Boombox Blitz: OMYO celebrate LGBT love and light with prideful ‘Champion’

Welcome to Boombox Blitz, an artist spotlight series showcasing overlooked singers, songwriters and musicians who are quietly taking over the world.

The darkness can be so incredibly suffocating these days. As an LGBT individual, there are moments the struggle is overwhelmingly unbearable, a granite and menacing mountain that stretches so far into the stars that the end doesn’t even exist. It’s cold and desolate and terrifying here. But when an artist like British pop duo OMYO, made up of William Edward and Tom McCorkell, a pair of empathetic and kind singers and songwriters, reach their arms out in an embrace that is comforting and warm, you have to be hopeful. Allies are vital to survival. I’m not sure I would be here otherwise.

Their single “Champion” is a mission statement, a plea to soothe and rally and instill a bit of compassion in the world. “Home is where you turn to run,” McCorkell sings, as he relinquishes the tension of the world in one full swoop and slices open the smoke like Ma-Ti from Captain Planet. Appropriately, the new music video aims to not only honor the LGBT community but provide a flourishing display of truth, one of love and inclusion and grandeur, amidst so much hate-mongering and bloodshed. “We wanted to use the opportunity to show the incredible atmosphere, diversity and message of Pride in London, and we hope it does it justice, and we can play our part in fighting for equality,” the duo wrote on Twitter.

It’s a simple statement, but it’s one that carries with it all the turmoil we’ve endured. Our backs bare the weight, the scars that’ll never heal, and McCorkell and Edward willingly offer up their own flesh as a sacrifice. “Champion” is a moment of clarity. We might be saved after all. “Providing love for those hurt, from darkness and deceit,” they promise. The glossy and glittering production then falls away, and McCorkell is left to console us, his voice is both stern and medicating. And paired with such empowering imagery, I am reminded that the LGBT community is and has never been alone in this fight.

Watch below:

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