It’s been almost 4 weeks since the ‘Monday Eyes’ music video was released, and I’ve been really touched by all the comments and messages from people who’ve said how much they love it, and how much the story resonates with them. Created with my videographer Scott Chalmers, this video is our favourite that we created together this year – it fully brings the song to life, and the song is best experienced while watching the video. Here are five small details from the Monday Eyes music video that I love and want to share with you.
RED AND BLUE
I use fire imagery and colours throughout the album to represent my truest self, and water or air imagery to represent those moments when I’m less than myself. This theme carries through to the Monday Eyes video. The scenes in red where I’m performing and dancing are when I feel like my true self, when I’m most alive. I’m lit in warm colours, my makeup is soft and doesn’t hide my face, and I’m dancing unselfconsciously. The scenes in blue show me getting ready to go to work to a job that doesn’t light me up – I’m in cold colours, everything’s a bit dark and grey, a bit dishevelled, and I’m wearing heavy makeup to mask myself. I love this kind of visual storytelling in film, and I loved getting to incorporate a bit of that into my music video.
CHILDHOOD, YOUTH, DEPENDENCY
The book in the opening shot is ‘Childhood Youth Dependency’ by Tove Ditlevsen – it’s a collection of 3 novellas about the author’s troubled life as a writer and addict. It’s one of my ‘favourite’ books (I say ‘favourite’ in inverted commas – it’s an absolutely devastating read, but it’s also beautiful and dark and so human). For me, seeing the book at the top of the pile next to where I’ve fallen asleep adds to the sense of unease and heavy sadness. There isn’t an ounce of joy in this scene!
THE ONLY EXPENSIVE JEWELLRY I OWN
This earring I’m wearing is the only piece of jewellry I own that cost more than £50, it’s a replica of the earring worn by Jodie Whittaker in Doctor Who designed by Alex Monroe. I love it, but it’s very impractical so I never get to wear it. I’m glad I got to memorialise it in this video.
THE DANCING
At the end of the music video I dance on stage – this was improvised on the day, I was dancing around a bit between takes and the videographer told me to really go for it and dance wildly with abandon, and we ended up really liking how it looked. I feel like the dancing is a bit awkward and not very graceful, but I guess that’s the point – that I’m expressing myself freely, for its own sake and not for the sake of a performance. There’s no audience watching this stage in the video – like creating art in general, we have to learn to be content with creating for ourselves and not for an adoring crowd.
MY FAVOURITE SHOT
There are a lot of beautiful shots from this music video (especially from the red scenes), but oddly enough, this is my favourite shot from the whole music video. I love how raw and vulnerable it is, the off-kilter angle, and how I stare at the audience for an uncomfortably long period of time through my bed hair and slept-in makeup. Which shot or scene from the music video was your favourite?
