Angel Olsen – “Big Time”

Angela Ricciardi

Angel Olsen – “Big Time”

Angela Ricciardi

Last we heard from Angel Olsen, she was covering Harry Styles’ “Boyfriends” and announcing a new album, Big Time, out in June. In March, Olsen had released the single “All The Good Times,” and now she’s sharing Big Time‘s title track, which adopts a substantially more country tone than we’ve heard from Olsen in the past.

“Big Time” also has a thoughtfully designed music video, which director Kimberly Stuckwisch describes below:

For “Big Time,” we set out to celebrate how humans identify and to subvert the old-fashioned gender binary and societal/internalized gender roles of the past through choreography, color, and wardrobe. To exist outside strict definitions is powerful and often not given a place in cinema. This was our chance to hold a positive reflection in the space and to shout to the world that you are more than who you are told to be.

“Big Time” is what happens when we do not express our true identity but find freedom when we step out of the shadows into our most authentic selves. In the first rotation, the lighting is drab, the clothes are monochromatic, the dance is monotonous… Gender-conforming roles present. However, with each rotation, something magical happens, both our cast and Angel begin to come alive to feel free. We see the clothes brighten, the dance heightens, and the bar that was once devoid of emotion can barely contain the joy bursting out of each individual.

I am proud to say that over 80% of our cast and 50% of our crew identified as nonbinary and non-gender conforming.

Listen and watch “Big Time” below.

Big Time is out 6/3 via Jagjaguwar.

more from New Music