Interview: ZoeJoey of Vivid Shade Talks About Their New Music Video "We Will Destroy You"
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“...So all of these songs are exploring this world from different points of views. So to keep with this theme, we kept all the songs within a dark synthpop sort of vibe, with the idea that this could be something out of an 80’s dystopian sci-fi movie. We felt that a retro futuristic feel just went well with this whole idea.”
Congratulations on the release of your new music video "We Will Destroy You"; it's a great visual. As its director, tell us about how you came up with the treatment for it and if you look forward to directing again in the future.
First off, thank you, that was my first ever directed piece and while there was much, much more I wanted to do with it, we just don’t have the budget to do everything I wanted. Originally the plan was for the music video to resemble the theme of the “Clickbait” EP, which the song is from, but that would have taken way too much money to create. So instead we took a different, more DIY approach. We wanted the scenes to be more metaphoric, more 90’s horror film sort of vibe and overall cheaper/home movie feel.
The song is from a robot’s perspective, and this robot is explaining his view of the world and how he’s constantly pressured to act, and react a certain way. The robot from day one was groomed and programmed to be subservient and to just fit in with the norms that society has in place. But as this robot gets older and wiser, he notices that the society that he's been groomed to understand and be compliant in, is just fucked up. Society never does the right thing, they base their ideals and rules on arbitrary things, and, in the robots eyes, it’s time for a revolution.
In real terms, this robot represents every oppressed group out there, women, LGBT, people of color, and many more. From day one, no matter who you are, you're groomed and are forced to fit into your surroundings. This sense of grooming and pressure from society, is what the black paint is meant to represent. The thing about grooming is that there’s no way to undo what has already happened. There’s no way to just forget any trauma that’s affected you, you just have to learn to live with it. And that in so many ways is unfair, like, why should you, or me, or any of us have to be harmed by others, and forced to do what others say when it doesn't benefit us in any way?
Through most of the song I’m angry and I'm struggling to get this oppression and paint off me. I'm attempting to just forget about it, to move on, but I can't, no one can, and we have to learn to live with it. So at the end, I finally give in, and I turn this hate that I have of the world, of myself, of others, and instead I let it empower me.
As much as I want my life to go smoothly, and as much as I try to fit in with the rest of the people, I can't just sit on a beach and chill. For me, even if I am doing absolutely nothing provocative on a beach, I'll still be sexualized for the sole fact that I'm a girl and I’m wearing a bikini. Movies and TV always portray a girl on a beach in a bikini in a sexualized way. Just look at Baywatch, or pretty much any music video that has girls on a beach in bikinis. The point is, girls can do whatever the fuck they want, and we as a society shouldn’t assume their intentions for merely just being present. A girl is always “too much” or “not enough” of something, because we always try to pressure women to fit in a box that isn't going to fit everyone.
I really hope to direct a lot more in the future. I love film and the whole creation process, it’s my favorite thing to do besides making music. I have been a big fan of Tyler, the Creator for a long time and I always admired how he was not only creating amazing music and concept albums, but also directing incredible music videos.
I’m also inspired by directors/creators like Alan Resnick (Unedited Footage of Bears), Casper Kelly (Too Many Cooks), as well as Becky Sloan and Joesph Pelling (Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared). I am really into dark surrealist and experimental films that force you to ask questions and try to figure out what the hell is going on. And in the process of doing that realize that there is way more going on then what it initially seems like on the surface. Until I actually have more than a $20 budget, I will continue to just create things with my friends. I typically have a lot of things to say through my art, so I enjoy being in control of the process.
What initially inspired you to write the song, and what does its music video represent for the viewer?
I wanted to write a song about robots taking over the world because that just seemed so cliche. But I wanted to take this cliche idea and flip it on its head. So instead of the robot being evil, I made the robot sympathetic. Here’s a robot that could destroy the world, but he doesn’t. He views the humans that created and enslave him as pathetic and self destructive, but still takes pity on them. The robot has more empathy than what the humans that are cruel to him have. That being said, you rarely ever see the oppressed and marginalized groups wanting revenge. Instead, they just want to be fairly treated and live in an equitable system. So the robot in the song really just represents any person or group that is a victim of oppression.
