Boombox Blitz: Hanssøn is not ‘Always High’
Alt-pop singer harpoons a former egotistical lover.
Welcome to Boombox Blitz, an artist spotlight series showcasing overlooked singers, songwriters and musicians who are quietly taking over the world.
Ego is firmly rooted in Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of the ego, the id and the superego ⎯⎯ interactive agents of mental perceptions and capacity. Initially, the ego examined the reality principle, a mechanism mediating between the id and reality, tempering expectations rather than succumbing to emotional triggers. With time, the definition has evolved quite significantly, while continuing to be grounded in Freud’s studies. Today, it signifies someone’s drunken relationship with themselves, resulting in distortion of the real world and relationships and entangling them in some cosmic fantasy. Alternative pop singer-songwriter Hanssøn delivers the receipts on a former lover who buckled to self-centered enslavement. “Always High” employs addiction as a gateway to selfishness and its aftereffects.
“You don’t sense it / Your mind is clouded / It’s all my fault, though / ‘Cause I allowed it,” she insists. The production is blurry-eyed, mirroring the perpetrator’s misshapen cognitive lens. She later cements the message on the hook: “I wanna love you but you’re always high / Give you a minute, but you waste my time.” The music video, directed by O.KAY MOTION and Aramie Payton, settles into the night’s intoxication, lingering on ephemeral memories like a shot of tequila. The birthday party is a stage and outlet for her frustrations, as she is surrounded by close friends who just wanna have a good time.
The strobe lights flip and reverse around the space, hitting the ceiling, giddy, rose-cheeked faces and spinning adult drinks. The boozy fog smothers the camera in a slightly buzzed shimmer, inviting the viewer into an invigorating condition and letting go of their own harbored feelings. The song details “wanting to love someone who is too consumed with themselves to love you back,” the singer explains. “They’re ‘high’ on themselves, ego-tripping, just on a different wave length. It’s not really about drugs, but more missing that connection or seeing that they’re disconnected with what’s going on around them.”
“Always High” anchors a forthcoming new EP, expected later this summer.
Watch below:
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