[Cover photo credit to Darien Zahedi]
Carré Kwong Callaway (a.k.a. Queen Kwong) has released new single and video “State Trooper“, a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s song from his 1982 solo album. The original song follows the story of a car thief evading the police, but she transforms it into “a narrative about women’s rejection of patriarchal thinking.”
The song is taken from her new EP, Strangers, out now, which contains unconventional reimaginings of classic songs from The Rolling Stones (“Sympathy for the Devil”), Chris Isaak (“Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing”) and The Velvet Underground (“I Found A Reason”), as well as “State Trooper”. All the songs follow her intention of “flipping the script on gender.”
Regarding the video, she adds:
My intention for the video was to flip the male-gaze to the female gaze.
The video costars friend and fellow musician Roger O’Donnell (The Cure) at whose studio Strangers and her upcoming album due in 2025 was recorded.
Calloway explains:
I made this video on a whim while recording at Roger’s studio in England last month. My friend, Mimi Supernova (with whom I made the ‘Without You, Whatever‘ video), co-directed this video with me. We used random things we had access to at Roger’s. We went through his attic and found old TVs and camcorders.
Roger’s appearance in the video portrays the ‘kill your idols’ theme, which has recently been a common message in my art and writing.
This Strangers EP serves as both a personal reconciliation and a way to honor the complicated legacy of rock n roll, even as I continue to push for a future where women have equal footing in the genre.
The “trope of skepticism towards celebrity and fandom culture” is something that she does a deep dive on in her Substack.
Calloway has released three albums (Get a Witness in 2015 and Love Me to Death in 2018) and two EPs (2013’s Bad Lieutenant and 2019’s Oh Well). Her latest full-length is Couples Only (2022).
Her upcoming 2025 album was recorded at O’Donnell’s aforementioned studio and co-produced with Darian Zahedi (CRX).
