The London-born singer, songwriter and producer’s new music video explores a desire to stay true to oneself.
Last year, Demae released her debut EP Life Works Out… Usually via south London club night-come record label and creative studio Touching Bass. The serene eight-track project offered a snapshot into her kaleidoscopic soul meets jazz sound, with features from Joe Armon-Jones, Fatima and Ego Ella May.
Today (28 July), Demae’s sharing a new dreamy visual for EP track Basic Love, which was produced by 10.4 ROG. The video’s directed by Nwaka Okparaeke, a London-based visual artist who’s previously photographed the likes of Little Simz and Burna Boy, and worked with publications such as Wonderland and gal-dem. Okparaeke also shot Tierra Whack for our Issue 101 cover. (She shot the Life Works Out… Usually cover art, too.)
According to Demae, Basic Love was written a little later than some of the other tracks on the project. Despite having much of the EP finished, she felt like something was missing. She reached out to 10.4 ROG to see if “there were any other gems hiding on his hard drive.” And, well, there was. “I’m so happy I asked because once I got that instrumental the theme and words flew out of me,” she tells Crack Magazine over email. “The opening melody on the track was so strong and memorable.”
“While writing Basic Love I realised it had double meaning,” she continues. “I was head over heels in love with my partner, but I was also falling in love and reconnecting with music. So, while it may seem like your typical love song, it’s also about me doing anything to stay connected to one of my first loves: music. I loved working with Nwaka Okparaeke, too. She’d already shot the beautiful artwork for the EP and I’m just a fan of her work in general.”
Okparaeke echoes this sentiment. Speaking on her initial impressions of Basic Love, she says: “My first reaction was, ‘This is a serious vibe!’ I thought to myself, ‘This is the sort of song I would absolutely love to make a video for’, so I immediately reached out to Errol [Anderson, of Touching Bass] and put forward my interest just in case they ever decided to make a video for it.”
“The shooting process was very beautiful because we had a team full of good vibes,” she adds. “They were passionate about the video idea and supportive of myself and Demae. We didn’t have much budget, so there was a lot of creativity to create loopholes in order to get what we wanted.”
“Nwaka really brought the idea of staying connected to music to life,” adds Demae. “She came up with the brilliant idea to have the video as metaphor for when the ‘industry’ tries to take away the individual’s beauty and essence and originality – which I can 100% relate to. My mission in the video was to make sure I stayed connected with my true essence. I also had the excuse to dress up as superhero and have a doppelgänger with special effects.”
Life Works Out… Usually is out now via Touching Bass. Check out the EP here and watch the Basic Love video in the player above.