Enter a new dimension by watching the acid-like video for this introspective ballad.
Brooklyn-based dream pop trio No Vacation paired up with their tourmates Nashville folk-pop duo Okey Dokey for trippy new single “Really Truly.” As if the sporadic synths and dizzying rhythm aren’t disorienting enough, the music video, which AdHoc is premiering below, pulls you into a colorful fever dream.
After constantly sharing the stage with each other during a massive U.S. tour, the two bands felt destined to collaborate. Aaron Martin, vocalist of Okey Dokey, and No Vacation’s Natalie Lee worked on the track together to meditate on growing up, coming to peace with yourself, and reflecting on your childhood.
Aaron Martin told AdHoc via email, that he “designed the video to be more of a shock tool,” with the hypnotic spirals ideally bringing the viewer into a subliminal trance. He also noted that, “my biggest inspirations for this video was that Willy Wonka death tunnel–phantasmagorical, colorful, difficult…but rewarding.”
“I wanted to dig even deeper into the moment where the person first thinks about that alternate reality,” said Martin. “My words ended up being more of a two-sided message, in keeping with the idea of a song being able to rewrite itself because of the context. One was from the personified reflection, congratulating our character for finding comfort after struggling with themselves for so long. The other was pretty much a high five and a thank you to No Vacation for giving the song such a great spark.”
Martin continues, “after that, Sabrina [Mai, lead vocalist of No Vacation] dropped a bunch of harmonies in, we peppered Harrison [Spencer, guitarist of No Vacation]’s noodleys all over the thing. Like a memory with an ‘aha!’ moment hidden somewhere in the middle–a resolution that finds itself after the two perspectives are folded together.”
“As you get older, you start worrying about what others think about you, but sometimes you just gotta ignore it,” Nat Lee of No Vacation added. “The main idea is: when we were younger all we cared about was fun and happiness–and maybe we should let that guide us instead of what others think. By the end of the tour I realized, although No Vacation is a career, I always have to savor the small short moments with my bandmates offstage that were stupid, fun, and made the stress worth it.”
(WARNING: may trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy.)