New York pop duo BHuman has a bloody good time on its new single, “Other Way,” and the two are hopeful their verve will encourage listeners to find the “unabashed joy” in themselves, too.
The song’s music video, out Monday and viewable above, is a colorful tribute to era-defining teen movies like “Grease” and “But I’m a Cheerleader.” Arguably the most iconic allusion, however, appears at the video’s climax ― when singer Billie Lloyd, clad in a pink gown, is doused with a bucket of blood in an homage to Stephen King’s “Carrie.”
Lloyd and bandmate Harrison Scott told HuffPost they felt compelled to lean into their “un-ironic” love of teen films in an effort to capture the rush of “first love” as referenced in the song. As for “Carrie,” the pair connected to that 1976 classic ― in which a telekinetic teen seeks revenge on her classmates after a prom night gone wrong ― because its portrayal of high school as a place of both humor and horror echoes the experience of many LGBTQ youths.
“High school can suck for a lot of queer kids, so we felt like the visceral quality of Carrie getting blood dumped on her really drove the point home,” said Lloyd, who is transgender. “Personally, my biggest challenge was keeping going while I had menthol-flavored fake blood in my eyes!”
Added Scott, who is gay, “High school and new love are both exciting and scary, and I think that resonates in the message of the song and video.”
“Other Way” is featured on BHuman’s 2019 debut album, “BMovie,” which came out just months after their self-titled debut EP. The 10-song “theatrical concept” collection reflects the varying backgrounds of its members ― Lloyd is British, while Scott is an Illinois native ― who were friends before they began collaborating as BHuman in mid-2018.
Their sense of campy humor, however, especially shines through in their music videos. “Goodbye,” which debuted on Billboard in March 2019, saw Scott and Lloyd donning 1960s-inspired duds while cavorting with giant puppets. For their reggae-tinged, electro-pop take on Cher’s “Believe,” they invoked Mulder and Scully from “The X-Files.”
The release of “Other Way” comes after a prolific period for many LGBTQ pop artists, with Sam Smith, Kim Petras and Lil Nas X racking up mainstream hits over the past year. Scott sees the cultural embrace of such stars as a natural progression in terms of how “the breadth and depth of people” who consume music is represented.
“We’re telling stories and making music about our lives, which are inherently queer stories,” he said.
Lloyd, who cites Sufjan Stevens and Regina Spektor as influences, is hopeful fans of all backgrounds will relate to BHuman’s music and specifically to “Other Way,” because “love is an emotion felt by all.”
“Stories unite us because we automatically place ourselves in them,” she said.
