Queen Kwong has today released her new video for the track titled ‘No Rules’, from her latest album ‘Couples Only’, released via Eternal Music Group.
That initial feeling of falling asleep after taking a shroom and reading Edgar Allan Poe, the music fights for dominance from the visuals with both winning in the end because, well, they are sinfully symbiont in their decadence.
Musically, there is a yearning between the notes. A longing for something just out of reach. This may be because ‘No Rules’ stands on it’s own, stylistically, from the rest of the album. But there is an electric darkness there. Something that you can claim and interpret all your own. Because it’s yours. The best music always leaves you with something personal.
About ‘No Rules’ & ‘Couples Only’
“Lying in a kiddy pool full of cold milk was the most challenging part of the production for me,” laughs Queen Kwong (a.k.a. Carré Kwong Callaway) about filming her new video for the single “No Rules.” “Compared to things I’ve endured in previous videos, it was a cakewalk and the video turned out exactly the way I was hoping.”
Taken from her overwhelmingly critically-hailed album Couples Only, “No Rules” is a sultry and propulsive track that finds Carré defiantly taking control of her own desires, singing “Now, I see you turning from me / You best turn back around / It’s time to face your demons / Look me in the eye and don’t make a sound.”
“I wanted my next video to be for ‘No Rules’ because the track stands out from most of the other songs on Couples Only, both thematically and sonically,” she explains, pointing out the album’s main themes of overcoming betrayal and ultimately rising above it all.
Noting its distinct departure from the videos that previously been released from this album, which includes an homage to the classic horror film Possession (“I Know Who You Are”), a tribute Harvey Keitel’s groundbreaking film Bad Lieutenant (“Sad Man” starring Johnny Knoxville), French New Wave (“Without You, Whatever”) and the sendup to cheesy reality TV with a murderous twist (“On The Run”), the video for “No Rules” sees Carré taking a more surrealistic and impressionistic approach with help from award-winning photographer/director Tamar Levine (It’s Okay, Twenty-Two Date Palm Way). “Tamar and I have been good friends for decades and have done many photo shoots together but this is our first video,” she explains of the collaboration. “We were inspired by surrealistic concepts, dada, collage, etc. This is the first time I’ve done anything with a green screen but the falling sequence is my favorite part of the video..”
Adds Tamar, “I wanted the experience to feel like a push and pull between Carré holding the power of the person she’s singing to, putting them under a sort of spell, and then at the same time having a self-awareness of not being fully in control of that power.”
A reclamation of her independence, her strength, and her vision after a rather earth-rattling personal trauma, Couples Only was an album Queen Kwong needed to release. Described as “a moment of necessary catharsis” (The Line of Best Fit) and “a phenomenal record by an artist at the top of her creative game,” (FLOOD), Couples Only could be pinned as a divorce record, but it’s so much more. A fearless account of facing the worst betrayals and learning to accept devastating loss, it’s the story of Carré’s resounding resilience and unwavering talent.
The resulting record assembles a notable cadre of contributing musician friends including The Cure’s Roger O’Donnell (keyboards), Swanssuzette Kristof Hahn (lap steel) and Blood Red Shoes’ Laura-Mary Carter (backing vocals) who appear intermittently throughout the LP – it’s Carré setting the record straight, and this time around she’s taking no prisoners.
Couples Only was produced by Joe Cardamone (The Icarus Line, Dark Mark vs. Skeleton Joe).
Featured image by Karin Catt.
LINKS:
https://www.queenkwong.com
https://www.instagram.com/queenkwong
https://twitter.com/queenkwong
https://www.facebook.com/QueenKwong
https://www.youtube.com/user/rawrimeanmeow
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7eVMHPJuAw7Basmy5KYGk8
https://queenkwong.bandcamp.com
