David Hunt:

Danni Hoshino writes and performs music as Light Bird. It’s a new name for the veteran folk-rock guitarist, marking a new — and deeply personal — chapter in Hoshino’s life. 

A life that seemed to unravel three years ago when Hoshino came out as a transgender woman.

Today, her life is transformed. She’s starting fresh in a new city — New York — working on new songs for a new album. And living, finally, she says, the life she was always meant to live.

I’m David Hunt. 

I sat down with Danni Hoshino — Light Bird — just two weeks before the release of her newest single — a bittersweet ballad titled Alright. It’s a duet with Brooklyn singer Ri Lotz that explores the broken promises — and broken hearts — of a romantic relationship at its end. The music crashes as Light Bird takes a deep dive into her conflicting emotions.

The song — released on Transgender Day of Visibility — is true to life. In 2022, just five weeks before her wedding day, the singer realized that the life of a cisgender heterosexual man was — to say the least — not alright. She explains.

Danni Hoshino:
I think a lot of trans girls I know feel like, you know, we feel like butterflies 'cause we've come out as this new beautiful thing, but in the same way, like, you have to kind of break down first before you can like emerge as this new beautiful thing. So there was a lot of difficult, difficult moments along the way.

I grew up in a suburb of Boston, Newton, Massachusetts. My mom's from that area, my dad grew up in San Francisco. His side of the family is Japanese American. My mom's side of the family is, like Eastern European Jewish. We're a close family, and I had really kind of assumed that I would always stay in the Boston area and was very much on the path at the time that I did realize I was trans. I was living up in another suburb of Boston, had a nine-to-five job, and, was getting ready to get married. And then this like lightning strike happened where I suddenly realized like some of the things that I had been trying to understand about myself were like this, you know, this very deep, thing about gender that I had just never considered until I was in my thirties.

Weddings, especially heterosexual, you know, traditional weddings are very gendered. Like, there's so many things about them that are like very specific to the gender roles in terms of what you're gonna wear and what you're gonna say and what, you know, how you're, you're appearing in the wedding. And I think that was becoming increasingly difficult for me to like, visualize myself there. My mom kept poking me and saying, you know, have you found a suit to wear for the wedding yet? And I would say like, you know, like, no, I just haven't, like, you haven't gotten that. But really, what was happening was I was sitting at my computer and Googling men's wedding dress over and over 'cause like, I just couldn't, I couldn't be okay with the idea of wearing a suit for some reason. And I was like, there must be something else I could wear that would make me feel, I don't know, right, somehow. 

I think the most important thing for me was deciding early on, I need to have, this is an era of my life where I need to be having my own back first before anyone else’s, because I won’t make it through it if I don’t. I think the songs sing to that and to, to the, the sometimes like, sad realizations of what that comes along with. I think, specific to Alright, that song to me is, you know, I wrote it about the end of my relationship, after realizing I was trans and it was a really, really good relationship. It was somebody I was, you know, getting ready to marry and someone that I love very much. And, you know, sometimes life throws you a curveball and something big changes and great things happen as a result, but hard, sad things happen as a result too. And I think that's, that song in particular sort of examines the, the tension between those two things that like, you know, you can't, sometimes you can't have one without the other.

David Hunt:
You sing about wanting to remain friends. Did that happen?

Danni Hoshino:
That did happen. You know, we've been through, we've been through ups and downs since the time that, that I came out and, you know, we kind of disentangled our lives. But, but ultimately, yeah, we stayed, we stayed very close and talked frequently. And we also had, we had, we had two dogs together and now each of us has one of the dogs, so we stay in close touch about how the dogs are doing. And, yeah, she's, she's still one of one of the most important people to me.

David Hunt:
It's probably cliché to say Light Bird is rising, like a phoenix, out of the ashes of her past life and loves. So, let’s just say her transition has touched nearly every aspect of herself, leading her in new directions, creatively as much as geographically. The new album, likely due out in June 2026, is a case in point.

