebina calls on all those that have been systematically prejudiced, discriminated against and whose very livelihoods have been threatened to dare to dream, to be free, to speak out and be unapologetic about it.
This message of the song, which at the core, focuses on black women’s healing & happiness, is revolutionary and challenges the very systems that have repeatedly shackled and silenced black women’s voices, and their diverse set of experiences. This message is relevant more especially today, for non-conforming femme bodies (black trans-women, black disabled women, fat black women, etc.), considering the constant political, social and economic subjugation of these groups of people go through. This song is a directive for these groups of people to take up space, in every shape, way, and form, fearlessly so.