For a long time, I was silent. Not by choice, but by survival. I grew up in the Czech Republic and spent over a decade living in the Middle East. It was a place of safety and structure, but not one where I could live openly as a queer person. I learned how to stay quiet. How to play it safe. How to smile through invisibility.
But silence is not the same as peace. It can feel like a cage. It can press down on your chest until you forget what breathing freely even feels like.
Then I visited London. And everything shifted. For the first time in years, I felt light. I saw what it meant to live unfiltered. To walk without shame. To imagine more. And that was when I realized how much of myself I had been holding back. How much of my truth had been trapped beneath the surface. The word “speechless” kept circling in my mind. It was not just a feeling. It was the title of the life I had been living.
So I wrote a song. Speechless started as a personal release, a way to break open what had been buried. But the more I wrote, the more I saw that this was not just my story. It was ours.
“They built corsets out of silence, tied the laces round my chest. But I ripped upon the stitches, now I wear my truth the best.”
Those lyrics came from the deepest part of me. They came from the pain of being told to dim my light. And they came from the joy of realizing I never had to again.
The music video became just as personal. It is full of symbolism. Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation bill numbers are written across my chest and appear in the cover art. These are real laws that continue to threaten our rights and our lives. I wanted people to see that even in beauty, there is resistance. Every look, every frame, is a protest. A celebration. A battle cry.
I released Speechless for Pride Month, but it is not just for the LGBTQ+ community. It is for anyone who has ever felt like their identity had to be edited, their voice turned down, or their spirit made smaller to survive. If you have ever felt invisible, this song is for you.
The chorus says it all:
“I won’t be speechless anymore. No more silence, hear me soar.”
This is more than a debut single. It is my way of stepping forward, not just as an artist, but as a human being. I am no longer hiding. I am no longer waiting for permission. I am finally standing in my truth.
My name is Jakub Chmelar. I am a queer artist, actor, and singer-songwriter. Speechless is my first song, but it is only the beginning. I believe art can be a mirror and a megaphone. I hope this song reflects something in you and reminds you that your voice matters too.
You deserve to be heard. You deserve to be seen. Fully.
IG: itsthejacob
All images provided courtesy of Jakub Chmelar
