VIDEO: Alex the Astronaut Shares New Video for 'Haircut'

ALEX THE ASTRONAUT unveiled her video for "Haircut" today, the latest single from her upcoming album How to Grow A Sunflower Underwater, out July 22 via Nettwerk. The new Claudia Bailey-directed video from singer, songwriter and storyteller dives into the power of friendship, especially while you are trying to figure yourself out.

Of the video, Alex shares, "I loved 'Call Me By Your Name' when I first saw it because it was presented as a love story first, and not just a 'gay story.' In the same way, I wanted to show a story about gender as a story about growing up, and I think the biggest part of growing up is our friends.

Claud, the director, made such a beautiful, bright narrative about two friends who are figuring themselves out side-by-side and it fit the song perfectly." Alex continues, "It felt like we were filming a movie. We had so much fun at the shoot, and I think the video gets across the joy, terror, brightness, darkness and excitement of growing into the person that you want to be."

The upbeat "Haircut" celebrates personal growth and the journey of self-discovery with your friends. The track was inspired by the reflection that came after Alex the Astronaut cut off all her hair for charity, and the song follows the singer, songwriter and storyteller's previous singles from How to Grow A Sunflower Underwater - the gloriously anthemic "Octopus," inspired by her shift in self-perception brought on by her recent Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis; the sublimely devastating yet hopeful "Airport"; and her rumination on the kind of life uncertainty that is worldview-shifting, "Growing Up."

How to Grow A Sunflower Underwater is the follow up to Alex The Astronaut's acclaimed 2020 debut album The Theory of Absolutely Nothing which racked up over 25 million streams along with media support at The New York Times, NPR, BBC Radio 1, triple j, The Guardian, The Line of Best Fit, and more. NME called it "a work of genius," it was included as an Honourable Mention in Rolling Stone's Top 200 Australian Albums of All Time, and the album saw her named to the prestigious Out 100 list in 2020 for her work in support of LGBTQ+ issues.

The new album is an intimate exploration of post-traumatic growth, and a body of work affirming Alex as a truly essential songwriter, capable of transforming the way we view ourselves and the world around us.

The album documents both the seemingly mundane (a haircut, a therapy session, a trip to the beach and the supermarket) and utterly life-changing moments (her experience as a caretaker and the PTSD that followed, her recent autism spectrum diagnosis) imbuing her songs with equal parts awareness and sensitivity, imagination and idiosyncratic humour.

Reinforcing Alex the Astronaut's graceful ability to merge the playful with the profound, How to Grow A Sunflower Underwater taps into new vulnerabilities for Alex as she documents the complexities of life, her strength as a songwriter magnified by her sense of empathy and embracing a new level of emotional transparency.

Watch the new music video here:

To post a comment, you must register and login.