A personal essay co-authored by Charlotte Fassler and Dani Girdwood of Similar But Different
The world has lost the plot. At the core of this Trump-era nausea lies a flagrant disrespect for humanity. it is hard to know what to say and even harder to feel heard when it continuously feels like you are screaming into darkness. In feeling so charged we all wondered how the hell to tell a story of love when empathy feels so frighteningly rare?
And that’s how this concept for our collaboration with Mainland was born. When we heard the song, it struck a chord for us. it just swallowed us up. There’s something raw, guttural, and universal about it — you feel it in the swelling chorus; the intensity and ecstasy of love.
We started to riff off of that anticipatory longing; this lifelong search for someone to love — someone who loves you for you. With a slight ode to the Twilight Zone, we conceived of this pseudo post-apocalyptic landscape; a moment in purgatory where everyone is searching for their other half. All equal, all lonely, all hopeful — all human. And, all deserving of the most beautiful, magnetic, fulfilling, and celebrated love this life has to offer.
So with that, we felt it was essential to showcase real love—casting real couples was crucial to the spirit of the video. We envisioned these reunion moments between lovers to be loaded with electricity and passion. The emotional chemistry and kinetic energy had to feel tactile and pure.
We hope these partnerships deliver a message of acceptance—something the world needs to (and wants to) hear right now. That the emotional plight of these characters carries a universality. Love is love and needs no qualifiers.