Our girl WILLOW is riding high now that her new album empathogen nabbed that No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. The feat marks the first time the ever-evolving artist has ever placed on the chart and shows that the album’s surprising blend of genres and styles has gained her yet another audience. She’s not resting on this particular laurel, however, as she keeps things moving by giving us a self-directed visual for “run!,” the set’s latest single.
The song, like “b i g f e e l i n g s” before it, gets deep as WILLOW explores the intrusive thoughts of self-doubt and anxiety that plague our modern-day lives. She takes that theme even further by bringing us to what at first appears to be a prison or asylum in the black-and-white clip. We’re quickly shown, though, that this space is actually in her head as a bratty, maladjusted version of herself annoys and torments her incessantly.
Soon, the facility’s orderlies — played by jazz duo DOMi and JD Beck — put her in a straitjacket and inundate her with some kind of gas therapy as she struggles to gain control. She manages to break free somehow and runs into the outside world while the song’s cathartic outro swells. It’s then that the video blooms into muted color as she runs to and then embraces a version of herself that seems more pulled together.
We are very proud of the artist that WILLOW is becoming and the creative milestone that is empathogen, and we are sure to see many more flashes of brilliance as she continues to promote the album. But first, watch her continue to push her artistry forward when you press play on the visual for “run!” right here.
