Chosen by Monk
Despite the rays of light at the end of the dark tunnel that has been the past 16 months of isolation and generally being shit upon from great heights having been somewhat dimmed in the past week, with the announcements that the easing of lockdown restrictions in Northern Ireland will not include the return of live gigs, and England not fully free for at least another fortnight, the rock ‘n’ roll year that is 2021 has somehow crept, crawled and sneaked closer into its second half, with its DMs firmly planted in the mire and muck of the chaos around it. A healthy slew of new music, perhaps more than at any other time in ÜR’s history, continues to ping itself our way, and especially in the continuing tsunami of submissions we receive for our coveted ‘Video Of The Week’ award… Yes, as we’ve said on multiple occasions, one constant throughout the vagaries of inconsistent and often hard to stomach lockdowns is the amazing level of adaptive creativity that bands and video directors the length and breadth of the Überverse have continued to show, often in the most adverse of circumstances.
After viewing all of the entries – and, yes, we did watch each and every one of the more than 100 submissions we received this past week alone – at the end of the day (or night, depending on where you are in the Überverse), there could be only one winner… and this week it comes from the ever-colourful queen of goth, Kat Von D, who is extending her wide range of talents into creating music – which perhaps should come as no surprise, given that she is a classically-trained pianist. After declaring her arrival on the scene last month with her debut single, ‘Exorcism’, she has now followed up with her second one, a darkwave slow jam that declares ‘I Am Nothing’.
Kat told us a little bit more about the song, its themes of love, loss and loneliness and how the song was brought to visual life under the directorship of Linda Strawberry, who is perhaps best known as the creative director for the Smashing Pumpkins:
“It’s about the idea of not being good enough. You feel like you’re nothing and lament the memories of the past again. It’s the everyday challenge of putting one foot in front of the other when you’re running on emotional fumes. You’re also coming to terms with the fact it’s over. “Working with Linda on this video was a beautiful experience. I was already so inspired by all the work she’s done with the Smashing Pumpkins art direction as well as other music video projects she had beautifully directed.
“The music video was inspired by the sentiment of isolation and how it relates to feeling alone within a relationship. So, if you notice, everyone in the video is confined to their own space the entire time. The set for the band’s performance scenes had eight-foot tall crucifixes made of mirrors that stood behind each band member, while walls separated each member from one another. So, at no point could they see what the other person was doing. I wanted to give the feeling of opening an antique wind-up box and seeing that tiny ballerina spinning around.”
‘I Am Nothing’ is the second single released from Kat Von D’s debut album, ‘Love Made Me Do It‘, which is released on 27 August. Describing the album as “a collection of all my hopeless romantic thoughts poured into one album“, Kat told us:
“With anything I’ve ever created, I always hope audiences enjoy the final product. The music should speak for itself. I’ve spent years tattooing lyrics, album covers, band logos, and song titles on people. I hope this music translates on the same level to listeners.”
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