Danni Hoshino:
It's my first full-length album with this project, Light Bird. It's a collection of songs that some, most of which I wrote, following my real, you know, realization that I was trans and coming out as transgender. But some from before that time, too. So I think the overall, the story of the album sort of like spans, the time before, slightly before and after. So just kind of different parts of, of that journey to self-discovery and self-love and understanding.

I've been a songwriter for a long time and I've always, you know, drawn from that personal well for, you know, what I wanted to write about. But I do think that prior to all this, I just didn't really feel like I had a real perspective or a real like, voice that I felt strongly about. And I think now being like, okay, I've really got something to sing about, has pushed me to make it that much more like honest and raw and exposed.

David Hunt:
Tell me about the name Light Bird. Where did that come from?

Danni Hoshino:
When I came out as trans, I had had like a little nascent solo project I had been working on, but I thought, you know, this is a great time to just choose a new name and like a new identity and kind of start fresh. I have a song, one of the couple of singles I already have out that I had written years and years ago called Bird in the Dark. And as I was thinking about names, I think I was thinking about that song and sort of the imagery of like, I don't know, thinking of myself sort of like as previously sort of like a dark bird who was sort of like a little more reserved and meek and pulled back and not necessarily wanting to be in the spotlight. And now kind of entering into this period where I very much wanted to be in the spotlight and wanted to like, celebrate myself and put myself out there. So kind of a, a bird stepping into the light.

I've been playing guitars since I was 12. So for a long time. I think at the time when I started playing guitar, I was mostly 'cause my friends had started playing and my brother, my older brother played. And so that seemed like the cool thing to do. The music that I gravitated towards early on came from music that my parents were listening to. Lots of singer songwriters from the seventies. My mom always had Paul Simon or, or Simon and Garfunkel playing in the car. My dad was more on the, the rock side of that era of music and introduced me to the Allman Brothers and Jackson Brown. Always listened to Santana a lot. So the music especially of like, yeah, that classic rock era, like late sixties, early seventies, really, really like got in my head at a young age. and at the time that I started to really take, start taking music a little more seriously in high school and college and, and started to write my own music that was like inescapable. And I think continues to be where I draw a lot of my, my musical sensibilities to this day, both in terms of, of songwriting and guitar playing, but also my approach to production and sort of the, the overall sound I'm trying to cultivate, especially in recordings.

David Hunt:
I was going to say you're sort of an old soul musically.

Danni Hoshino:
Yes, definitely. And like, there have been times, you know, at the, like when I started this project Light Bird and I was kind of thinking, okay, like, what, you know, what is, what is it gonna be? Because I, it's a fresh start. I could kind of like take a, I could, you know, try to pivot into something else, make it like poppier or something that I feel like would be more, appealing to like, I don't know what, like whatever is cool right now. But the truth is that I've always been pretty out of touch with what's cool right now, and just like, I know what I like and like, I think ultimately what's cool is to just to be super authentic about what you're making and make what you know kind of comes out. And yeah, that, that like sort of classic, classic rock sound and, and, and a lot of folk influence is just what comes out. So why fight it?

David Hunt
 Light Bird’s gender journey and musical journey intertwine in her upcoming album, weaving a complex portrait of an artist grabbling with the past while embracing the possibilities of the future. I asked Light Bird about her earliest experiences with gender expression.

Danni Hoshino:
It is hard to think back again because I don't think I had very clear thoughts at a very young age about like what I was or what I wasn't. The one, the most, the most specific example, like, and there are breadcrumbs that I can go back and follow and be like, oh, I kind of feel like I know what that was about now. But like, the biggest thing was that I never, ever wanted to get my hair cut. I always wanted it to be long and it was like a very, every time my mom would make me go get a haircut, it was like a traumatizing experience. Like I would leave crying a lot of the time and so that, that to me is probably the, the best example of that. That feeling of like, I don't, whether or not it was because, oh, I desperately wanted to have hair like a girl. I think it was more sort of that feeling of like, I know that I want this to be part of, you know, my expression of my gender, but it's, you know, being made to sort of like follow this other thing. And, and that, incongruity being, being really upsetting even, even at a time when I certainly couldn't understand what the feelings were about.

