Covering the scope of female friendships – of compliments and cosmopolitans – Wolf Alice warm us into Autumn with their new music video for the song ‘Just Two Girls’. Directed by Colin Solal Carson and starring Lucy Boynton and Ellie Rowsell, this recent release captures the magic of female friendships.
Confiding in your best friend has never been sung so beautifully: the instrumental bass line pulls us into a world of brassy ’70s guitar, topped off with smiley falsetto vocals. The line “just two girls at the bar / like two kids in the park” is sung alongside two women tittering up and down cloakrooms and sliding drinks out of guests’ hands, in the music video. Where conversations held over cocktails hold a similar essence to the open-hearted brightness of childlike freedom. The choice of using “girls” to describe these two women also elevates the small excitements and niche experiences that come with growing up with your female friends.
Particularly in the chorus, there’s an elation that comes from Ellie Rowsell’s uplifting tone, where you can almost hear her smiling down the microphone from the recording studio. Rowsell is simultaneously lifted by the dancers in the video, as she sings “When I undress my every thought” to reach this elation visually. This is followed by the dancers pirouetting in the pool table room. With choreography by Ryan Heffington, the style is floaty and free, in costumes reminiscent of items found in a child’s dressing-up box. The range of colours is visually enticing and heightens the fun found in the lyrics “here’s the stage / you’re the star / just two girls / just two girls.” From green gloves to smoking pipes, the dancers enhance their states of laughter and silliness.
No world, opinion, or person exists outside of these two girls, whether it’s “at the bar” or “the debrief on the hangover”; the world stops when this friendship is brought together. This is seen in the music video, as the strangers and faces around them pause in position, making space for the two to catwalk between people and dance on tables.
Wolf Alice close the music video with golden confetti and a birdseye shot of the patterned dancefloor. These visuals, directed by Colin Solal Cardo, bear a similarity to The Great Gatsby, with a hedonistic flair of dressing up and dancing ambitiously. The visual direction conveys a state of euphoria, which is frequently reflected in the vocals of their new album, The Clearing. Rowsell sings wordless sounds that breathe in and out, expressing relief and gratitude, and ‘Just Two Girls’ is no exception, with artistic visuals that match the untamed joy of platonic love.
Words by Louella Venus
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