I think viewers will have many interpretations of the video. Each viewer will come into it with their own experiences and biases. I think everyone has some sort of trauma in their life, and I hope that this video is a reminder that regardless of how “OK” we look now, those traumas have changed us and not always for the better. But we all have to learn to eventually embrace it or at least accept it and move on with our lives, and hopefully speak out and be a part of a positive change so others don’t have to go through the same shit that we did. So while I may be speaking from a perspective that’s dealing with being a girl and being a part of the LGBT community, and reacting to the sexism and bigotry that I have experienced. I recognize that other people out there, even those that have been cruel to me, also have had to overcome trauma as well. I think that is a basic part of the human condition, that life sometimes is a struggle and damaging to us, but we have to find ways to keep going.
"We Will Destroy You" appears on your debut EP "Clickbait"; describe your creative process for the development of its 5 songs.
This EP is really a short concept album that came out of many conversions and observations I was having about technology and social media at the time. In my school I vividly remember them showing us a documentary about how technology is bad and we shouldn’t be using social media. The teachers kept talking about how bad social media and over use of tech was, but there was never a honest and open conversation about why it was so bad and how to use it in a more positive and productive way.
This bothered me because I had already seen so many positive things come out of social media and I had benefited from it in many ways. I was scouted as a professional model because of my Instagram, I met so many creative people through Instagram, I use social media to market and promote my music, and actually everyone involved in making this music video and even the guest rapper on “Secrets 2 Success” I met through social media.
But nothing is always completely good or bad. At the time, I was also really appalled at the adults I would see around me from day to day and their fixation with their phones. I’d see families eating in restaurants where both parents would have their face in their phones the entire meal and not interacting at all with their kids or each other. I’d see parents also just shove iPads and phones in front of their babies and toddlers to get them to just be quiet and watch videos on the screens. These kids were just trying to play, ask questions, and explore their world; you know just be a kid. But their parents just didn’t want to deal with them so they would use their phones to keep them subdued.
So on one hand I was hearing adults always telling teenagers “don’t spend so much time on your phone” but at the same time they seemed more addicted to their phones and social media than what my friends and I were. So I wrote these songs as a way to explore the dark timeline where adults who are addicted to their phones have raised children who have had no choice but to be addicted to their phones as well.
Likes and hearts become our only valued means of social status, and our social media bubbles have been so perfectly personalized that everything we see is customized to meet all our desires and keep us completely engaged. And with us completely consumed by our phones, the world around us is crumbling apart but we are too busy with the glossy fake reality presented through our phone to even realize it.
So all of these songs are exploring this world from different points of views. So to keep with this theme, we kept all the songs within a dark synthpop sort of vibe, with the idea that this could be something out of an 80’s dystopian sci-fi movie. We felt that a retro futuristic feel just went well with this whole idea.
Also, were their songs created that didn't make the final track list? If so, why not?
Yeah. There were some songs that we wrote during this time that we didn’t include. We usually have a bunch of songs that are in process and being worked on at any given time, and there were some that we considered including with the EP, but they just didn’t fit thematically.
We wanted to stick with the concept album idea with “Clickbait”, so the ones that didn’t stick with the themes either lyrically or musically got pushed to the side.
Tell us about the pop/electronic music scene in Singapore. What has your experience been like building a fan base there?
To be honest, it’s been difficult building a fan base in Singapore. There are not many avenues for young start up bands to perform. The bands in the music scene are pretty tight knit and they are really supportive of each other, but unfortunately it is hard to get a crowd to a local show. Usually the local bands that end up getting popular in Singapore tend to be kind of safe generic pop, rap, or other radio friendly groups.
Which is unfortunate, because there are some really cool bands doing interesting things here, but since they don’t have a mainstream appeal they get largely ignored locally. Bands like Microchip Terror, Knightingale, Summations, CB Dogs, Bad Dod, Coming Up Roses, and Sun Eater to name a few are all worth checking out and put on great live shows. Making a living from music here is extremely difficult, so the bands that do tough it out while working full times jobs tend to be incredibly talented and super humble.
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