Premiere: Pretty Sick Takes Us To A Chromatic Roller Rink in ‘Superstar’
Pretty Sick is actually pretty sick. Native New Yorker Sabrina Fuentes started the band when she was only 13 years old and became a vital presence in the New York scene. Inspired by the creative community, Fuentes released the project, ‘Deep Divine’, in October. In collaboration with director Ophelia Horton, Pretty Sick invites us to a chromatic roller rink in the slightly psychedelic music video of “Superstar”, which we’re exclusively premiering with a short interview.
You’ve recently released Deep Divine. What did you want to showcase with your first project?
With Deep Divine I really wanted to put my best foot forward and give people a good impression of what kind of band we are.
You lived in New York for a long time. What was the impact of this big city on your artistic development?
Growing up in New York is exciting and full of opportunities to grow creatively, but it can be hard to find your place. You’re forced to grow up really fast and know who you are from a young age.
You moved to London, where you study now. Is the London scene very different from the scene you grew up in?
London is very different from New York. It’s a lot bigger so the tight-knit communities surrounding the arts are rarer but sometimes that’s nice. Growing up in New York it can feel like you’ve met everyone you’re going to meet by the time you’re 18, which is nice because you find your people faster than you would anywhere else but also stressful because you can begin to feel trapped or overwhelmed at times. I like the loneliness and anonymity of London. It took me two years to grow to love London and find friends that I really felt at home with, but I think it’s important to have to fight to find a place where you belong sometimes. It makes you appreciate it more.
The music video of “Superstar” is very psychedelic. Why did you choose this mood for the video? And how important are visuals to you as an artist?
One of my best friends, Ophelia Horton, and I worked on this video together, it’s our second time working on a video after last year when she directed a short video for the Japanese brand X-girl that I starred in. I really loved working with my friend, and it came so naturally because we have very strongly-aligned tastes. For the ‘Superstar’ video, I knew I wanted her to direct it because she has such a natural eye for striking visuals, and we work together very well.
Our overall concept was simple: just Ophelia’s little sister and I spending a day together at my favorite roller rink in London. We shot it all in one day on iPhone and camcorder using different styles of lighting and projections and Ophelia mixed them all together in this very psychedelic, romantic way. We wanted to use an iPhone and camcorder to record because so many of our videos have been shot on VHS or mini DV I felt we needed to take a step back from becoming too visually nostalgic. I’m so happy with and proud of the end product that Ophelia brought together. It was a lot of fun to work on.
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