Tove Lo’s “Fairy Dust” short film is an explicit, dangerous, and essential exploration on womanhood and sexuality
It’s about reclaiming the female hard-on,Since announcing her new album, Swedish singer Tove Lo has been teasing Lady Wood‘s accompanying short film, Fairy Dust.
Previewing the mini-movie with the music video for the lead single “Cool Girl,” things looked like they’d be pretty explosive (literally, there was an explosion in the teaser), while exploring the singer’s take on feminism, sexuality, and identity.
Well, now the full Fairy Dust movie is here and things are dark AF.
Those familiar with Tove Lo’s music will know that both lyrically and sonically, the singer doesn’t shy away from the shadows. In fact, she address issues of inadequacy, relationships, love, mental health, drug use, and sexuality head on with a refreshingly frank and honest mind.
Take, for example, the title of her new album, Lady Wood. “It’s about reclaiming the female hard-on,” the singer told NY Magazine, while she also shut down sexism and objectification.
"Some guys were clearly confused," she told the magazine, referring to her lyrics. "Especially these certain types of guys who think that because I am open about sex they can talk to me in a disrespectful, objectifying way."
Exploring her lyrical themes in a more explicit and emotional way, Fairy Dust is a dangerous and essential exploration into the wonderful world of Tove Lo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abZ0PXadpB0?feature=oembed
The Lemonade-esque film was directed by Tove’s creative partner, Tim Erem, and features the actress Lina Esco (Free the Nipple) as the singer’s destructive alter-ego.
"I realized I spend my life chasing rushes, whether it’s love or being on stage or drugs," Tove Lo told Entertainment Weekly. "[The album is] like every different stage of that rush."
The resulting 31-minute clip is a dark meditation on these varying stages of Tove’s life, from the heady excess of partying, the burn out, the pain, and the almost eroticism and fetishization of that lifestyle.
In the opening of the film, Lina Esco gives an emotionally powerful and meditative monologue about insecurities, feminism, societal expectations, and sexuality.
"People are afraid of being alone. Not me. I like it. I like it. I'm independent. I live my life to the fullest," Esco says. "There's nothing pure about the way we do things. There never was. We're humans. We're dirty. Thank God I have ways to numb the pain."
The clip ends with Tove Lo pleasuring herself to a new song (which is amazing), but not before she recites another insightful monologue.
As the clip comes to a close, Tove meditates on her life, and the pressures from a patriarchal society.
"Nobody knows me, know all the dark sides, all the things that really go on in my head when I talk to people. Sociopath, psychopath. What if he's right?" she asks.
Tove Lo has since explained that the clip and the album Lady Wood are, in fact, only the first part of a double album.
"My worry after the first record was that I wasn’t going to be able to be as personal and open because I was scared because of all the reactions, she said. "[With Lady Wood] I didn’t want to cram 20 songs together, because I wanted it to feel like one body of work. I’ll give you something extra: I’ll give you two solid albums, two bodies of work, and it’s going to feel like one story. "I want to make sure what people hear is really thought through by me. This is what I want you to hear and take in," she finished.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMPaLAGDr5t
Tove Lo’s new album Lady Wood is out now.
