It all started a year ago, when a mysterious and creepy video featuring slightly disturbing imagery over an experimental electronica soundtrack was uploaded on to the iamamiwhoami channel on Youtube. The videos were continuously uploaded, and the public wondered of the meaning behind the project. Soon after, the people behind the channel sent a package to MTV, and so it became clear that it was a viral campaign for a music project. Many speculated that Christina Aguilera was behind the project, for at the same time, she was working on her new album that would feature a new sound. Others thought that Goldfrapp or Fever Ray were involved, due to their electronica repertoire. However, by analyzing the screenshots of the mysterious person that starred in these videos, the people who have been following the campaign figured out that singer Jonna Lee of Sweden was involved. Even though she was discovered to be behind the act, Jonna kept mum, and the music videos continued.
By then, two sets of videos were released; the first set proved to be “teasers” for the next set of videos, which were the singles of the project’s studio album, which spells out I AM BOU(twice)NTY in chronological order. Remixes for these songs are also available on iTunes. The next set of videos by iamamiwhoami called upon the YouTube community to choose a volunteer as a representative, which we find out by the end of that set, is YouTube user ShootUpTheStation. The following set is documented by him, the chosen one. In these videos he is prepared for a certain coming.
That coming was the “live concert” which debuted online on November 16, and was available for streaming for only six hours. The concert was filmed in the middle of nowhere of Sweden, with only the members of the project and ShootUpTheStation. Although the video appears to be taken in one shot, clever cuts are inserted in to give it a constant flow. Throughout, the imagery used in the past videos make a recurring role as the songs are performed live. Unfortunately, in the concert, the volunteer is supposedly burned to death.
Aside from the alarming sexual references displayed in nature, I am absolutely enamored by iamamiwhoami’s music, and congratulate the team behind it for their extreme effort in constructing such an elaborate marketing scheme. Unfortunately, many of the videos are deleted, so it is hard to follow the storyline, but other users on Youtube have posted them up instead. Here is a single from the I AM BOUNTY album.
You can watch the full live concert here.
Some explanations of the videos and whole project by the followers of this project are available at the Wikipedia page.
Clarissa, I have to agree with you. I have some strange attraction to this music. But what I found more interesting, besides the extremely creative and abstract music video, was the lyrics. I couldn’t particularly understand what she was saying in the video so I did a little research and googled the lyrics. What I found was that she’s actually trying to use these videos to send a message. I deduced this from the link she attached in the description box of a youtube video of a little boy, at most ten years old, preaching to a crowd of applauding adults. Take a look for yourself – it was actually quite disturbing, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uKQT-BKzwI&feature=related. We raise children to harbor our own opinions, as one woman put it, before they even have the time to discover who THEY are. Take a look at these lyrics:
There’s a new world laid at your feet
We build an army from nothing
We raise our children to the beat…
I think that in order to fully appreciate these videos you must search for the deeper meaning behind them. I loved how she was able to make a statement using wonderful artistic mediums.
There is a very impressive attention to detail and artistic purpose with these videos. I can’t say I “get” most of it, but they are done quite beautifully and with clear sense of self referential images. The music is intriguing as well!