Canadian singer/songwriter Devarrow has released his first single “Likewise” from upcoming LP Heart Shaped Rock. The song and its accompanying video have unusual development stories.

Talking about his song, Devarrow says:

“Likewise” is in fact an older song which has been substantially reworked. It first was written during an artist residency at the Banff Centre of the Arts back in 2019, and at that time had an entirely different chorus. The present chorus was actually just an outro. When I was looking through old demos when work shopping for Heart Shaped Rock, I found myself being quite drawn to the outro more than anything, so decided to rework the song with that being the chorus. I felt the song had quite a poppy feel, so leaned in to create a version which felt a little angsty, but welcoming, and accessible to a wide audience.

The video for “Likewise” came about in a similarly unusual way.

Devarrow says:

Abandoning strong narratives, Riley focused more on producing a video that feels abstract while still being human. It’s about small town life, but also not, it’s about being an outsider, but also not, it’s about nothing and a lot all at the same time.

Riley Lamarche directed the video and explains:

When we empathize with villains we learn that narcissism is a trauma response to be healed instead of scorned. When we identify with vampires we see that there are is no good or evil. In the end we are all just a bunch of self serving dingos that probably didn’t get enough love as children. Yes I mean you. Shoutout to Gavin who may be the least vampiric person I have ever met and the definitely the most dashing fiend on the South Shore of NS. Shoutout to Devarrow for taking a silly idea and running with it before we even knew what it meant.