Queen Cult is the femme-queer project that rattles with the frustration of a generation battling against all manner of hypocrites, double-standards and quiet injustices. It’s in new single ‘Calm’, that frontwoman Maisie Johnson and bassist Leila Jacklin expose the “pick me” culture that pervades our society, as you’ll hear in the staunch lyrics, “Not sure yourself what you class as right / Nodding your head staring into his eyes / That’s it girl, just sit tight.”
Accompanying the riot grrl track, we have a music video that depicts a literal mannequin as the dolled-up hopeful on a man’s attention.
“In this video, we are narrating the story of a mannequin which is representative of a woman ingrained in a ‘pick me’ culture. Dressing for the male gaze and socially indoctrinated from a young age, she does not yet see the bigger picture, to express herself however she wishes but for herself. And not solely for the potential social norm. We try to talk to the mannequin to help her out of the ideology. When burying her, we are burying the old social norms that suppressed her from realising she has her own mind and can make her own decisions.”
It’s important to note that Queen Cult have nothing against wearing make-up or dressing however you like, as portrayed through Johnson’s own self-styling.
“With Maisie’s look, we injected more individuality in the way she presents herself, with the embodiment of feminism and desire for change, in front of a bedroom mirror, signalling that self reflection and revolution must start within her, the individual woman, first. We played on two moods visually – the dull, colourlessness to represent the calmness, inaction and complacency of the outside world vs the red/white flashes to capture the anger and storm within,” adds directed Foxa Riot.
Check out ‘Calm’ in our Indie Rockers playlist.
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