Abstract In this paper I show how an Indigenous mindset founded in reciprocity can shape and guide music making. I examine the effects of placing luohti (yoik), the traditional Sámi vocal expression, in a leading position. Decades of colonial policies deprived many Sámi of cultural expressions and traditional knowledge; in several areas Sámi languages were skipped for at least one generation. Today a taking it back movement is underway—asserting rights to land, livelihood, culture and language—and many young Sámi are reclaiming skills and knowledge that should have been passed on by our families and communities. Embracing distinct qualities within Sámi music, such as in luohti, reshapes both what we make and how we create. Moreover, engaging with luohti across popular musical genres may enable a trans historical positionality in music making. By engaging with research creation as a method, I explore these processes from within through my own artistic practice. The paper is also based on semi structured interviews with several Sámi artists. I offer perspectives on how methods rooted in Indigenous knowledge may redefine and enrich musical practice. I ask: how does privileging luohti as a guiding voice influence our songwriting, instrumentation, and, indeed, the artist’s role? I show, for example, that centering luohti often shifts arrangements from fixed, grid-based productions to open soundscapes with space for organic elements, polyrhythmic turns and flexibility in terms of tempo and harmonic progressions. It becomes evident that decision making can extend to non human agents (landscape, objects, and technologies) as active collaborators. Upsetting hierarchical norms (where humans dictate musical form) and adopting active relationality with all agents involved opens new creative possibilities. These findings suggest a provocation for decolonizing compositional practice and rethinking authorship and agency in contemporary music.