Premiere: Olivia Castriota calls the world to action with new video, ‘What Do You Stand For’

We live in a culture of desensitization. The garbled static of TV screens and the endless flow of information, sometimes “fake news” claims, on social media numbs the brain. We then become so groggy and cold that we turn our backs on what is right and true before our eyes. Blood curdles in the streets, and the only action for which we have strength is a tweet or Facebook post. Don’t feel too ashamed – everybody’s doing it, right? Breaking the chains of her own immobility, and unintentional complicity, soul singer-songwriter Olivia Castriota faces up to her own ghosts with the rock-fused new foot-stomper called “What Do You Stand For,” paired with a border-highlighting new visual, premiering today. “I need to say something / Don’t need to fight for it all / But gotta stand for one thing,” she sings.

With director Azur Mele McHugh at the helm, the clip navigates the flashy American ways – Castriota plays the all-American girl whose only real concerns are the superficial  – and the terrifying savagery happening on both the evening news and on the U.S. southern border. “What Do You Stand For” permits Castriota to reach skyscraper heights with her vocal cords and “attempts to expose realties we can no longer ignore,” she writes to B-Sides & Badlands over email. “[The song] began as an idea meant to inspire and remind myself that it’s important to always stand up for what I believe in and even in this great big world, I matter, too.”

During a trip to Tucson, Arizona earlier this summer, the gruesome reality of what humans are capable of could not have been clearer. The song, and subsequent music video, quickly swelled to something far more greater and culturally significant.  “Whether it is deportation without trial or that transgender women are being killed at alarming rates, the injustice in our country for minorities has reached its boiling point,” she offers. “I recognize this systemic racism and bigotry is neither new nor exclusive to the current administration, but something’s got to give.”

Sun-scorched percussion claps against Castriota’s sultry snarl. “I want to make noise / Don’t want to punch the clock / Wanna play with the big boys,” she digs in her heels. In excavating sociopolitical matters, she also reframes her own journey through such an egregiously hateful patriarchal system and defines worth on new, more empowered terms. “This shit ain’t beginner’s luck / I work for it, every minute,” she sings.

“What Do You Stand For” is the kind of impossibly imposing performance that is vital to today’s ongoing struggles. Her words hit hard, and her vocal punches even harder. As personally-wrought the lyrics might be, she plants her feet amidst the hurricane that is ripping through the country, and she is more than hyper-aware of her role here. “I create art to use the voice I’ve been given to positively inspire others and talk about things that really matter. Seeing as our country is in such a state of disarray, I realized this was the perfect song to not only inspire all kinds of people but to shed light on social injustice,” she says.

The video also stars a slew of bright, hopeful faces – further underscoring the vast collective voice of minorities. “The video touches on complicated issues, reveals harsh truths and reaches beyond our border wall illuminating subjects that are heated and have no cut and dry answers,” she explains. “It forces us to question our morals, our values, what side of history we stand on and how just retweeting won’t make the difference we need. Humans have to support and stand up for other humans in more than just 140 characters. It’s as simple as that.”

Watch below:

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