British/Armenian artist Ripsime, formerly known as Ripsy May released her debut single Tell me the lie touching on very important issues and, quoting the artist herself, “the general state of the world”. Her track comes with a very engaging music video too, containing excerpts from the upcoming film ‘God’s Fog’ directed by Ripsime and Au Fait films.
Describe your sound in 3 words
Absolutely no idea.
Tell us a few things about your song Tell me the lie. What is the story behind it?
I wrote the song one week before the war in Armenia and it was about the general state of the world, but after the war, I came back to finalising the production on it and felt that the meaning behind the track and what it meant to me had changed. I feel like the tune is pretty universal, but I wanted to tell my own story with the visuals. It’s been interesting to see how people all over have been responding to it without seeing the video! It was also important to me to get the production exactly how I wanted it, and really get to a place where I could express everything I wanted to express sonicaly. But yeah, in regards to the interpretations and what it’s meant for people, it’s been wild (and super varied) but I love that! Once I’ve done creating something, it’s for everybody else so I love that people take the song and make it personal to them with or without knowing the story behind it.
How Important are political statements by music artists? Can music have an impact on politics?
I think music is important for the culture because it affects energy. It represents a time, and it can inspire, change people long after the artists are gone. Sometimes I don’t think music has to be overtly political for it to affect people in a way that then changes the way we move through the world which inadvertently affects politics. How can it not? But I mean bands like Rage, System of a Down, Tupac have been doing it for a long time and they have songs that are very obviously linked with politics. Fundamentally though, I think the music has got to hit and then the message carries along with it. People feel whether it’s coming from a genuine place or not so I think that’s the most important thing. Whether it’s about politics or love, it’s irrelevant, it’s about connection. That to me is what art has always meant so yes, if it’s coming from a true place, music can have a huge impact on people and that in turn can affect politics or the way in which people think/move through the world whether it’s done consciously or subconsciously.
Who is the mind behind this captivating video clip?
This specific video was created by yours truly but the shots you see in the video were taken from a film I went to shoot with Au Fait films back in 2018 which is still in production. It’s a film about Artsakh and when we went to go shoot it, I remember taking a significant amount of time away from music because I had never done anything like that before! I love to edit and work on visuals but had never worked on any documentary type piece before. It was insane that we went when we did because we nearly didn’t and it was exactly two exact years before the war broke out. Many of the places you see in the video no longer exist and there are these super weird moments that we managed to capture like the shooting of Shushi. You’ll see in the start of the video of gun fingers being raised up to the church. This was shot in October 2018 and exactly two year later, it was destroyed. It also has shots of the school next to my grandmother’s house, where I grew up as a kid and the other girl is my cousin 🙂
Artists and people who have influenced and inspired you?
So many! I feel like there are too many to list!!
The song will be released as NFT. Can NFTs Challenge the Traditional Music Industry?
Of course. I believe they can and they will. NFTs in general will allow artist and ‘consumer’ to directly connect without a middle man. It also means people will have exclusive rights to work/music (if the artist chooses) stamped in a moment in time. It’s already changing the industry and people’s lives and I’m so excited for what will happen next!
What’s next for you?
I am finalising a few records due for release early 2022 that I wrote and produced with my friend and band-mate Luke Turner. Luke is a general bass-lord and music extraordinaire so it’s been really exciting to know I’m finally ready to release everything that we’ve been cooking up in the studio from the last year. 2022 is going to be mad, I can already feel it!
Thank you!
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