half-alive share Choreographed Music Video For New Single “What’s Wrong”
Long beach based alt-rock trio half•alive are all dressed up with nowhere to go in their latest release, ‘What’s Wrong,’ their first new release since their 2019 debut album, Now, Not Yet. ‘What’s Wrong’ is accompanied by a dance heavy music video showcasing the band decked out in tuxedos. With a sound similar to AJR and The Mowglis, half•alive continue to establish themselves as a group to watch with this latest release.
The track was written collaboratively by the band and Ojivolta, with the underlying message born of a conversation between one of the band’s collaborators, Jordan Johnson of JA Collective, and Olivia Wilde, a misquote giving rise to the track’s chorus. While Wilde and JA Collective were working together on a project Wilde shared words of wisdom “the time is always right to do what’s right.” Johnson later misquoted the line back to Taylor, giving rise to the chorus’ “time’s always right to fix what’s wrong.” “That line felt like the open door to address the social climate we’ve all been surrounded by for nearly a year now,” shared Taylor. “[It] prompted the idea of transformation of one’s immediate & eventually global environment by looking inward first, to look in the mirror & realize that is where the change is going to begin.”
With crisp choreography, the music video dances viewers through a dated apartment, following the band through the story of their song. The visuals echo the song’s lyrics and its transformation narrative by taking the worn down apartment and setting it up in two radically different ways – all at once decrepit and then filled with strobe lights reminiscent of a party house. With the pandemic influencing daily life around the globe, it had its own hand in shaping the narrative of the music video as well. “We felt strongly that there was something really special about filming it in a confined space, especially with that being the environment so many people have found themselves stuck in during quarantine – but transforming it into more,” Taylor says of the video’s setting.
With 2020 being a year for the books – and in many ways, not the good books – half•alive looked to see the silver lining. “We were thankful for a breath to think, reflect & process, as many have had this year,” says Taylor. The band came to realize that there’s a need presented by the pandemic, that they hope their music can address: “There is a desperate need for hope & love & honesty and change…we can only trust that we’ve made something honest & hope those who hear ‘What’s Wrong’ will feel loved & begin to hope in something truly transformative.”
Watch the music video below and discover more favourites on our Starting Line-Up Spotify playlist.
