A song about stuff that makes life worth living, and how loss illuminates that stuff even more. The video was compiled from footage taken by phone camera over the course of about 6 years for no particular reason other than that they are things that delight the artist. The man painting the bathroom is artist Alex Noble, whose slogan art also features as the artwork for the song. Alex’s sudden death during lockdown in November 2020 left a big hole in many people’s lives and this song is a testament to his legacy.
The song arose in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests. Ballet dancer Shevelle Dynott had just left the National Ballet and on hearing the song agreed to work on the project. The concept and choreography took shape over several months in rehearsal room with Annalie and Shevelle, against a backdrop of lockdowns and protests. Director Stefan Georgiou and cinematographer Morgan K Spencer joined the team to help bring the project to life in 2021 and the film was shot at The Clapham Grand, funded largely by donations. The film screened at New York’s Noirfest in 2023.
As the summer of 2020 unfolded and the anti-racism movement gained momentum Annalie began writing Debt to capture the mood of the protests, but felt that her own perspective as a white artist was incomplete. British Nigerian artist Jael agreed to collaborate on the song and the pair spent a day diving deep into discussion, rehashing the lyrics and then recording the song as a duet. The lyric video was created from photos taken as part of a shoot for the artwork.
In 2018 film maker Hardy D Saleh got in touch with Annalie and asked if she wanted to collaborate on a project about the youth climate protesters. Hardy filmed the youth marches on Super 8 camera and interviewed them. Annalie listened to the audio footage and composed the song, including their voices. The film was entered into the Straight 8 Festival, a condition of which is that the film was submitted completely unedited and unwatched by its creators.