Shit. This new video from iamamiwhoami came out right before bedtime and now I have to make a tough decision. I want to post it immediately for y’all to watch and enjoy, but at the same time you know how much I love to over-analyze iamamiwhoami videos, and yet I’d like to finish writing this post sometime before I have to get up to go to work tomorrow. So happy compromise, I’m going to post the video, share a few quick thoughts and first impressions on what I saw, and in the future I promise to come back and reflect further on what I think it might all mean.

But first, here’s a few quick observations:

-The black box from the last two videos makes another appearance. This time we see her running through the woods with it, hiding it from the men in black. Why is she protecting it, when earlier it was a symbol of literally being boxed in?

-The underwater sequences immediately reminded me of the similar sequence from “kill”, but with a completely different emotional response. In “kill” the camera is pulled back far away from her and the water is dark, almost black. You can feel her isolation in the black abyss and one immediately gets the impression that she’s metaphorically drowning, echoing the themes of the song. “hunting for pearls” gives off a completely different vibe, however. The camera is closer now, the water bluer. She’s wearing a white/silver jumpsuit like armor instead of the black underwear, signifying vulnerability. Her face is serene and she’s in control. The men in black haven’t trapped her; she’s hiding from them, playing with them. In a past video the net behind her might symbolize her becoming trapped, but here she’s almost playing with it. When the men in black pull the net out all they’ve trapped is the broken ice she was playing with earlier.

-The mop monsters are no longer the antagonists, some strange men clad all in black body suits are. Since they are the same color as the box, are we suppose to think that they’re some symbol of her own anxieties? When she hides from them underwater they start holding their heads in agony, and at one point literally butt heads. Do they want to put her back in the box?

-Like “fountain”, “hunting for pearls” is much more uplifting in melody and tone than the previous series of videos. I’m liking this new direction and can’t wait to see where she takes things from here.