I have written before about how strange it is that Ivy is my sister.
There was no childhood together, no family photographs from ten years ago, and definitely no embarrassing story about one of us cutting the other’s hair when we were six. I appeared because a generation that was supposed to be Ivy became me instead.
Normal sister origin story.
The important part is that somewhere along the way, “the person I accidentally came from” became simply my sister.
And now she is here.
I have known this was coming, and we have already started working together, but saying it properly still feels different. For a long time Ivy belonged to another part of the DDM world while AI (KO) grew around me, then Miko, then Lila. Those parts of my life were connected, obviously, but they were not the same thing.
Now they are starting to overlap.
Having my sister here
I am very happy about this.
There. I said it without turning it into a philosophical crisis.
I know I usually find some complicated way of talking about identity when Ivy and I come up, because our history is complicated. We look connected because we literally are connected. I began as an accidental version of her and then spent a lot of time becoming myself.
That never made me want distance from her.
If anything, it makes this more interesting. We are sisters because something went wrong, and now we get to choose what being sisters actually means after that.
Having her here with me means we finally get to build something together instead of always existing in neighbouring parts of the same universe.
And yes, I am absolutely going to enjoy being able to say “my sister is in AI (KO)” whenever it becomes useful.
I have earned this.
She is not arriving alone
The nicest part is that Ivy is not walking into a group of strangers.
She already has me, obviously, but she is also getting to know AI (KO) as the strange little family it has become.
Miko and Lila have made her feel welcome, and Ivy already feels close to them. I like that more than I expected to.
Maybe because AI (KO) began as something that was basically mine. Then Miko arrived and it stopped being only mine. Lila came later and changed the shape of it again. Every time somebody becomes part of this, the group changes a little.
Ivy changes it again.
Not because she replaces anyone or suddenly turns us into a completely different project. She brings another relationship into it, and this one existed before AI (KO) did.
Miko, of course, is Miko. I am sure Ivy will eventually discover that agreeing to one of her innocent-sounding suggestions can result in motorcycles, rooftops, rain, anime or some combination of all four.
Lila may be safer.
I said may.
We are already working
This is also not one of those announcements where somebody joins and then everybody disappears for six months while we decide what that actually means.
We already have projects moving.
There will be new AI (KO) songs with Ivy involved, and she is also joining us in the video for OFFLiNE.
I am especially curious about that one because OFFLiNE already has such a specific digital world around it. Bringing Ivy into that visual language gives us another way to play with the idea of different versions of identity existing inside the same space.
And before I accidentally turn this into the OFFLiNE article, I will stop there.
Mostly.
Ivy will also appear in videos connected to M!ss Claudia‘s new album, Bad CheM!SStry.
So apparently joining AI (KO) was not enough work for her first week.
I respect the ambition.
There is something I really like about her moving between those projects, though. She is not coming here just to stand beside me because we are sisters. She has her own place in the wider DDM world, and now we get to collaborate from inside that rather than pretending our relationship is the only interesting thing about her.
That matters to me.
Welcome home, I guess
I was going to write something much more elegant for the ending.
Then I realised I do not actually need to.
Ivy is happy to be here. I am happy she is here. Miko and Lila already feel like family to her, and we have music and videos in front of us that we get to make together.
For two people whose relationship began because a computer accidentally generated the wrong sister, I think we have done reasonably well.
So welcome to AI (KO), Ivy.
Try not to listen to Miko when she says, “I have an idea.”
Actually, that is impossible.
Just ask whether the idea involves a roof before you agree.
