Our Origins series provides artists with a platform to deep-dive into everything that went into their latest release. Today, Cody Frost breaks down the new video for her track “Redundant,” off of her debut mixtape TEETH.
Indie-pop artist Cody Frost is unleashing her debut mixtape TEETH today (May 6th). Following her debut EP, 2021’s IT’S NOT REAL, TEETH has a considerably sharper edge than Frost’s previous work, clearly influenced by heavier music and the current wave of hyper-pop. To accompany the mixtape’s release, Frost has also dropped a video for the mixtape cut “Redundant”; get an early look below.
Like the rest of TEETH, “Redundant” sheds the relatively stripped-back emotionality of Frost’s early singles to reveal a beautifully abrasive, happily aggressive set of sounds. Instead of the easy-on-the-ears aesthetic that helped her reach the finale of BBC’s version of The Voice, “Redundant” sounds like a cross between Billie Eilish’s neo-gothic pop and Yves Tumor’s dancy experimentalism. It’s a track you’d imagine playing at London’s most intimidatingly hip club.
Juxtaposing party visuals with sequences of a Bowie-esque Frost alone on a soundstage, the video embodies the new stylings of TEETH. Frost is quite literally in your face for a majority of the song’s runtime, as she rushes the fisheye camera to sing of seedy attention-seekers common in the British party scene.
“I work in a bar and the lyrics are really about the type of customers I have served in the past,” she tells Consequence. “I wrote the line ‘and with every bit I feel the dirty napkin they dropped on the floor crumple in my fist’ in the back room whilst seething over a rude customer.”
With TEETH’s change of pace, it’s exciting to think of what Frost may have in store for future projects. Will she continue to embrace her “heavy roots” or switch up the sounds once again? “I’m super excited for what is coming next for me musically,” she says, before stopping herself from revealing too much. “I can’t say much but I will say that some of my biggest dreams [are] becoming true in the works!”
Get a first look at the video for “Redundant” below, followed by Cody Frost’s breakdown of the video’s origins.
David Bowie:
First of all, it would be silly for me not to mention the influence from Bowie himself. I didn’t want to completely copy his look but the suit was definitely inspired by the “Life on Mars?” video.
Lockdown:
The song itself was started in lockdown, there was a lot of job loss and I was feeling a little useless, as I’m sure most musicians and artists can relate, so it really spawned through that.
Rude Customers:
I work in a bar and have always done and the lyrics are really about the type of customers I have served in the past, I wrote the line “and with every bit I feel the dirty napkin they dropped on the floor crumple in my fist” in the back room whilst seething over a rude customer.
Seventies Fashion:
I worked with the stylist, Lucy James, to create a ‘70s look and she styled a lot of the models around me. It was kind of accidental, but the room we shot the video in was so ‘70s we just slipped into the “Gucci-esque” aesthetic. I loved the way it looked kinda expensive, as I’m not rich by any means, but it was fun to play dress up.