Phodiso releases video for ‘Look’, from ‘Act III’

22 February 2022

Phodiso has released a video for Look, the third single from his 2021 EP Act III. Look hit #13 on the Hot NZ Singles Chart following its release in December 2021.

The clip was directed by Phodiso himself, and shot and edited by Will Slingsby from Off The Ground Productions.

WATCH HERE

Created as a DIY alternative to the original concept, necessitated by the 2021 Covid lockdown, Phodiso says of the video’s premise, “The basic narrative is around my journey trying to get noticed by certain people. It’s a bit crazed, as navigating the industry with barely any knowledge and experience has been.”

Also released in December 2021, Act III is the third and final EP in the Botswana-born, Tāmaki Makaurau-based rapper’s three-EP series.

A sense of perseverance underpins the overall release, although its ultimate purpose is still to get people moving. “I wanted to make tracks that people could bob their heads to. ‘Look’ felt like it fit that criteria from the jump,” Phodiso reflects.

Look – a smooth, funk-bred track with a striking vocal delivery – follows earlier singles Nice and Rough, and is: “about trusting yourself to do what you have to do. The thing you love so much that you can’t let it go, regardless of how hard it is to persist. It’s to encourage anyone who might need the courage to keep at it.”

PHODISO ON SHOOTING LOOK:

“The idea for the video for look came out of lockdown musings. We could no longer do what we’d originally planned so I got my flatmates involved and we went out with a loose idea and played around. The basic narrative is around my journey trying to get noticed by certain people. It’s a bit crazed, as navigating the industry with barely any knowledge/experience has been. To ‘the suits’ I appear almost out of nowhere, they see me almost everywhere they go but don’t seem to have a second for me. I keep applying the pressure. Towards the end they start to vibe a little. Shake a bit. Dance more. And that’s it. Nothing more. There doesn’t necessarily need to be. But that’s the story as far as a lot of us are told, you keep pushing and one day you break through. I have given a lot in my music, pushed a lot. I know some people have felt it. What comes next is up to the randomness of the universe.

“I made the track ‘Look’ feeling low in energy and confidence. I wanted to make something that would represent the me I hope to return to — full of light and self-assured. As with a lot of my songs, I saw this one as part of an ongoing conversation. Themes of friendships turned sour, feeling unseen and unheard, and trying to persevere through it all made their way into the discussion that is the ACTs. Of course there were other themes. These seem to have been so deep in my subconscious that they kept coming back. It’s kinda sad now that I think about it lol, but it’s mostly written in a way that allows it to be danceable. I had to caution myself against getting too sad by actively choosing to take stock in the blessings I’ve been so lucky to have, and the potential I still hold. To myself I say “look at me” — see and hear me for who I am, what I’ve done, the strength I have, the more I am capable of… and maintain hope. That’s the song. And hopefully hearing and saying it a bajillion times in rehearsals and stuff will help me regain my strength. If anyone should hear it and feel lifted by it, whether sonically or lyrically then great.”