Anohni and the Johnsons share ‘Why Am I Alive Now?’
New Yorkers Anohni and the Johnsons have shared the final preview of their new album, ‘Why Am I Alive Now?’.
The new song arrives ahead of the New York group’s fifth studio album, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross, which is released tomorrow. The jazz-inflected new single comes with a music video directed by model and Euphoria star Hunter Schafer.
The new track also features Rob Moose, a previous collaborator with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Miley Cyrus and Bon Iver, on strings. It and the rest of My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross was produced by Jimmy Hogarth.
“I started listening to Anohni in high school, so it’s a huge honour to help her build a visual world for ‘WAIAN,'” Schafer explained in a statement. “This music video was an honest attempt to answer the question that ‘WAIAN’ begs, ‘Why Am I Alive Now?’ I wanted to focus on the idea of finding sisterhood in a world that does nothing to help—I hope the direction, choreography, and tone conveys a small piece of that journey.”
Notably, Anohni will perform on her YouTube channel today at 3pm Eastern time for an album playback experience. Adding to the event, she will also be in conversation with Hunter Schafer.
My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross is the first studio album by Anohni and the Johnsons since 2010’s Swanlights, and Anohni’s first body of work since the 2017 EP Paradise. The British-born musician announced the new album with the single ‘It Must Change’ in May.
In a discussion with the New York Times, Anohni insisted that the new record’s central theme is feeling. “There’s an idea I was raised within misogynist postwar Britain that feeling and rational thought were opposed,” she said. “We have a right to have feelings.”
Listen to ‘Why Am I Alive Now?’
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