New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Rising folk-pop singer-songwriter Hattie Whitehead releases her stunning new music video "Ups and Downs", starring her brother the actor Fionn Whitehead. Fionn is familiar to many as the lead actor in Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk (2017), and he also starred opposite Emma Thompson in Richard Eyre's The Children Act (2017), and in Black Mirror (2018). Fionn states, "I have wanted to do a music video with Hattie since I saw more than that with my other sister Maisie. I've always been a big fan of Hattie's music and think that she has an incredible honesty to her songwriting that is extremely hard to find. 'Ups and downs' is a song that really resonates with me (like most of her songs), and I am constantly in awe of Hattie's ability to write and sing with her heart on her sleeve. She doesn't hide behind pretenses or bravado."
Hattie's "Ups and Downs", the first single from the Richmond-born singer songwriter's new EP Old Soul, was inspired by the death of the siblings' mother. The moving video, directed and produced by Ben Roe, shows a young man coming to terms with grief - from the loss of his best friend. Through flashbacks and beautiful imagery, the video captures the difficult emotions of grief and the feelings of isolation and abandonment.
"Hello old friend, it's been a while", begins the song over gently strummed guitar. "It's been a difficult time for my friends and my family. We said goodbye to someone too soon."
Hattie says of the song and the video: "I wrote Ups and Downs when my life felt very unsettled. I had been neglecting songwriting and making music. Life was about getting by in a tough time, and in turn putting up a wall up to the inner workings of my mind and creativity. I was in the habit of keeping up appearances around others, and falling apart on my own. I was in a vicious cycle of loneliness and I've had so many conversations with others since who have been in a similar place.
"In the music video I wanted to portray the inner battles we sometimes face in a style that is easily relatable. Someone can be numb to emotion in one instance, and falling apart in the next. I wanted it to highlight the loneliness we can feel when we have lost someone dear to us, yet also show the positivity and catharsis in remembering them and not shutting them out completely. In remembering our loved ones we can find peace as well. My brother Fionn was perfect for this role. We are very close, we have a good understanding of each other, we have been through the same loss together and Fionn has an incredibly subtle but genuine and honest style to his acting that was perfect for conveying the themes of the song.
"Everyone will be faced with loss at some point in their life, yet we still don't really talk about it as a society. We are so often suffering in silence and behind closed doors. I have found comfort in reading and listening to other peoples stories around grief. It reminds me that it's not just me going through it on my own. Working with Ben, we set out to create a video that was digestible and relatable to the viewer. I wanted it to challenge the idea that we're alone in grieving. We're all going through our individual hurts of course, but we often don't realise the wider picture. We are part of a much bigger group of human beings going through similar motions alongside each other, and there's comfort in that. By discussing grief and getting it out in the open, we can begin to realise that we're not quite as alone as my lyrics suggest."
The deeply melodic single highlights Hattie's mellifluous, pure singing, and her talent for writing enthralling melodies, and soul-baringly honest lyrics. Building heartfelt yet effortlessly lilting soulful vocals, subtle harmonies, interweaving guitars and warm atmospherics, "Ups and Downs" is nothing short of emotionally intoxicating.
"'Ups and Downs' was all about things being really terrible, but also some amazing things happening as well. And it's about the polarisation of those things. The year my mum was diagnosed with cancer, my brother Fionn found out that he had a role in Dunkirk which was just amazing. We also lost a really close family friend. Then the year that my mum passed away I had my busiest year of festivals to date."
The glorious heartfelt folk-pop of Hattie's new EP, released in May, has already seen her perform live sessions on BBC Radio London and Whispering Bob's Under the Apple Tree, while the video for her single "More Than That" debuted on The Telegraph. Hattie's EP launch show at Servant Jazz Quarters was a sell out, and she performs at Standon Calling festival on 28 July.
Three years ago she released her debut EP Home, which led to radio play, a sell-out gig at St Pancras Old Church in London, numerous festival performances, and a prize in Glastonbury's Emerging Talent Competition.
Hattie's emotive delivery, jazz inflections and the musicality of her arrangements are shaped by her musical upbringing, the diverse artists from Paul Simon to Miles Davis and Joni Mitchell that she listened to from an early age, and her love of modern folk and indie bands Bon Iver, Laura Marling, Jose Gonzalez and The Staves. She's a talent to watch.
www.hattiewhitehead.com
