Remember in the late ’90s when the late ’60s seemed like a really good time? The cycle continues and three decades later the great wheel of aesthetics has made another full revolution. Finally, the time has arrived for the second coming of the ’90s. Rachel Beck’s first release of 2021, “Dizzy,” is a throwback that looks like a brighter, high-definition homage to classic daytime talk show sets, with the addition of a square grand.
Which is all probably an indicator that Beck’s style choices are totally rad, or on fleek, or whatever the cool kids are saying this decade. Metal-rimmed coffee tables and millennial pink area rugs are the canaries in this cultural coal mine, where, if you listen closely, you can still hear the echoes of New Kids on the Block and the cologne of David Hasselhoff lingers in the air.
As powerful as that visual already is, it’s the video’s verdant array of flora that steals the show, priming the scene for Spring with a little bit of classic Dutch bling.
“The video for Dizzy was created in the true DIY spirit: I bought a couple hundred tulips from a local farm, rounded up a crew of three ridiculously talented friends, and we shot the whole thing in my friend’s house,” says Beck.
Beck explains that, despite the relative simplicity of a static shot with presumably static subjects, even a vase full of flowers can prove to be a wildcard.
“Fun fact: we had this big plan to create perfect swap shots where I was sitting in different positions in a chair, but everything around me stayed exactly the same. We did not take into account the fact that flowers move and change throughout the day! If you watch the video closely, you can see the flowers dancing around from shot to shot. Oops! #flowerfail”
The song itself was produced with Hill Kourkoutis, who has worked with other east coast acts Loviet and Jill Barber, and had met Beck on stage in 2013 while Kourkoutis was touring in Serena Ryder’s band. With Kourkoutis in Toronto and Beck on Prince Edward Island, as is the way of such things these days, “Dizzy” was produced via Zoom.
In typical Beck fashion, “Dizzy” finds its foundation on the piano, and takes most of its drive from Beck’s throaty vocals as she describes a pseudo-relationship with a tenuous grasp and an uncertain future.
“If all you want is to keep me waiting, I’m already gone, I’m already gone,” sings Beck, proving that, just like a tulip you’ve set down, nothing and no one is going to stay where you expect them to if they’re not getting what they need.