Jai-Jagdeesh recently released Road to Somewhere, a song that carries a story of deep sadness and pain, but also healing and hope.
Today, Jai-Jagdeesh shares a visual journey that takes us beyond the music. The official music video for Road to Somewhere, which she produced alongside an excellent director and wonderful crew, brings to life a story that will fill your heart.
Gabylu Alcántara: What was the inspiration behind the visual story in this music video?
Jai-Jagdeesh: I knew I wanted the music video for ‘Road to Somewhere’ to be one that didn’t shy away from the hard, sad, or uncomfortable. I wanted it to say something that parallelled the story in the lyrics, but wasn’t exactly the same; however, I didn’t have any specificity. I didn’t know the “what” or the “how.”
I reached out to Griffin Burns, whose most recent writing & directing work had themes with which I identified: being stuck, closed loop processing, melancholy, heaviness. I felt like he could help me build a narrative – but he did more than that: He wrote the entire concept. I had given him a couple of mood board ideas, recent films that I loved the visual style of, and we were definitely leaning towards a slow, subtle, high-contrast, low-movement idea that would be filmed indoors. Then, when I told him I was staying out near Joshua Tree National Park, he expressed a strong desire to incorporate the environment into our vision. It’s a harsh one, so it serves both as a metaphor for the dry, empty, intense inner state of a challenging life chapter as well as an ideal canvas for the story of someone who is lost, wandering, climbing, seeking; someone who is depleted, but who finds the will to keep going.
After we had our first production meeting and did a round of location scouting, the whole storyline landed in Griffin’s brain. The desert, the search, the bathtub as a portal, the renewal; all of it. And I loved it.
GA: Tell us about the process of working with Griffin to put this story onscreen. How did you decide on its aesthetic?
JJ: It was amazing to collaborate with this team. Every single person on our diverse and almost-entirely female crew was wonderful, each one integral to capturing what we captured. I felt, from the first moment of our first shoot day, like the project was in very capable hands, which for me creates a sense of safety and calm – which then breeds a feeling of freedom, something that is vital for any creative process. I happily took all the directions I was given for each shot, occasionally making suggestions but mostly just showing up as best I could. And together we worked to troubleshoot every speed bump (including getting politely kicked out of Joshua Tree National Park for not having the right permit…), formulate the pieces that were still up in the air, and wrap up on time at the end of Day 2. Teamwork, man. It’s everything.
As for the aesthetic, that was largely dictated by where we’d chosen to film. What do you do with the desert as a backdrop? You capture it, unembellished. Maybe you catch it at its best, from pretty angles and with golden light. Or maybe you point the camera where the landscape is the most barren, highlighting the harshness. Either way, it sets the tone. Based on the colors of the land and soil, I sourced a muted wardrobe for the first ⅔ of the video, one that might show how stuck and emptied-out this character was. We knew we needed low-vibrancy colors. Can you imagine if I’d chosen hot pink or highlighter yellow? It would be a VERY different story; a fun one, sure, but not quite right for this song. So, really, it was Joshua Tree that chose the aesthetic for us.
GA: This music video feels like a short film. Why did you go this route? What made you want to create something so different for ‘Road to Somewhere’?
JJ: Two reasons. One, I couldn’t imagine lip-syncing my way through this song while staring into the lens of a camera. It made so much more sense to leave the 4th wall intact, which then required writing a visual narrative. And two, I wanted to be real about what I’d been feeling, because hiding it felt inauthentic – and I knew a short film-style approach would enable us to “go there.” I was also determined to not accidentally make a perfume commercial, which is what can occasionally happen within this medium. “Person floats through atmosphere looking elegant, untroubled, and maybe even a little bit revolutionary” is basically the script for every perfume advert that has ever been made… and a fair assortment of music videos, too. I needed something that would carry the story of the lyrics further, and that might also offer each viewer some recognition and hope in the process.
Special thanks to the amazing crew that made this video possible:
Written & Directed by Griffin Burns
Director of Photography: Celeste deBardelaben
Assistant Director: Ruby Zatz
First Assistant Camera: Kobi Ross
Second Assistant Camera: Abbey Perez
Executive Producer: Spirit Voyage Records
Producer: Jai-Jagdeesh
Special Thanks: Rickie Dickerson & Karen Osborne