Blanks Attempts To Win Back His Love In The Video For His ‘Personal & Authentic’ Ballad ‘I’m Sorry’
With a ‘timeless’ piano ballad about how he can’t live without the love he’d done wrong, singer-songwriter Blanks shows another side of himself in his new video, ‘I’m Sorry.’
In the first fifteen seconds of “I’m Sorry,” the new video from Blanks, we watch as his relationship falls apart. In the visual, premiering here on HollywoodLife, all it takes is a dropped pill container, a concerned conversation with a mutual friend, and furious confrontation to leave Blanks frustrated, heartbroken, and single. As the video progresses, Blanks tries to patch things up (“I’m running out of ways to tell you / that I adore you”) with her. Flowers. Text messages. Phone calls. Nothing works, and it takes help from some mutual friends to get them in the same room together.
The song is a powerful ballad, one that demonstrates Blanks as a singer with an incredible emotional range. He’s also a talented songwriter. “When I wrote this song with my friend Wouter,” he says in an interview for HollywoodLife, “it was just piano and guitar. And because the lyrics are so personal and authentic, I felt like the production had to be authentic and honest, too – that’s why I chose to keep it like this. It makes the song even more vulnerable and real.”
“I’m Sorry” is the fifth music video for his album, Nothing Last Forever And That’s Okay, following “Never Have I Ever,” “Classic Armstrong,” “Turn Around,” and “What You Do To Me.” In the interview for HollywoodLife, Blanks discusses how the project came together. He also shares how “nostalgia is a big theme on the album,” how this piano ballad fits in with the modern pop and 80’s new wave of Forever, and what’s on the docket for 2022.
HollywoodLife: “I’m Sorry” really stands as a more stripped-back, softer ballad for you, compared to your previous singles, which have been described as indie-pop with elements of 80’s new wave. What inspired you to experiment with a different sound this time around? What sonic influences can we expect to hear on the album?
For the album, I wanted to show more of myself, and when I wrote this song with my friend Wouter, it was just piano and guitar. And because the lyrics are so personal and authentic, I felt like the production had to be authentic and honest, too – that’s why I chose to keep it like this. It makes the song even more vulnerable and real, while it still fits with the other songs: the sound of a piano and guitar is timeless! A lot of the album is sonically influenced by modern pop mixed with 80’s new wave. Synthesizers and guitars that will remind you of that era, mixed with modern-day songwriting.
The accompanying visual for “I’m Sorry” is the final installment of five-thematic music videos lifted from the album. Each one helps unfurls the coming-of-age love story of Emma and Eric (played by Blanks). How does this story relate to the message you’re sharing on the album?
With the album concept centered around memories, I wanted to have the music videos amplify that idea. Personally, my memories are always very strongly connected to specific music. And during my coming of age, I made a lot of precious memories, with specific music linked to them. So for the music videos, I thought it would be amazing to tell a coming of age story using my album as the soundtrack, just like the music that was the soundtrack of my memories.
Between the soundtrack and storyline, the videos also channel the nostalgia of a bygone era of teen movies. What inspired the creative direction behind the videos?
Nostalgia is a big theme on the album, so when my team and I decided on the coming of age story (which already invites feelings of nostalgia for a lot of people), I wanted the videos to feel nostalgic too. With the narrative, the styling, and the use of anamorphic lenses, we wanted to give the music video a nostalgic touch.
Your debut Nothing Lasts Forever And That’s OK is out in two weeks. Tell us about the process of getting to this point? How has your sound as an artist evolved since you first started releasing original material, leading up to now?
Two years ago, I released my first single, and I’ve been steadily releasing songs every 2-3 months since then. Over the last two years, I started craving a new challenge: working on an album. When covid hit, I was able to spend more time in the studio, develop my sound and explore new ideas. People know me for the happy, upbeat, and energetic tracks, but with this album, I wanted to show the world I can do that ánd more. My goal was to show my full musical palette. So I started working on ballads and slower songs and dove into production and songwriting in a way I hadn’t before, challenged myself to come up with a concept and make everything cohesive: I wanted to make the best album I could make.
In the process of writing as many songs as possible, I came up with the concept of the album: “Nothing Lasts Forever And That’s OK,” a title based on the Portuguese word ‘saudade,’ which describes “an emotional state of nostalgic melancholic longing for something or someone that one cares about, knowing the object of longing might never be had again,” as Wikipedia puts it haha! I have so many memories that I’ll never forget (summer nights with friends, going to Paris with a loved one, people you meet over summer, get really close with and then never see again) that I wish I could relive and feel exactly the same, but I can’t. So when I learned about ‘saudade” I related to the feeling immediately. All this challenged me musically in a way I wasn’t challenged before, and I think it resulted in a great debut album! :)
What’s next for Blanks beyond Nothing Lasts Forever And That’s OK?
A bigger headline tour in Europe and the USA next year, playing festivals, working on a lot of new music, and collaborating with other artists! And most importantly, making more amazing memories!