feature image via YouTube
Tegan and Sara’s single “Boyfriend,” off their forthcoming album Love You To Death is arguably one of the gayest songs they’ve ever written. It details the agonizingly relatable experience of falling for a girl who will be emotionally intimate with you, but is either actually straight or too tied up in internalized homophobia to reciprocate the feelings. (That’s my takeaway at least; am I just projecting?)
If you were hoping for some sort of visual depiction of that classically gay narrative in their eagerly anticipated video for “Boyfriend,” released this morning on Pitchfork, that’s not what you’ll find.
Directed by Clea DuVall, with cameo appearances from Mae Whitman (Arrested Development, Parenthood) and Sarah Ramos (her character was queer on Parenthood), this video is a bit mystifying. A frazzled video director played by Rachel Antonoff tries and rejects various backdrops and props including balloons; a green screen featuring a running herd of zebras; and weird paper doll outfits. The director finally has a meltdown and Sara comforts her and they hold hands, staring into each other’s eyes. Is that a queer moment?
It’s pretty weird, you guys!
Not that Tegan and Sara are in any way obligated to make a super gay video for their SUPER GAY song. They’re not obligated to, and their lyrics and videos are pretty consistently not so much queer as they are somewhere on the spectrum between gender-nonspecific and gender-inclusive. The video for “Closer” did that really well, and I think I expected the video for “Boyfriend” to be some kind of follow-up to that — like showing the way you would feel the morning after that party, when the friend you’re crushing on insists that cuddle sesh on the trampoline at 3 a.m. was PURELY platonic.
Watch “Boyfriend” below and please share all of your feelings and/or fan fic based on this video immediately.
