New York, NY (Top40 Charts) NYC art-rock trio UNI and The Urchins are back today with "Popstar Supernova," the intergalactic, 80s-tinged next video and song off their forthcoming debut album, Simulator (Chimera Music, 1/13/2023).
A follow-up to the "stunning" video (PAPER Magazine) for grungy lead single "Doll Parts," "Popstar Supernova" shows a bouncier, poppier side to the band's music, further proving V Magazine's assertion that they are "in their own league and therefore genre."
Bassist
Charlotte Kemp Muhl, who directed the video - as she does for all the band's videos, of which there will be one for every song on Simulator - said of how she gave the video its retro look: "The video aims to capture that cheeky space race sentiment along with nods to pop icons like Klaus Nomi, Nina Hagen, Laurie Anderson,
Kraftwerk and
Poison Ivy. It incorporates analog holograms, CRT tvs, 16mm, and is shot vertically to reference the tech novelties of the 1980s like smell-o-vision and Magic Eye posters. So put on your 3D glasses and enjoy the ride."
Driven by the fear of his hopes and dreams being squashed by the "super virus," frontman Jack
James wrote Popstar
Supernova with the mindset that humanity might not ever be the same again. What if humans have to leave earth? Will he never get to be a "Popstar Supernova?"
"The social elite would inevitably get first dibs on whatever gleaming Andromeda hotel is constructed from the ashes of earth," adds Kemp. "'Marie Antoinette is eating cake on Mars,' meanwhile Jack is just a 'white trash Casanova' from the wrong side of the tracks."
But, despite the materialism and classism the song confronts head-on, it still strikes a defiantly hopeful tone - even on this burning planet we're stuck on (for now!), there's still a lot of love to go around and get us through all the hot mess. Jack said it best: "que Dolly Parton's 'I will always love you,' but make it space."
Watch this space for more info on UNI and The Urchins' next adventure ...
