The Video Explained: M The Myth - 'One Night'
Alan Smithee of TRASH FILMS and M the Myth talk candidly about M the Myth's unconventional music video, 'One Night'.
New York based electro-pop artist M the Myth is an androgynous, abundant expression of life with an interest in LGBTQIA issues . Bright costumes, dramatic makeup, and heartfelt choreography bring an undeniable air of radiance to his live shows and music videos. 'One Night' is a hooky alt-pop song playing with gritty, haunting tones and fresh beats to illustrate the themes of love and pain found within one-night stands.
'One Night' Explained:
Where was the video for 'One Night' filmed?
AS: We filmed at Starr Street Studios in Brooklyn; it's a super one-stop-shop for low-budget, high-concept artists.
How does the video compliment the song?
AS: Watching a music video play out a song's lyrics exactly is a personal pet peeve; it's an insult to my imagination. In that way, I knew I wanted a companion video that takes the viewer somewhere logical but magical, M's inner life. I also saw M's last video and wanted to (& will, also, for M's next video) ask, "okay, what's next? Where does M go? How do we loosely frame this as 'the sequel'?
M: Alan has an incredible imagination--and working with them was actually incredibly therapeutic. We talked a lot about what the song meant to me. 'One Night' is about falling in love with anyone for a brief moment. It's also about my sexual experiences in the queer community. The video captures the essence of that song through the fantasy of anonymity, physicality, and dirt (literally). For me, the song and the video both speak to the idea of love's repression and its consequences.
Any behind the scenes stories?
AS: The process of this video was organic in many ways. One of my favorite memories was trying to convince M the Myth that we couldn't use Miracle-Gro on the dancers--it took days to talk him out of it. The entire production team was worried about the chemicals hurting M's face, too. Down to the wire, we were all stressed and spread thin, so it was hilarious. We finally created an excellent mixture of organic soil and non-toxic paint. Otherwise, there was a day we turned our home into a rehearsal space; the whole team felt like a family, so moving into our shoot day was very smooth and, one hopes, trusting.
M: Okay I have to defend myself here--the dancers only had the mud on their clothes! I was the only one who was going to have the Miriacle-Gro all over my face, so I really didn't care if it hurt but I'm glad the team convinced me otherwise. I also loved every meeting and rehearsal I had with the team. It felt so familial and I think together we were able to pull-off the impossible.
Tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
AS: Looking to artists like Sharon Needles & Alaska Thunderfvck (esp. "Nails" & "Puppet"), I'm inspired by the brilliant work coming out of the LGBT community right now. We also used Jim Henson's Labyrinth as source material; Ms. Spears' 'Slave 4 U' also bleeds into our video.
M: The second outfit is inspired by Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury. I also took inspiration from Lady Gaga with the last outfit (with the black ducktape X over my nipples). And I just have to say that Alan Smithee is a genius. Period. They're especially knowledgeable about all film. They've seen it all. I remember being drunk riding on the subway with Alan when we discovered the mud pool/diamonds idea. That idea kind of just struck us in our drunken stupor. The pig costume also came out of one night of us all hanging out. The pig costume is so important because it represents all the shame of gay sex that I have. It's a powerful release to express my emotions in an audio-visual format and I'm so happy we got to visually touch on this taboo topic!
What is the message you hope people take from watching the video?
AS: 'Watch more TRASH FILMS!' Find more content on YouTube this coming month (Oct. '17) ;)
M: Haha! Yes, everyone needs to watch more TRASH FILMS! Though I do hope people believe in their art when they see this trash film. We poured our souls into this project and I hope people are inspired by that. I also really want our audience to see the blurred lines between sex and love in the queer community, and perhaps to realize the similarities and differences between the hetero com and queer com as well.
Interview feature by Karla Harris