Just because Zheani describes her music as "fairy trap," don't think that she won't kick your ass. This fairy has fangs. The Australian artist has dropped numerous hard-hitting metal-inflected bangers over her young career, including a number of venomous singles produced by U.S. beatmaker and Revolver favorite King Yosef. Last year, we got "DIRTBIKE" and "Skin Walker." Today (October 12th), we've teamed with Zheani to premiere her latest offering, "Fuck the Hollywood Cult" — produced again by King Yosef with additional production and mixing from Catherine Marks — along with its violent, surreal music video, directed by long-time creative collaborator Mik Shida. Watch and listen below.
"Just a little girl/Family wrecked by rock n roll," Zheani shrieks on the song, a feedback-soaked industrial rager. "Just a dumb slut/I got sharp sword." That metaphorical sword is on display in the video, which shows her fighting off an abuser, from whose POV the disturbing clip is filmed.
"The lyrics were first inspired by more revelations of abuse within the entertainment industry early in the year," Zheani tells us. "These particular revelations came as no surprise to me — open secrets like this are abound in the culture — but my lack of shock did nothing to quell the rage that boiled inside of me as ugly details were brought to light. Despite being completely and intentionally isolated up a mountain in the Australian rainforest, Hollywood's tendrils had once again forced their way into my psyche unbidden. That feeling of force is at the crux of this song and music video.
"'Just a little girl, family wrecked by rock & roll.' My parents grew up with Hollywood's 'sex, drugs and rock & roll' forced into their minds, perhaps without this outside subversion their lives could have looked very different. What could have been a rural paradise had been poisoned at its heart by an industry founded on abuse and exploitation. Perhaps if I didn't watch Girls of the Playboy Mansion at 12, and have narcissist rockstars presented to me as heroes, I myself would have been able to make better life decisions as a young woman. ... Perhaps. The ironic reality is that here I am with music being my only hope of creating a better future for myself and my family. This song is about channeling that corrosive energy and turning it back on whence it came.
"'Dishonour it brings men on horses four, this is the goddesses will, I bring the holy war.' The music video was created in Melbourne lockdown after my initial concepts had all been abandoned. The lack of free movement and control enforced by the Australian government appeared to me as being metaphorically synonymous with the very kind of abuse that initially inspired the song. In this way the music video is a metaphor in itself, a fantasy of defeating the abusive force."
