Lost love is an eye-opener for Emily Molloy in her new single and video Wide Awake — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Fashioned from an elegant guitar line and packed with unadulterated anguish that evolves into resolve, the captivatingly powerful Wide Awake is the latest single from the multi-talented Vancouver artist’s new EP Catastrophes. Thankfully, in this case, the catastrophe didn’t happen to her.
Molloy was emboldened and inspired by a breakup experienced by award-winning director Angie Nolan. Finding perspective through Nolan’s pain, Molloy delivers each emotional punch with her raspy, full-bodied vocals, embodying a wailing wall of sorrow and sadness in one fell swoop. “After writing Wide Awake, I remember thinking to myself, ‘Wait … I’m not going through this myself, but Angie is,’ ” she recalls. “I realized I had written the song about her, and from her perspective, but that we can all relate.”
After working with recording engineer Eric Mosher at the Warehouse Studios in 2020, Molloy quickly realized that Wide Awake — written in an hour — was the standout track on her latest EP. “This is my most vulnerable song recorded to date, and I knew I needed a video that would fully capture the story and emotion expressed. The song turned out more beautifully stunning in the studio than I could ever hoped for, and it screamed for its visual equal.”
Molly dreamed the storyboard for the video — fittingly directed by Nolan — which follows her through a winter landscape as a healing warrior dances on a frozen lake. The video captures the suffocation of loss, but the empowerment of letting go and accepting freedom from grief.
“Because for some reason I had the dream about a winter landscape, we filmed the video in Whistler on Alta Lake while it was frozen,” Molloy explains. “Jenna Manzanares beautifully embodied the role of the healed / warrior version of myself. Strong and insanely powerful, she dances in the open and freeing expanse (while I am still stuck in the woods).
“I am both incredibly honoured and proud to have such an amazingly talented person showcase her talent in this music video, she’s a freaking star. Jenna was on the ice in a spandex bodysuit for hours, freezing her butt off without complaint. At the same time, I was getting my makeup done, unaware of the impending cold. Both Jenna and I ended up laying in ice puddles on a frozen lake for hours with very little clothing. The emotion seen and felt in the video is 100% authentic. I’ve never acted before, and this experience gave me such a massive new perspective on what it means to be a performer. I am crying, for real, in the video. I am really feeling the feelings in the video.”
“Over time, I feel like this song has not only related to my life, but is relatable to so many others,” Molloy muses. “We all experience hurt, trauma, and pain; but learning to channel that energy into creative expression of any form helps turn that trauma into beauty.”
Watch Wide Awake above, hear more from Emily Molloy below, and keep up with her on her website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