David Hunt
Do you remember the first time you became aware of transgender people in the world?

Danni Hoshino:
Unfortunately, like the truth is that so much of my exposure to even the idea of somebody being transgender was through this like media lens of, you know, the late nineties and two thousands, which was just basically like trans people were the butt of the joke always. And it's, it's, especially now that I'm like that I am out as trans, going back and watching, you know, shows from that era, like stuff that I used to love is, it's like, wow, I can't believe how often this was used as like the butt of the joke too. It was just like, I don't know. I think this actually also played a part in why it took me so long to kind of figure out what was going on with me and that I was trans because I just didn't have that many examples in my real life of, of trans people and especially of trans-feminine people.

I think I had friends in my circle as a young adult that were trans-masculine. So that was a, like a good, like positive real life understanding of like, what a, you know, what is a trans person and how, how do they appear and understanding them. But it was, I think, I was very much lacking in an example of like, well, what would it look like to like actually be trans, a trans woman? And like, what would transition look like? And like, what might, what are the kind of things they would be feeling before they realized that they wanted to transition? I think that was like really missing. And, as a result, it wasn't even that I had considered, oh, am I, I wonder if I'm trans. No, I don't think I am, like, leading up to figuring it out. I just never asked the question. The first time I actually wondered that about myself was the time, the moment that I realized that I was, because I think it just didn't, wasn't something that seemed like an option I should be considering just based on what I was exposed to growing up.

David Hunt:
That really underscores the importance and power of trans visibility.

Danni Hoshino:
Absolutely. Yeah. I think it's, it's, it's so important, both, both just for in day-to-day life, like actually like meeting and interacting with trans people and seeing what's like great and beautiful about them, and also seeing what's like, super normal about them and that like, they're not , you know, we're not, we're not fundamentally different in some way. We're just, we're just people.

David Hunt:
Part of what Light Bird sings about, and a big part of what gives her music a sharp edge, is an element of self-reflection, lying just below the surface. Nothing is taken for grant, in life, love or music.

Danni Hoshino:
Early in transition there's like all this like, oh, newfound discovery and, like certainty and authenticity. But there's also, you know, just as many doubts and questions as you, like, all the forces that kept you in that smaller, that smaller version of yourself are still present and trying to like, make you think like, oh, this is a phase, or this is you're misinterpreting or whatever. And so I think it was really important to me to like, hold onto the moments where the gender euphoria and that really feeling of certainty of like, oh, wow, I finally figured this out. Like I needed to hold onto those moments really, really tightly, to, to get through the times when things were harder or when I was struggling with relationships or whatever it was.

So anyways, I recorded this little note to myself after this like, silly little moment where I had been, just, I think I was just tidying up in the living room and like suddenly found myself just like dancing to the music I was listening to, in a feminine way and in a way that just felt like I wouldn't have done that even three weeks ago before I kind of cracked all this open. And so I recorded a little note for myself, just sort of saying like, you know, future me if you're, if you're listening to this and feeling the doubts, just like think back to this moment. 'cause like right in this moment, like, I know that it's, you know, I know this is real and I know this is who I am.

David Hunt:
As a creative artist, who are you writing for? Who are you creating for?

Danni Hoshino:
Honestly, I'm writing for anyone that like, I just, I think with music and like when I watch other musicians and listen to new music, yeah, there, there are specific genres that I, that I love the most and like gravitate towards, but ultimately my barometer for, you know, what do I think of this music or this performance always just comes down to like, do I feel moved by it? and like that's something that you can't, you can acquire taste and stuff, but I think ultimately, like that's what I'm chasing is, and, and, and working towards is just like, I just wanna create stuff that is gonna make people feel something or like think about, you know, still be thinking about something when the song ends or when I get off stage. so whereas like, I think, you know, as we talked about with visibility, like I think it's really important, to me to be writing songs, especially to other, you know, queer and trans people who can, you know, hear some of their story told. And also hopefully like build upon that, that this collective, you know, work of like, let's make ourselves more visible and our, make our stories more mainstream so people can understand what we're about and that, you know, make connections with us. I, it's also, I like the idea of writing the music and, and making other people, especially like, you know, cis straight people out there, like listening to my, my song about my transition journey and like feeling something that's like incredibly powerful to me because it's a, you know, they're, they're all human stories, even if there are some elements that are specific to trans people. So I think when I think about what I'm writing, I'm just thinking about like, what is something that I can take from my experience that like other people can maybe learn from, but mostly can see some of their own, their own humanity reflected in. And, and yeah, hopefully they'll tuck those songs under their arm and take 'em with them.

