In response to the climate emergency, the French-Swiss-Ugandan duo takes refuge in their dreamy and utopian new visuals.
Following the release of her album Ranavalona in collaboration with beatmaker Twani in March 2021, Swiss-Ugandan singer Awori returns with the video for “Hold Me.” Taken from her previous project, the track evokes the climate emergency and the consequences of capitalism on human societies, all wrapped in hip-hop, neo-soul, R&B and electronic sounds. For director Mei Fa Tan, the track also references more intimate feelings, such as “emotional discomfort, our insecurities to overcome, and ultimately how small a thing man and his problems are in the face of the grandeur of the world and the universe.”
To portray this thematic density, the video shows Awori moving through three different worlds inspired by the singer’s many states of consciousness: a modern, concrete and drifting world, a utopian and dreamy world, and a third world consisting of “nature untouched by man.” Throughout the video, Awori travels in these three worlds, going from an unfulfilled desire to find her place in the first world to a total symbiosis with nature in the final one.
Having met through Lyon-based label Galant Records for the “Seeds” single series, Swiss-Ugandan singer-rapper Awori and Lyon-based producer Twani had begun their collaboration with the track “Cortex Luxta” in 2019. The duo took advantage of the quarantine period to produce the album Ranavalona. The project, paying tribute to the last queen of Madagascar, mixes Afrobeats, hip-hop and electronic sounds, while Awori delivers powerful and politically engaged lyrics.
Find « Hold Me » in our Songs of the Week playlist on Spotify and Deezer.
