Boombox Blitz: Tim Schou goes on the ‘Run Run Run Run Run’

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

It’s a dog-eat-dog kind of world out there in the music industry. If you’re lucky, you’ve got the stamina to go the extra mile and rise victorious on the proverbial mountaintop. And if you’re not, well, sorry, you’re luck just ran out. It’s the cold, hard truth of the jungle, and only the strongest and most savage survive. Danish pop singer-songwriter Tim Schou is no fool and laments the pressure he endures just for a music career with his latest single called “Run Run Run Run Run,” a song with a bold, big hook and a much graver meaning. “Oh my, look at this bubblegum fantasy / One sweet teddybear kiss got the best of me / Way up high with the kittens and the ponies,” he sings of the fantastical allure of a business that quickly devolves into mayhem and carnage.

“For a moment, you were my one and only / Now I’m on the run and I’m feeling kinda lonely / Haunted by the kittens and the ponies,” the narrative quickly spins out of control. Instead of relishing in lavish treats and the kind of magical fame executives in suits purport, it’s all smoke and mirrors, masking a deeper sorrow underneath. In the accompanying music video, “Run Run Run Run Run,” starring Lexi Collins as his enchanting lover and Thomas Owens’ as the gun-wielding and vengeful father, Schou brings the metaphors into sharper focus. “I have always imagined the armed dad as a metaphor for the who-do-you-think-you-are attitude in the music industry,” he says. “After I participated in Eurovision with a friend In London, I’ve been working on lifting off my solo career. But it’s a tricky business, and sometimes, it feels like you’re trying to sleep with the forbidden daughter, while her dad is standing there with a shotgun, saying, ‘Run kiddo – run for your life.’ But as time goes by you harden and now I can look at these things with an ironic distance…”

The clip, directed, animated and edited by Tyler Kindred, cuts the song’s heaviness with a dry humor illustrated through the cleaver weaving of 2D animation. And just to be clear, Schou is wholeheartedly opposed to “guns and violence and all related aspects,” reads the bookending disclaimer. “Truth be told, he is not keen on running either. No kittens, ponies, butterflies, unicorns, trees, clouds, lightning bolts or dogs were injured during the animation of these recordings. No virginities were lost; no children were conceived; and female footage occupy 50% of the video.”

Watch below:

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