The Artist Explains: Mone - 'Big Brown Bear'
Mone talks to us about digging her own grave for her powerful music video, ‘Big Brown Bear’, the third single from her upcoming album.
‘Big Brown Bear’ was born during the #MeToo movement and reflects on Mone’s firsthand and secondhand experiences with sexual harassment, and how complicated our relationships with our own bodies can be.
Where was the video for 'Big Brown Bear' filmed?
At a beautiful little lake in the south of Berlin. And in my videographer's bathtub, in which we recreated the muddy banks of the Berlin lake when we wanted some extra footage.
How does the video connect with the song?
The initial idea for the video came from a key line in the song: “Among the worms and the snails is where I’ll lose my shame”. This is a reference to being dead and buried and dissolving back into nature. I try to do that in the video by digging a grave for myself.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you could share with us?
First of all that it felt so nice rolling around in the mud. It was the hottest day of the year and digging a grave is quite exhausting, so when the moment came to just let myself slide into the cool mud, the relief and enjoyment was real. Another funny story is that me and Nick Scholey, an amazing videographer from Berlin, recreated the muddy lake in his bathtub. For that we actually bought some worms in the pet store and went to the nearby park to collect sand, dirt, sticks and leaves in big shopping bags and tupperware. We definitely got some strange looks and laughed so much, collecting the dirt in our lunchboxes like we were crazy. It is those moments where the hilarity of being an artist shines bright.
Can you tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used? Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
The music video for Big Brown Bear emphasises the contrast between the clean, calculated human world and the organic, chaotic nature. I wanted to visualise my wish of reconnecting with nature in the most direct way: by physically becoming a part of it. Me and Nick tried to create intimate shots that make this act tangible and sensory for the viewer and leaves them with a vague feeling of sadness and satisfaction, wondering if this is a desperate act of loneliness or a beautiful way of going back to where we came from.
Interview by Karla Harris