Penned in the week before the COVID-induced lockdown crippled Australia’s music industry – and in the midst of the country’s ‘panic-buying’ calamity – Lupa J‘s ‘Supermarket Riots’ predicted what soon became our reality.
“It was extra surreal for me because I had only recently moved cities and I’d barely become used to my new life in Melbourne. To top it off, I was in a long distance relationship and I was starting to freak out that I wouldn’t be able to travel back to my partner,” said Lupa J.
“I remember walking around my area trying to comprehend what was about to happen; at the shops feeling this universal skittishness, noticing a look of fear in everyone’s eyes. The whole thing made me crumble and start to become super needy in my relationship, which I hated the feeling of. I think the way I wrote the lyrics reflects all this.”
Marking the third instalment of their upcoming mini album (out in November) ‘Supermarket Riots’ is a four-and-a-half minute swirl of anxiety-driven flair, backed by long-distance romance. The song itself sees the Melbourne-based singer-songwriter-producer truly come into their own with all its universal truths; but the video is on another level altogether.
Teaming up with ARIA Award Winning film director James Chappell (Tiësto, Guy Sebastian), Lupa J used an empty supermarket with gothic dancers and an eerie cameo from No Frills Twins to create a neon-lit landscape that’s as much Dawn of The Dead as it is The Ring.
While cult film references did play a part in the video’s inception, Chappell said it was the hysteria of 2020 Australia that formed the true backdrop for the clip.
“That chaotic insanity has been transmogrified into a COVID inspired 80’s horror musical with Lupa J as the leading star of their own 80’s horror film,” said Chappell.
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Check out the video for Lupa J’s ‘Supermarket Riots’:
“I wanted to suggest that the young girl is a young Lupa and at the end we reveal she’s been sucked into the TV and become part of the VHS tape, a bit like Jumanji with Robin Williams being stuck in the game and growing older inside,” Chappell added.
“I wanted to reference some of my favourite horror films such as The Blob and The Toxic Avenger with the pink goo. This along with our dancers wearing creepy face masks all help to make this feel like The COVID Horror Picture Show. It was a blast to make with Lupa and their team.”
Lupa J is already being watched closely by industry and fans alike thanks to singles like ‘Perfect Weekend’, ‘Limbo’ and ‘Waiting For Her’. With this new single and video however, it feels like they’ve created a future classic.
