The Artist Explains: BIIANCO - '13 Dead End Drive'

LA-based multi-instrumentalist and producer BIIANCO speaks to us about the ideas behind her powerful visuals for ‘13 Dead End Drive', where she purges outside influences and expectations that stifles our confidence, creativity and holds us back.

Where was the video for ‘13 Dead End Drive’ filmed?
It was actually filmed in the empty apartment of the lead photographer on the shoot — Chase Leonard. A couple days before she was set to move out, we realised it’d be amazing to create something in that wide open space.

How does the video connect with the song?
The music video for ‘13 Dead End Drive’ was designed to visually depict the song’s meaning — reclaiming my own confidence in my voice and my art, trusting my artistic vision and ignoring the haters. We used white tears, white baths, white blood and white eyes to symbolize the purging of outside influences and expectations that manifest in yourself as internal limitations. It’s about exorcising the opinions of others from your mind that hold you back. So often I have found that the negative opinions of others have an uncanny ability to snuff out the vibrant color from my creative expression. To symbolize this, we made everything white.

Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
We actually injected the white substance up my nose and into my eyes using tubes and syringes to get those white nosebleed and white tears effects — and it burned like crazy! And the entire time I was wearing the white contact lenses, I couldn’t actually see anything so half that video was shot with me completely blind.

Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
We used white tears, white baths, white blood and white eyes to symbolise the purging of outside influences and expectations that manifest in yourself as internal limitations. It’s about exorcising the opinions of others from your mind that hold you back. So often I have found that the negative opinions of others have an uncanny ability to snuff out the vibrant colour from my creative expression. To symbolise this, we made everything white.

Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
I hope this song and video give people the confidence and fire they need to shake off the things that make them question themselves artistically. Because there is so much genius art that never gets heard because so many of us are too afraid to put our raw selves out there.

Interview by Karla Harris