W. Heyward Sims är hjärnan bakom artisten Devereaux. Han släppte albumet Pineapple Flex 2014 och följde tidigare i år äntligen upp den med singeln Kapowski. Låten är en funkig mix av det sena 80-talet och tidiga 90-talets beats och produktion som känns väldigt färgad av både tiden och stilen. Själv fick jag en känsla av Malcolm McLarens lysande Waltz Darling när jag hörde låten. -Just den låten är från 1989, så inte helt fel ute tidsmässigt.
Vi har idag fått den stora äran att stå för premiären av den fruktiga videon till Kapowski regisserad av Brian Caiazza. Även den känns otroligt tidstypisk för musiken, om än något mer tekniskt avancerad än den tidens videor.
Devereaux berättar här om singeln och videon:
The lyrics from the hook of Kapowski focus on the idea of wistfully reflecting upon one’s early youth. This sentiment is what I wanted to highlight visually. Perhaps an obvious choice in retrospect, but it took me a little while to decide that fresh, colorful, healthy fruit might be an interesting and not too terribly on the nose starting point for my concept.
Not only that, it’s a pretty classical idea and I personally feel like fruit is always au courant.
I was ruminating about this idea one day while I was perusing Instagram and I happened upon my friend @briancaiazza. I thought that maybe he’d be interested in trying out this idea along the lines of how he approaches his own work. After a little bit of conversing we decided to dive in.
I’d like to point out that Brian and I have never actually met in person. This whole endeavor was an internet collaboration.
It’s probably not readily interpreted given the aesthetic we arrived upon; however, the video is really just of a celebration of beauty, life, and lots of flavors. The buoyancy of youth, perhaps. Maybe even an ode to flavored seltzer water, that bubbly life giver.
While we initially didn’t say to ourselves, “Let’s make a video that looks like a candy commercial from 1994.” it did sort of arrive in that splinter of a time period visually speaking. Considering the sound of Kapowski, that subliminal influence was probably inevitable. I’m going to be bold and say that’s just peachy because it’s just that new Warhol.
Devereaux
@Instagram
