Welcome to The Drop, Refinery29's home for music video premieres. We want to shine the spotlight on women artists whose music inspires, excites, and (literally) moves us. This is where we'll champion their voices.
Who do you love, and how do you know for sure? Lucy & La Mer singer/songwriter Lucy LaForge to explores that very question while raising visibility for the bisexual community in her latest song, "Blue Dress."
Debuting here on Refinery29, LaForge's new music video for the track features a harmonious blend of talented faces. She rallied a cast and crew of queer allies, including YouTuber and bi advocate Gaby Dunn, cabaret dancer Kirby LaBrea, and artists Polartropica and Mickey Raunch.
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Ahead, LaForge tells Refinery29 about working with her inclusive and queer crew, finding inspiration from her own love life, and deconstructing the heteronormative music of her childhood for the song.
Refinery29: Tell me about writing this song, what inspired you?
Lucy LaForge: "I wrote this song after a first date. I was feeling anxious and nervous, but in a good, excited way. I wanted to write a song that demonstrated positivity around the idea of having non-binary crushes or crushes on more than one gender and allowing yourself to explore that without shame or guilt. This song is about a lightbulb crush, where you realize you might be attracted to more than one gender.
"For me, it was a very long process of having these crushes over and over and over but never allowing myself to fully recognize and accept what it actually was. Over time I came to the realization and, looking back, I have memories of 'Oh my gosh, that friend in middle school? Really had a crush on them.' There was a female drummer in my church youth group who I remember being fascinated with and staring at her, watching in awe in a unique way. But I never would have allowed myself to recognize it as a crush at that point in my life."
Do you think music is uniquely suited to be an avenue of representation for non-binary and same-gender love?
"It's really great that songwriters are being more inclusive with their pronouns now and not specifically writing to one gender, necessarily. That's really opened up over the last year. For me, on this song, I wanted to have an Americana influence — something that is typically more heteronormative [as a genre]. So, it's a banjo-fused country-pop song. That was important for me, growing up in a small town in California that was Christian and conservative. I would have loved to have heard a song in this style, singing about what I'm singing.
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"It was 2 a.m., I was sitting in my kitchen and the words 'something about that blue dress' popped into my head and I ran from there. Over the next two months, I added in different instruments so the production took longer. I wrote it on a banjo and by band kept asking what I was doing — it wasn't even mine, a friend left it at my place."
How did the cameos and concept for the video come together?
"I wanted the video to be playful, again dismantling the ideas of guilt and shame. Being bi-curious has a dark connotation to it, unfortunately, both from the straight and queer communities. I think it's a beautiful thing, we should let people explore what they need to in attraction without consequence. So we made it playful, almost wholesome. We included the colors of the bi flag as an accent. Almost the entire crew and cast were queer women. It was a bunch of cool queer kids having fun.
"Our cameos include YouTuber and author Gaby Dunn, who plays the girl in the blue dress, which I thought was so wonderful because she's been such an advocate for the bi community and celebrating being butch and femme, [illustrating] how you're allowed to change your mind in how you represent yourself. We've been following each other on Twitter for a few years.
"Since the song is from my perspective as a female bisexual, I wanted the video to focus on male bisexuality. We have an amazing dancer, Kirby LaBrea, as the lead male, who explores someone who identifies as a gay man realizing he has a crush on a woman. That's the story the video tells. It's not easy being bi no matter what your orientation but for men, and this is something I've especially seen in Los Angeles. There is so much shade thrown from both the straight and queer communities. They are my favorite men so I wanted to allow them to be who they are."
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What takeaway would you like people who hear the song and watch the video to have?
"Allow yourself to explore your feelings and intuition before you let shame come in or second guess yourself. Allow yourself joy. Celebrate the little moments in life of questioning and newness."
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
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