Michael Kiwanuka has shared a gripping new video for track ‘Beautiful Life’ – check it out below.
The song was released earlier this year and featured on the Netflix documentary Convergence: Courage In A Crisis, directed by the Oscar winning director Orlando von Einsiedel.
The new video is directed by the American director Phillip Youmans. Speaking of the collaboration, Youmans said: “This story is a cautionary tale about our nation’s easy access to, and fascination with, guns.
“We follow teenagers playing Russian roulette with a parent’s revolver. As each player holds the gun up to their temple, their lives flash before their eyes. When we die, our bodies release DMT; as the chemical fills our bloodstream, it’s said that a person experiences their life flashing before their eyes. So close to their possible death, I wanted to explore these characters through their memories. With each pull of the trigger, the change of death rises and each player deals with varying levels of fear.
“Overconfidence and recklessness underline the core themes of this film: life is beautiful and precious, and conformity and exhibitionism can be deadly. Though they’re fearful, they pull the trigger anyway, bowing to the pressure of the moment”
You can watch the video here:
Speaking about the track, Kiwanuka said: “In this song I wanted to focus on the feeling that there’s a real strength in the human spirit when you try to look for beauty even in difficult situations. Of course, in some situations that becomes more and more difficult. But I just wanted to ponder on that and wonder what life would be like if I lived it like that.
“Ultimately whatever people feel from hearing the song is ok with me. But what I was trying to emit through the music was a feeling of defiance. A feeling of strength through adversity.”