RENE has released the music video for her anarchic track “Rule The World”, taken from her recently released EP ‘Slipped Through My Fingers’. The Singapore-based musician worked together with director Lenne Chai and director of photography Danvisuals to create the campy, queer, action-packed video. Watch it here: bit.ly/ruletheworldvideo
“I wrote ‘Rule The World’ in a time when I felt stuck in a monotonous and unfulfilling routine. The song is based off the idea that there’s something better out there for everyone in this position, an inkling that could very well manifest if you take agency of your own life,” shares RENE.
“When I wrote the song, I pictured a car driving out of a city, making a grand escape. Lenne and I toyed with a couple of insane ideas (one involving me performing the song at the back of a moving lorry smack in the middle of Singapore) and eventually landed on the craziest one of all – getting a bunch of beautiful people across Singapore and Los Angeles to work together on our campiest video idea yet. Of course it had to involve our queer love interests on the back of a motorcycle driving off into a fake sunset.”
On the inspiration behind the music video, Los Angeles-based photographer and director Lenne Chai (W Magazine, Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter) adds, “We were inspired by D.E.B.S., a queer American action-comedy film about a spy-in-training who falls in love with the villain. To give it a local flavour, we referenced the visual language of Asian femme fatale films from the 80s/90s — complete with smoke, harsh lighting and crash zooms. We also studied episodes of Mediacorp’s 90s cop show Triple Nine to see how they framed Singapore as the backdrop for over-the-top action sequences.”
Depicting a queer love story with a happy ending was an essential part of the music video for RENE and Lenne, both of whom grew up in a space where many LGBTQ+ characters in the media are often presented with negative connotations. “Most queer stories I saw growing up often ended in tragedy, so I thoroughly enjoyed crafting a queer music video that‘s unabashedly joyful, campy, and action packed,” explains Lenne.
RENE continues, “D.E.B.S. was an instant favourite for us because it did that exact thing – it turned the tragic narrative on its head and gave us a cheesy, fun, and unapologetically queer rom-com action flick that was so rare at the time. We hope our music video does for other people what movies like D.E.B.S. did for us.”
With local sponsors Sandbox Training Ground (choreographed the action sequences), smol (fed the hungry cast and crew), Camera Rental Centre (equipment sponsor), Closet Children (accessories sponsor) and incredible location partners Studio Min Max and Club Hell contributing to this project, the video was made possible through the efforts of a community invested in uplifting local independent creatives. The team consisted of creatives based all over the world, including animation director Danica Tan, graphic designer Sunny Chuang, editor Ian Alexander Ng and colorist Weiyi Ang.
“It’s always great working with passionate and such talented people. I loved the concept when Lenne pitched it to me. I’m always super keen on making stuff with fellow Singaporean artists, and creating more gr8 content for our local music scene ❤️,” shares cinematographer Danvisuals (Nathan Hartono, Forests, Benjamin Kheng and Bea Lorenzo, Soph T.).
“Rule The World” is taken from RENE’s recently released EP ‘Slipped Through My Fingers’, a project that deals with the themes of grief, heartbreak, and handling big life decisions. The track was co-produced by Indonesia-based Gilang Wisnandar (HNATA, rebelsuns., MFNE) and RENE.
