Spoiler Alert: Our annual Year in ReView series arrives in a few short weeks to close out 2024, and we’re comfortable in revealing that SASAMI’s masterstroke of seismic emotion called “Honeycrash” is certain to be included in our Best Songs list. We mention this because the Los Angeles artist rolls into town tonight (November 14) with a thunder at her back, opening for Destroy Boys for what should be a lively gig at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club.
SASAMI also released a new joint this week called “Just Be Friends” via Domino, and it sounds dope, too. But we’re admittedly still hung up on May’s “Honeycrash,” which arrived with a video directed by Andrew Thomas Huang (Björk, FKA Twigs), as it soundtracked the months that followed as seasons changed and as summer flings evolved into meaningful relationships.
“I wanted to write a song with all the drama of a 19th-century classical opera but with the patience and understanding of someone in therapy in 2024,” SASAMI said after the drop. “Finding a love so great you’re willing to persist through the elements, even toward certain death to bear its ravishment. It’s about wanting to fight for the pinnacle of passion and desire but knowing that you can’t change or rush someone else’s feelings or where they’re at. But with a guitar as my sword and my steed.”
The music video brings this feeling into a panoramic and cinematic visual that fans the flames of what we’re all feeling inside.
“I have been so fortunate to find a collaborator in Andrew, and together we made a sexy little drama of our own,” she added. “The ‘Honeycrash’ video is a peek into the new world that I have been building and teasing out on stage. I am really thrilled to unleash this first of many new songs in an era of melodrama, romance, and hooks of course.”
Huang also joined in, elaborating in vivid detail and color: “I wanted to create a video for her that felt big, sweeping and sexy while showcasing her performance as the highlight of the piece…a video that evoked themes and images such as runaway fugitives, rogue sisterhood, distressed denim, rugged natural elements, primal rage, Thelma and Louise, tsunamis, tornadoes, blazing sunsets, sci-fi apocalyptic visions of the American West, and passionate ‘i would die for you’ level romance. Achieving this vision on a budget was ambitious but made possible by filming on a volume LED stage and relying on the use of epic stock footage to set the scene for the backdrop of SASAMI’s new universe. I am honored to collaborate with SASAMI again on this new journey and am smitten by the world she is heralding with her new sound and vision.”
Embrace all the highs and lows that come with the seasons, fire up the song and video below, and prepare to experience one of 2024’s absolute finest live and in the flesh later tonight.
DESTROY BOYS + SASAMI + CHOKECHERRY :: Thursday, November 14 at the Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave. in Boston MA :: 7 p.m., all ages, $25 to $30 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
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