Violet Greens ‘M.H.P.’ – WATCH

M.H.P. and Sad Song

Inspired by Billie Holiday’s heartfelt and genuine singing, the lyrical and provocative eloquence of sophisticated rap and Camus’ absurdism, Violet creates a symbiosis between Jazz, contemporary pop music and lyricism, completely owning her own distinctive sound. 

With both music videos filmed at the ‘Stadtbad’, a historical municipal baths in Leipzig, Violet’s most recent single ‘Sad Song’ acts as an antithesis to previous single ‘M.H.P’, with the common underlying theme of the dangers of media and social media. With its up-beat groove juxtaposed with sombre lyrics, ‘M.H.P’ is inspired by the novel “Steppenwolf’ by German writer Hesse which depicts the duality of human nature, the inner turmoil and the contradictions of human existence.

In contrast, ‘Sad Song’ has a simple, stripped back, twinkly jazz melody and was written about the many downfalls of the portrayal of human existence in the media. 

Speaking of the singles, Violet says, “On M.H.P, I related to Steppenwolf in a way I don’t often do. It describes the painful process of growth, reflection and self-experience; purely and brutally honest. Also, it criticised the bourgeois, and being a little anarchist myself, I’ve always liked that. 

A cynical acronym for mental health problems, another aspect that was a driving motivation to write the M.H.P, was the hypocrisy I sometimes saw myself exposed to when scrolling through social media posts that show influencers advocating mental health awareness and putatively fighting the stigma of mental illness, while making their digital follower ship grow as a sideline; whereas the suicide rate amongst teenagers has peaked during the pandemic correlating to the excessive screen time spent on social media. I was sceptical scrolling through the feed where you come across slogans suggesting therapy apps could be a substitute for a face to face therapy consultation. 

On ‘Sad Song’, I recently read an article where someone mentioned that death is a universal experience, and yet it still gives the impression of being a taboo subject, especially in the western culture. 

Although being constantly confronted with devastating news on a daily basis and being provided with tons of true crime series and thrillers to nourish our somewhat dark fascination with the morbid, it seems as if by being displayed on screen, it becomes fiction, less menacing and takes away the imminent danger by creating a distance between the viewer and reality. Although I don’t want to demonize the media or the internet in its entirety – I guess it’s boon and bane, since we all somehow profit from a global network, especially artists. Don’t forget to check in on your loved ones from time to time, you never know when it’s going to be the last time you see or speak to them. It doesn’t cost you anything to be a nice person. I always have to remind myself that as well.”