Simple, bittersweet, and overwhelmingly heartfelt, Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Party captures love in its raw, isolated form on “Keep Me Up,” a nuanced reflection on the intimacy, warmth, and pain of our romantic partnerships.
for fans of Lana Del Rey, Vampire Weekend, Sufjan Stevens
Stream: “Keep Me Up” – Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Party
Simple, bittersweet, and overwhelmingly heartfelt, Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Party captures love in its raw, isolated form on her new video. Sung as if it’s from long ago and far away, “Keep Me Up” offers a nuanced reflection on intimacy to depict the glowing warmth and pain of our romantic partnerships.
Don’t make me laugh darlin’
Don’t make me cry.
I can’t resist you, wish you’d let me try
Picked you up on the wrong side of town
I really liked the way you put it down.
You keep me up at night
You keep me up at night
You keep me up at night
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering the music video for “Keep Me Up,” taken from Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Party’s recently-released debut EP Clementine Season (August 1, 2019 via Hi Adelaide). Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Party is the moniker for Atlanta, Georgia-based Clementine, an indie folk artist whose striking balance between edgy grit and syrupy sweetness means everything she puts out seems to contain untold depths beyond our earthly comprehension.
“Keep Me Up” is a particularly dreamy affair full of folksy warmth and intimate coolness. “I started writing this song about the dynamic between women in my family and the men they marry and then I finished it when I ran into an ex unexpectedly,” Clementine tells Atwood Magazine. “I wrote it as sort of an observation of myself and the situation – the strangeness of having moved on and still being so connected to the love and painfulness of never having really understood each other.”
Don’t make me laugh darlin’
Don’t make me cry
Gotta hold my breath just to steady my mind
Drove through the city with the windows down
I got lipstick on the edge of your mouth.
You keep me up at night
You keep me up at night
You keep me up at night
Throughout “Keep Me Up,” we hear Clementine poetically reminiscing about love’s ups and downs. She says so much in the song’s first few lines: “Don’t make me laugh darlin’, don’t make me cry. I can’t resist you, wish you’d let me try.” Her melodies are whimsical and bright – reminiscent of the richness of Vampire Weekend’s earlier works, as well as the airy earthen textures of Lana del Rey’s minimalist stylings.
Lyrically, Clementine establishes a dynamic wherein her love is very much real, but it’s also not optional. As she moves on in the song, she sings about the little things – “I really liked the way you put it down,” and “I got lipstick on the edge of your mouth.” These are the minute details we will overlook with friends and family, but pay extra special attention to when they concern the “love” of our life.
Despite this, there’s a nostalgic, even sad component to Clementine’s singing: Her utter euphoria for this special someone is burdened, masked even, by a weight that seems to hang ominously overhead. As the song continues, we come to recognize that this relationship is no more; that she’s singing about love in the past-tense, commemorating in and recognizing it for what it was, while simultaneously critiquing its faults and acknowledging the cracks.
Shot on film and directed by Nina Dolgin, the “Keep Me Up” music video expresses this by showing Clementine alone – at first on her kitchen floor, and then later in the car, in the bed, walking through the rain, sitting on a window sill, and so on. We are watching her reminisce on a relationship through what would otherwise “have been” the eyes of her lover. The video’s point of view is the point of view of that person who is no longer with her.
No matter who did the breaking up, there’s a deep sadness to this absence. “Keep Me Up” expresses how wonderful and beautiful love can be, while in the same exhale recognizing the heartbreak and impact of its loss.
Don’t make me laugh darlin’
Don’t make me cry, I
Just figured out how to be alright.
You keep me up at night
You keep me up at night
You keep me up at night
Picked you up on the wrong side of town
Laid all of my clothes on the bed at your house.
Picked you up on the wrong side of town
I picked you up and I put you back down.
Not much is yet known about this upstart artist, but it’s safe to say we’ll be paying close attention to Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Party. In three short minutes, the Atlanta artist immerses us in the heart’s fragility, maintaining a wondrously serene calm while her music weeps. Stream “Keep Me Up” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and stay tuned for more from Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Party in the months to come!
Stream: “Keep Me Up” – Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Party
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