Somebody

“I am not a victim, I’m not a fool,
I am not a pawn to be abused.
It was never real, it was never love
And I’ve had enough.
I don’t wanna listen, I don’t wanna try
‘Cause you that know that I’ll never miss you or the way you lie.
I don’t wanna listen, I don’t wanna stay,
But I finally got the strength in me to say,

I’m gonna find somebody
To treat me better than you.
Gonna find somebody
To treat me better than you,
Treat me better than…
I’m sick and tired of the things you’ve done, but
You won’t be laughing when I find someone,
Somebody
To treat me better than you,
Treat me better than…

You think you’re funny, I’m not amused.
You will never win, I’ll never lose.
‘Cause now I’m better
In spite of you, in spite of you.
Now you wanna listen, now you wanna try,
But you know that it’s too late to apologise.
So just think about me, what you wanna say
As you stand alone and watch me walk away.

I’m gonna find somebody
To treat me better than you.
Gonna find somebody
To treat me better than you,
Treat me better than…
I’m sick and tired of the things you’ve done, but
You won’t be laughing when I find someone,
Somebody
To treat me better than you.

Somebody that ain’t like, ain’t like you,
Somebody that ain’t like you.
Somebody that ain’t like, ain’t like you,
Somebody that ain’t like you.
Treat me better than…
Somebody that ain’t like, ain’t like you,
Somebody that ain’t like you.”

[ Somebody – Hurts ]

Well, long time no see.
After the huge disappointment that was Desire, Hurts have come back with the much better, much more inspiring Faith… a good 60% of which are post-break up songs along the lines of “It’s not me, it’s you. Bitch.”.
Considering that Stay, a photo from the Inspiration Hurts project, was the casus belli that derailed a certain friendship I’m still quite rancorous about, I’ve decided I’m not only gonna roll with it, I’m milking it for all its worth without even bothering with subtlety! It’s a sign, it’s made for me, for my project to go on in spite of that particular incident and all the others before (looking at you, Wonderful Life and some other seven photos from this projects that have been on hold because of that certain person)!

Somebody is the first new song I’m adapting into a photo for pragmatic reasons: it’s already October, the weather has been getting worse and worse, and with my having to be half in water it’s basically now or next year. Which honestly, thanks but no thanks: this project needs to be much more veni, vidi, vici from now on, anything I can do now I’m gonna do now.
There are other songs from Faith that have given me more concrete imagery to base photos off, so I decided to use the freedom Somebody allows me to go fully self-referential. Besides taking a clue from Theo’s jerking dance moves in the video, which would look kinda amazing in the water, I decided to go shoot at the very same location where I shot the last photo I published with the person I’m throwing shade at, dressed in similar colours, from a similar angle, with similar light conditions, and I even used the same colour filter in postproduction. It’s literally me replacing them in the photo, only this time it’s inspired by a song that literally says they’re gonna be replaced with someone better, and having a damn good time with it.
I’m not gonna name names, but if you scroll through my gallery and look at one of my latest portraits by the sea, you’ll recognise the shape of the rocks.

On a side note, the music video for Somebody features multiple shots of flamingos and a vulture eating from a skull, while the single artwork and video thumbnail for the song are close-ups of a flamingo. Since I was lucky enough to have a couple of cormorants hanging around, I decided to incorporate them into the photo as a nod to the original visuals.
Also, the beautiful t-shirt I’m wearing is an original design by my friends at Kingyo Sukui: check them out, they’ve got some amazing merch!

I mentioned I’ll try to speed up things with the Inspiration Hurts series and I’ve already planned many new photos from Faith. I’m probably influenced by the DIY aestehtics of the album cover and promo photos (many of which were takend by Adam and Theo themselves during lockdown), so a lot of ideas are studio self-portraits which I’ll be able to take quickly, most likely in a couple of weeks, after I get a haircut. Wouldn’t want to let that perfect haistyle go to waste, would we?