Last month, Angel Olsen announced that her sixth album Big Time will arrive June 3 along with sharing the single "All the Good Times." Today, she's released the project's title track along with a spellbinding video directed by Kimberly Stuckwish. The song blends country ballads and honky tonk blues with Olsen's twangy, operatic vocals.
The visual opens with Olsen traveling back in time to perform at a quaint bar. The camera pans around the room finding couples blissfully dancing. The twist is that we find the couples changing clothes and dancing positions, subverting antiquated gendered codes in regard to clothing and who takes the dancing lead ("I am proud to say that over 80 percent of our cast and 50 percent of our crew identified as nonbinary and non-gender conforming," Stuckwish noted). Despite the old-school mics and retro feel, it's misleading that this visual takes place in what looks like the past. With each costume change, Olsen and Stuckwish take us to a place that exists outside of time—a dream of the past or future where anyone has the freedom to be themselves. It's one grand binary-bending, timeline-busting time.
In more eloquent words, Stuckwish further explained the video's vision: "For ‘Big Time,’ we set out to celebrate how humans identify and to subvert the old-fashioned gender binary and societal/internalized gender roles of the past through choreography, color, and wardrobe. To exist outside strict definitions is powerful and often not given a place in cinema. This was our chance to hold a positive reflection in the space and to shout to the world that you are more than who you are told to be."
Watch the video for "Big Time" below, and pre-order the album here.
