BIIANCO Releases Zombie Themed Music Video, Choose Your Own Adventure

Independent artist BIIANCO really went above and beyond for their latest release, which comes with nothing less than an interactive video game.

For her new single “This is what friends are for,” the Los Angeles-based, Queens-born artist and producer took inspiration from RL Stine’s “Choose Your Own Adventure” style. Give yourself goosebumps books to create your own multi-story music video adventure.

The video starts off fairly innocently, following the artist on a motorbike heading towards a friend’s house. Then, as she enters, the camera pulls back to reveal a zombie lurking in the bushes.

Inside, a friend receives a message that begins with “Is your hair still pink?” and ends with the inevitable “I’m out”. She opens the door to see her ex – a zombie with crazy eyes.

Then the screen freezes and the viewer has two choices: “Kiss him” or “Tell him to fuck him right now”.

Yes, zombies are metaphors of ex-manipulators returning from the grave; and as a spectator you have the option of falling prey to the encroachments of zombified lovers or quickly sending them back to where they came from. Each answer will lead you to a different outcome, some bloodier than others.

“Thematically this song is really inspired by the bad choices that are made during breakups. People become the worst versions of themselves. It’s almost like they become zombies or this Mr. Hyde version of them. Dr. Jeckyll, ”said the artist. “So when it came time to make the video, I was obsessed with the idea of ​​exes posing as zombies and forcing my fans to make choices and show the consequences of their actions.”

BIIANCO

She felt that an interactive video game would be the best way to force viewers to make their own choices about how to deal with zombies in their past and that of their friends. To create the video, BIIANCO and its collaborators shot no less than 8 separate videos so that each possible scenario has its own unique ending. Spoiler alert: It involves a lot of cathartic skull crushes and zombie stabs (if you play your cards right).

“It was by far the most thorough and complicated thing I have ever created,” said the artist. “We had to shoot for over 8 different versions of a music video – so every choice in the game has a corresponding result. And then we had to code everything in one game. It took almost six months but it was worth it. hardly. I’m a video game enthusiast, so it was a dream come true for me. “

BIIANCO – that’s what friends are for (official clip)

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Like much of BIIANCO’s work, the Boundaries Video aims to deconstruct binaries and hard limits, envisioning a more creative landscape instead. “I’ve always encompassed a myriad of masculinity and femininity and that naturally translated into my presentation appearance – mixing up men’s clothing with ornate fake nails or working on my motorcycle in lingerie,” she says,

“Like many women, I have also had personal experiences with toxic men who were endlessly threatened by my masculine sides and who really pushed me away from it. And I almost succumbed to that pressure before. to wake up and go out. So, keep questioning these binarisms in my fashion and my appearance is a way for me to reclaim my toxic masculinity identity. “

Murdering zombies is one way of sticking with patriarchy (though not all of the toxic exes in the video are cis men). But BIIANCO’s career and music have never been in boxes – and his penchant for self-produced, dizzying, slow-paced electronic music is matched only by his love for creative disruption.

The artist began producing music during an all-female retreat at Ableton in Joshua Tree, and since then she has been creating compellingly innovative and groundbreaking art in many different forms. During her quarantine, she released five new singles and seven covers. His other recent creative offerings include a series of music production tutorials shared on TikTok and a poetry book titled It will break your heart. She also has a full album coming up.

With “that’s what friends are for”, she has established herself not only as a masterful producer and musician, but also as an innovator in terms of technical form and conceptual creativity. The song itself, a fuzzy and alluring group of synths and basses, sounds like it wouldn’t be out of place at a club in Berlin or in the penultimate episodes of Russian doll, and the release is a promising window on a new kind of media form and an artist with unlimited potential.

Play the full video here.