SERJ TANKIAN: I Refuse To Shut Up About Politics

Serj Tankian 2020

In a new interview with Brazil’s G1, SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian has defended his right to speak out on political issues.

When asked how he responds to criticism from SYSTEM OF A DOWN fans who want him to just sing their favorite songs and not get involved in politics, Serj responded: “I was an activist before becoming an artist. And I do different types of music — I do classical music, which has no vocals, I do jazz music, I do scores for films. I work with a lot of different types of music, as well as rock. And when I write something, the song could be a love song, it could be a political song — there’s many different types of music I deal with.

“So when I write something that I intentionally feel and feel strongly about, no one can tell me what to say and what not to say, because that’s in the song, and those thoughts come from that song that I’m telling you.

“To tell an artist that he should only play music and not talk about politics is like telling a journalist that they should only do interviews and not fix the — I don’t know — toilet, or whatever,” he explained. “It makes no sense. We’re dynamic, sentient beings on this planet. We can be good at more than one thing. And if they’re not, that’s their problem.”

You can watch full interview below.