The irony of the COVID-19 pandemic is that streaming music has become practically essential to survive this with our sanity intact while simultaneously cancelling concerts worldwide. Apryll Aileen’s new video for “I’m Still Alive” offers a curiously grim outlook on the situation—not for the content of the song, but given the song’s title and the fact that it’s currently trending, along with being featured on two of Apple Music’s major playlists…..
Directed by Peter Doyle, this video gets heavily stylized with a bit of Hollywood magic. There’s a whole forest sequence that was shot of Doyle’s kitchen table and you’d never know. It’s all very dark and moody and features Apryll Aileen drowning in a lake. It’s a good metaphor for the tough times when you need to know when to ditch the anchors.
“We shot this video entirely in Saint John, New Brunswick,” says Aileen. “At first, we had so many different ideas about where this video could go and what sort of intense scenes we could film, but it was Peter Doyle’s creative art direction and ideas of using symbols, textures and colours to convey emotions and feelings instead of literal objects and scenes.”
Aileen says that the video itself is left open viewer interpretation, but the song itself is about resiliency and a desire to survive.
“[It’s about] the ability to stare into the eyes of your deepest fear and say, “Not today.” This is not a time for defeat,” says Aileen.
And because the universe is such a fan of irony, in the most meta of fashions, the video itself became an unnecessary weight. Aileen explains that the song was actually going to be released in October but in the middle of editing the video the project had to be shelved before it could be released due to some personal complications. It ties heavily into the lessons of the song.
“When I wrote this song with Tal Vaisman, I was going through several things – mostly anger, judgment and the realization that some self destructive habits had to be cut from my life. And sometimes in order to cut those habits, you have to cut people from your life,” says Aileen.
“I feel like this is the lesson of the crash collision with karma. Sometimes two people are brought together to act as mirrors and illustrate to the other, what bad habit is preventing them from being the best version of themselves. What character trait is drowning them, holding them below water, while their entire essence really wants to soar.
“I think that’s important. To create space and be patient with yourself and flexible with expectations, plans and deadlines. At the end of the day, our health is the most important and things will get done when they get done. Take a breath. There’s only so much you can do in life and holding tight to plans that are no longer feasible, creates too much stress.”
The sentiment of Apryll Aileen’s experiences back in October proved to be rather prescient given the current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I feel like the world could really learn from this lesson right now, given that it feels like an apocalypse with this pandemic,” says Aileen. “But you know what? We have to take drastic measures now to slow the spread and flatten the curve for our healthcare workers. I am fully onboard to support a tight ship.
“I think the world is going through a very dark time – one of fear, one of panic…. There aren’t many answers and there’s a huge fear of the unknown. We have never seen the world shut down like this. We’ve had pandemics, but nothing of this nature since WWI. Collectively, we are feeling very primordial instincts for survival. I think this song hits on so many layers and is what people need right now. They need to realize they can resist, they can be resilient and they can survive. ‘I’m Still Alive’ can offer hope to get through these perilous times.”
Apryll Aileen has two shows with FM Berlin coming up next month, provided the dust settles a bit before then, or a live stream if it doesn’t. In the meantime she will be performing as part of the Venice Art Crawl Facebook Live event, March 19, 6pm—10pm, PST.
Show Dates:
04.10.20 – Fredericton, NB @ The Capital Complex*
04.11.20 – Saint John, NB @ The Public House*
*with FM Berlin