Jaguar Jonze Reclaims Her Voice & Body On 'Victim Impact Statement' EP: 'This Is My Protest'

Jaguar Jonze, the Taiwanese-Australian singer, producer, songwriter, and multimedia artist, released her striking new EP, Victim Impact Statement today.

A stark difference to her previous work – edgy alternative rock music – the EP is downtempo and intimate, with Jonze singing some of the most heartbreaking songs of her career alongside an acoustic guitar for its three tracks. Victim Impact Statement has also arrived today with a self-directed short film and an accompanying testimony regarding the song lyrics.

The follow-up to her 2022 debut album Bunny Mode, Victim Impact Statement is notably a project of reclamation, where Jonze regained her body, voice and spirit after a horrifying alleged sexual assault and being in the spotlight as Australia’s speaker for #MeToo. Last year, she spoke about those subjects in a cover story interview for The Music.

“I became an artist to tell stories and break the cycle that has followed me my whole life,” Jonze said in a statement, revealing that she’s been part of a cycle of “slipping through the cracks of the complex systems built to protect society”. Writing that she’s worked hard not to allow that pain define her, things changed in 2019 when she “became the story”.

The incident came at an “insurmountable” cost when she went public. She continued, “I allowed the music industry, media, government, justice system, and the weight from the pain of many other survivors take my body too.

“For the last five years, I have relived the violation of my body again and again in every room, on every stage, across newspapers, screens, websites and whispers until I was no longer one of you. Every door that I walked through became conditional, and I put on the heavy mask I was expected to wear… the mask of a perfect victim and tireless advocate.”

Adding that she’s proud of “the ripples I created” in Australian culture, namely the music industry and Natural Cultural Policy and legislation, things weren’t so bright in her world. “At the end of 2023, the criminal court trial of the two perpetrators ended in a mistrial after a merciless cross-examination and relisted late 2024 to start all over again,” she wrote.

“Through the advocacy and justice system, I learned that sacrificing my body, my life alone, was never going to take down the structural violence so prevalent in our society.”

Through the Victim Impact Statement project, Jonze has offered a gift to herself: “to return my voice and own my body – this is my protest. To remind myself why I came into art and music in the first place. To take back my potential and take up the space I deserve in this world. To rely on myself for justice.”

She concluded, “I am not the sexual assault I never consented to. I am no longer the story. I am one of you. I am an artist that needs the freedom to connect and create again.”

You can buy or stream Victim Impact Statement here.

Jonze will perform two shows in support of Victim Impact Statement this month with special guest Haru Nemuri, who starred alongside her on the track ANGRY ANGRY.

The shows will occur at the Worker’s Club, Melbourne (Naarm), on Tuesday, 27 February, and The Lady Hampshire, Sydney (Eora), on Thursday, 29 February. You can buy tickets here.

This article mentions assault and trauma. If you or someone you know is affected by these experiences and needs to contact someone, please get in touch with 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.