Sharon Van Etten Gets Lost in the Static in Her Surreal New Video for “Headspace”

Her album We’ve Been Going About It All Wrong is out now.

Sharon Van Etten Gets Lost in the Static in Her Surreal New Video for “Headspace”

Her album We’ve Been Going About It All Wrong is out now.

Words: Margaret Farrell

Photo: Nathan Zucker

July 07, 2022

Sharon Van Etten by Nathan Zucker

Sharon Van Etten has shared a new visual for the single "Headspace" from her recent album We've Been Going About It All Wrong. The video is directed by Ashley Connor and features dancers Coco Karol and Miguel Angel Guzmán. It opens with Van Etten appearing behind a couple sitting on a couch lost in their phones, taking the soul-sucking electronics out of their hands and encouraging them to embrace. "Baby don't turn your back to me," she sings over a clanging industrial beat. Later, there's a bewitching, tense dance scene on a bed and Van Etten gets lost in TV static.

“Sharon said it best,” Connor shared. “Intimacy is difficult in the digital age. And speaking of my own personal phone addiction, I can only hope Sharon Van Etten emerges from the void and gently helps me set it down.”

Van Etten added: “When I was writing this song, I wanted to talk about domesticity and intimacy frustrations under the tensions of working at home and seeking connection while being tied to our devices and still trying to reach each other as lovers, parents, humans… Reminding each other that there is still a primal attraction even in the midst of the mundane and repetition of everyday life.” 

Watch "Headspace" below, and revisit our recent conversation with Van Etten about the new album here.