40 days of art

22

Bush for the Push

All of the press and positive attention from Thunder Thighs was great, but it was also overwhelming. It seemed that a lot of the people who talked to me were more interested in me as the creator of Thunder Thighs rather than me as a musician and artist with a large body of work outside of that. There was a moment when the pressure was so much I thought I would never write another song again because I could never match up to my previous success.

Inspiration is so wild because it strikes in the weirdest places. At the time, I was going through a “maybe I should wax my pubic hair” phase because I am up for trying new things. I went to the European Wax Center and asked for a bikini line wax only, and somehow by the end, the lady had fully upsold me to a full Brazilian. It was so sad, I didn’t even have the 5 butt hairs that caught my farts. I walked out completely nude down below and with the inspiration to write Bush for the Push (produced by KEISHH).

A little later after making the song, I made the video. I had done a Kickstarter for this project, and so this was the first and only time I had a pretty decent budget to make a music video with. Despite having a juicy budget, I still did 5 different unpaid jobs on set (talent, co-director, producer, craft food services and nail artist) which I always find exhilarating but exhausting. The images turned out great, but If I am being honest, I prefer DIY. There is something really exciting and challenging to make something out of absolutely nothing.

The video was another April/Shantony collaboration. We worked on the casting and storyboarding together, and I rented out this super sick tropical-themed salon in Bushwick which was a beautiful backdrop for the video. I really went HAM on the art direction. I painted my own nails, made a bunch of paper props, and even had a merkin making party, where some of my friends and I made a bunch of funky merkins in my living room. Elissa later told me it was more like a merkin sweatshop, but the final product looked great!

This was a true collaborative effort with so many artists (thanks to my Kickstarter, everyone but me could be paid their rate!) I also met my friend and longtime collaborator, Shelton Lindsay on set who I hired as a stylist. I really love how this video turned out. It is super poppy and campy, and not shot in my apartment.