David Hunt:
Are you surprised at your life?

Danni Hoshino:
Yeah, I'm super surprised at my life. A lot of times, A lot of days I kind of like look around at the people around me and like, what my day to day is and just like still can't believe it. most, most of all, when I look at myself in the mirror and the little, the little video here, it's like, I think even even three years into transition, and most of the time I have this, you know, you have your kind of like inner vision of what you, how you are sort of manifesting physically out in the world. Even still, it, it's easy for that to kind of slip back and for me to feel more like I used to feel, so the mirror has been a huge is is always a huge tool for me to like actually see myself and be like, wow. Like that's what I look like, and like that's how I'm appearing now, to the people around me. And yeah, it's, I know, I remember one of the things my mom said to me in an early conversation after I came out, I was like, we were just so surprised because, you know, we just didn't expect this. And I was like, I didn't expect, I'm equally surprised, like did not see this coming, but, but I'm so glad it came.

Having this like, really, like profound revelation, at this stage in my adulthood has been like this enormous, beautiful gift that I've given myself and has been, eye-opening and, mind expanding. And like, and I love, I think, I love the fact that it happened when it did. 'cause I think I, it was, it just was when it was supposed to happen. But there's a big part of me too though, that like mourns, the younger version mourns for and grieves for the younger version of myself that, you know, never got to, to feel it, you know, in, in, whether it was in my twenties or in, in my teenage years or as a young kid, my heart breaks a little bit for, for her because I think there were things that I just like couldn't, couldn't understand about why I, you know, felt like the weird person in the room or just not able to like, feel at ease in the way that other people did.

Transitioning comes with all this excitement about, and for me, you know, like, oh, I can feel like a woman and I can learn about makeup and all this, all these new types of clothes and can be in, you know, different types of relationships where like, I'm, you know, being perceived, very, very differently in, in amongst groups and all this, all like new stuff. There's also the, you know, you go from being, for me, I went from being ostensibly like a, a cis straight man, to suddenly like, you know, a trans woman who is, you know, as a collectively as a group, like, dealing with a lot of, a lot of oppression right now. And that's, uh, that's I think something that I'm still like working through even more so probably than the personal changes is sort of like that sudden change of, of sort of your standing in the world and, and kind of what you're gonna do about it. 

You don't just gain a bunch of knowledge the moment that you, you transition about what it is to be trans or like what trans culture is like, or all that stuff that's, you know, you have to, to work through it and, and gain that slowly over time. I think I have some responsibility to, to spend some time learning more, especially on the history side of, of, uh, of trans people.

I also think it's important to like, to quiet those voices and also to like, send reassurance to, to people who are earlier in their journey of understanding their gender or their sexuality. That like, just because you don't know all the stuff doesn't make your queerness any less legitimate. Just, just understanding who you are is all that it really is about in the end.

David Hunt:
What’s next?

Danni Hoshino:
I'm still a very small artist, so music being my livelihood is, you know, not, I'm not there. So there's a lot of other distractions and things that I, I need to work on to, to, to just, you know, continue to exist, especially in a city like New York. But, I really wanna push myself to like focus my collective life energy on, on creating stuff and putting it out there and just kind of like. It feels like shouting into the void sometime, but even if it is, I'm just gonna keep shouting because I feel like the worst thing that we could do right now is, is get quieter. So keep singing out.

David Hunt:
I’d like to thank Light Bird for sharing her music and her experiences for this program. Learn more about her music at lightbirdmusic dot com. For Tell Me, David, I’m David Hunt.