Cover art for single “Phoenix” for release 24 March 2017
Shrouded in Euro-mystique with an animal totem as venerable as time itself, singer-songwriter Raven gave this exclusive for the reveal of her video single “Phoenix.”
In her new pop music video available to the public for its first-ever viewing here, the New York-based Raven animates the myth of the bird rising out of ashes to sear the imagination with an impulse to persevere in the face of all adversity.
“The song is an epic tribal victory anthem,” Raven said in an interview via Skype from Chicago to Belgium. “I want ‘Phoenix’ to be a song that inspires people to find their inner warrior so they can face whatever life throws at them, their daily battles. It means we’re not giving up. Ever.”
It is no wonder then that Raven calls her fanbase “Warriors.” She said the lyrics carry a message that the world needs to hear right now. “It’s the breaking free from that burden and overcoming those things that hold us back.”
“You can’t burn me down now / I was born to survive / My heart is on fire / Can’t tame me I’m wild / I’m an inferno inside / We’ll watch the whole world ignite.” Lyrics from “Phoenix” by Raven
The video starts off with a metaphor for the ashes of time-honored myth — a clay figure depicting an awakening, “an unfolding, so to speak.”
Raven continued, “So it’s about the inner beauty that we have to believe in, the power we all possess, even when we feel more like the ashes than anything…. From the ashes to the birthing fire, then the shiny figure, the actual young bird, the young phoenix, ultimately you see the warrior at the end. That’s the power the phoenix can have.”
Music video “Phoenix”
BABY BIRD
Growing up in a sonic stew of recordings from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s and on to Michael Jackson and Fleetwood Mac, Raven’s youth was defined by transitions and transformations: changing countries, changing schools, changing languages. Her resistance against all efforts to define her according to convention gave her the conviction to pursue a life in the lively arts, embodying the myth of reinvention.
As an only child who loved to sing and play dress-up, Raven used family gatherings to set the stage for ensemble work. She produced shows with cousins as backup singers, plunging fake microphones into their unaccustomed hands and tweaking details to optimal effect.
“I apologized to them not so long ago,” Raven confessed with sheepish laughter. “I saw some film footage. Every time we got together, I put them in their places in the garden,” and the show would go on.
But Raven makes no apology for insisting that one is born with the imperative to define one’s own journey forward.
“I heard loads of silly reasons for what I can and cannot do – too tall, not thin enough, not the right hair color. You should make your own way, and that’s something I strongly believe in,” she asserted. “People are very quick to put you into boxes, and when you suddenly step out of that character, they try to push you back into your assigned little box…. People have a problem with not being able to place you.”
Pop single “Phoenix”
TRANSFORMATION
Raven is the composite of all she has seen, done, been through. Moving with her family to New York from Europe at age 12 made her feel as much at home in the US as anywhere else by the time she began a musical career. She competes only with her mother for the number of languages spoken – reaching for nine to top her mother’s eight.
The mythically motivated singer credits her parents’ peripatetic career with making her a multi-continental artist whose work underscores the irrelevance of geographical boundaries. She said of the path that led her to the life she now enjoys, “I had a lot of fun. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. It really made me who I am.”
Sensing the universality of her own adolescent identity pangs, Raven admitted, “It’s always a struggle to try to find yourself when you’re young. Through my teenage years I found it very hard to know who I was and who I was supposed to be. But if there’s a void in you, people try to fill it with their ideas, which isn’t always the best thing.”
With every age came a musical influence, a cultural impression, a linguistic soundtrack conjoining with the natural growth of a girl into womanhood.
“I wanted this music video to be an interpretation of the various stages,” Raven mused. “I wanted to interpret the different stages of myself in these characters that I designed.”
A deep respect for feminist artists and avant garde pop idols gave her inspiration. Madonna, Cher, Annie Lennox, Cyndi Lauper, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and Queen left their marks. Now the likes of Katy Perry, Sia and Lady Gaga light up the 21st-century sky for Raven.
RAVEN TAKES FLIGHT
South Africa is next on the itinerary for Raven’s May 12th release of “The Burning EP” and some film work. The EP was recorded and produced in New York with Raven’s New York creative team who are all too eager to set her aloft for success in her myriad aspirations.
The symbolism of the raven has taken on disparate forms through history, but in this artist’s rendering, the raven is the keeper of humankind in a mythological narrative in which the bird starts out white but travels through ash and soot to rescue humanity from a fiery demise. The black that remains is an emblem of indelible pertinacity.
The music’s contemporary resonance is a source of satisfaction for Raven whose hope is to enlighten a world audience through what could be a dark age to come. As for deliberate change-making, she hopes to support anti-poaching laws and perhaps also to encourage China in its efforts to ban the sale of elephant ivory.
Phoenix song credits
Performed by Raven
Written by Raven, Aimee Proal and Lynn Verleyen
Recorded at Airgo Music Studios
Produced by Michael Graye
Vocal production and additional arrangement by Jimmy Greco
Mixing and Mastering by Jimmy Greco
Photos by Rosario Zinnanti
Phoenix video credits
Performed by Raven
Directed by Raven and John Engström
Director of Photography: John Engström
Hair by Mako Iijima
Make-up by Corinne Tweddel, Madison Personette and Mako Iijima
Bodypaint by Corinne Tweddel and Madison Personette
Choreography by Jean Tree
Stylist: Gerry Goor
Editing by PIXMIX STUDIOS
Executive Producer: Raven