[Cover photo credit to Maurisa Mackey]
Viana has been spending pandemic downtime on writing and recording new music, and her latest single, “About the Money” recently arrived with an accompanying very retro video. She describes the song as originally having been written and recorded “in the dead and isolating New England winter” but the video brings a sunnier, if conflict-driven vibe with a 1950’s aesthetic.
Directed by Chris Cole, the video is meant to bring out the song’s themes of trying “to stay afloat in a money-hungry world”.
Viana drew inspiration for the track from being a musician in a time “where there seemed to be no hope for live music”:
“I wrote this during the pandemic when it seemed like there was really no hope in sight for working musicians. I was living with my producer at the time and was just worrying about being able to survive financially. I don’t even care about money or material things, I just wanted to not have to worry and to be able to do what I love. But as the song says, someone has to get paid. I wanted the song to feel like I was driving down the Southern Cali coast line in a classic car, even though I’m singing about being broke and how messy things were feeling. We wrote and recorded ‘About the Money’ at my house in the woods during the Winter and it turned into a total listen to it when it’s sunny out type of song. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Viana’s current musical independence and exploration stems from a number of years of fronting Rock bands before deciding to go solo and “About the Money” is the newest chapter in her very open discussions “about whatever she personally needs to digest”.
