Welcome back to Origins, our recurring series that gives artists a space to break down everything that went into their latest release. Today, rising singer-songwriter Jack Van Cleaf digs into his new song, “Using You.”
Jack Van Cleaf’s star is visibly on the rise, but that has yet to stop him from getting his hands a little dirty.
Despite a recent co-sign from Zach Bryan, a viral hit with “Rattlesnake,” and opening slots for folks like Noah Kahan and Madi Diaz, the Nashville-based artist has retained the grit and authenticity that have made him a buzzy name in Music City and beyond. Now, with his sophomore album on the horizon, he’s kicking up his heels with his latest single, “Using You,” which Consequence is premiering a day early.
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The breezy country-western track arrives with a cheeky music video that sees him twirling through the lows — and more importantly, the highs — of an addictive love.
“While writing, recording, and filming the music video for the song, the weekly two-stepping nights at our local American Legion in East Nashville were at the front of my mind,” Van Cleaf tells Consequence, noting that the visual aesthetic also pulled from the iconic imagery of Breaking Bad. “Throughout the song and video’s production, I was envisioning creating a song that people could dance to at the weekly honky-tonk that I’ve enjoyed so much.”
Watch the new music video for “Using You” below ahead of its official release tomorrow, April 2nd, and grab tickets to see Jack on the road here. Then, read on for more insights about the song and its influences.
Tuesday Nights at the American Legion Post 82:
Photo courtesy of American Legion Post 82
While writing, recording, and filming the music video for the song, the weekly two-stepping nights at our local American Legion in East Nashville were at the front of my mind. We were lucky enough to film a substantial portion of the video at the Legion itself, recruiting the two-step teachers at The Post (Megan Linse and Robbie Stilwell) to choreograph and lead the dancing on the iconic dance floor. Throughout the song and video’s production, I was envisioning creating a song that people could dance to at the weekly honky-tonk that I’ve enjoyed so much. It meant a lot to me to be able to remain true to that vision and film the video at the location that helped inspire it.
Field Guide
I played the song live for the first time with my good friends in the band Field Guide. They helped me realize that the song was best interpreted as a country song complete with baritone guitars and a brush-laden shuffle on drums. Songs like this one speak to Dylan and the band’s influence over the song’s initial interpretation as an outlaw country production.
Conversation Hearts, Cigarettes, and iMessage:
Photo by Pixabay via Pexels
The song’s lyrics obviously revolve around addiction, using substance abuse as a metaphor for an addiction to love and attention. Personally, I don’t have a history with hard drugs. While I was writing the lyrics, I pulled from my own experiences with less serious substances like sugar and nicotine, to illustrate the addictive feeling of texting a new love interest and using infatuation to get a dopamine fix, represented by the candy “conversation hearts” in the video.
Breaking Bad:
Sam Lindsey, who produced the video, had the idea to take influence from Breaking Bad when we decided we were going to have a “drug lab” scene. Noah Tidmore and Grant Ivie directed and colored the video, respectively, to help match that grunge-y aesthetic that’s so indicative of the iconic TV show.
Midland’s “Drinkin’ Problem”:
Midland’s music video for “Drinkin’ Problem” was really inspirational for the concept of the “Using You” video. The country swing of the song and bootlegging aspect of Midland’s video helped us develop the drug-dealing scene and retro honky-tonk aesthetic of our own video.
Content shared from consequence.net.