Video of The Day: Charlotte Rose Benjamin

There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.

I'm sure many of us have had the kind of dream that's so vivid, so real, that when we wake up and whatever we were dreaming about isn't actually happening it can be jarringly disorienting. For me, it's been a luscious makeout dream. For others, like Charlotte Rose Benjamin, it's the dream of the urban apartment dweller: the dream of the hidden room.

Says NYC-based Benjamin, "I kept having this dream, which I hear is common when living in a tiny New York City apartment, where I discover a whole new room in my home through a door in the closet or someplace unexpected and realize I have so much more space than I ever thought. When I wrote it I was sort of caught between fantasizing about being totally alone, pushing people away and then feeling super lonely and reaching out to anyone I knew who might give me attention."

The concept of space, not to mention isolation, feels even more acute as we continue to navigate through this unprecedented global health crisis. For Benjamin, creative endeavors are crucial. "Making a music video for 'Autopilot' alone in a room on Photo Booth during the COVID-19 crisis kinda made sense. I think a lot of people are struggling with feeling desperately lonely right now. Little creative projects like this have been saving me from losing my mind."

"Autopilot" the video is full of homemade escapism, with Benjamin shimmying across various backdrops. It's the kind of thing you do when you're bored at home, but done in a way that's both charming and cool.

"Autopilot" the song speaks to the tug of war within Benjamin's back-and-forth between wanting to be alone and wanting attention. Her lyrics are coated in honey, molten coquetry juxtaposed with a hearty dose of realism ("But I'm not fucking flying a plane"). Take a cue from "Autopilot," stay true to yourself, stay creative, and stay the fuck home.     





[posted 5.15.20]

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