Hello world, I am Suté Iwar, an Afro-fusion rapper, singer, and songwriter. I am pleased to discuss the creation of my song, “MEDITATE,” and its accompanying music video, which are at the heart of my new album, ULTRALIGHT.
The title of the song embodies its primary theme: meditation. Since I began practicing meditation in 2016, it has been an integral part of my life. While I never anticipated creating a song about it, here we are.
As the producer of most of my music, I began by crafting the beat, which adheres to the sonic world that ULTRALIGHT inhabits: soul chords over Afro and hip-hop drums. I freestyled the melodies over the beat, and the chorus emerged organically. Typically, I develop the melody before the lyrics reveal themselves, but for “MEDITATE,” I worked out the melodies and the words simultaneously.
Aside from music, film is my other significant passion. In my spare time, I write screenplays and draft video treatments for my songs, even when it is unclear whether a video will be produced.
The initial video treatment for “MEDITATE” drew inspiration from the magical realism found in the works of Neil Gaiman, science fiction films like The Matrix, Blade Runner 2049, and Children Of Men, as well as music videos such as Kendrick Lamar’s “These Walls,” Obongjayar’s “Message In A Hammer,” and FKA Twigs’ “Home With You.”
My treatment included the magical aspect of meditative practice and contrasts it with a futuristic world that is disconnected from the magical. At the centre of this dichotomy is the story of two lovers attempting to connect with each other.
I collaborated with Sau Ali, the director of the music video, who shared my vision for cinematic videos. “MEDITATE” is the second video we have worked on together. I sent over my treatment and he edited it into what we have now.
Working with Sau is a pleasure for me as we share a common cinematic language, and he possesses the technical expertise to translate my imaginative ideas into a realistic outcome.
The final product heavily features virtual reality and highlights how we sometimes prefer to live in a world of machines and pursue our fantasies, a reality that many people experience through social media.
In the video, Apollo, the protagonist, is hooked up to a virtual reality machine that portrays his love interest, Senka, seducing him. The situation takes a dark turn when Darcel, a malevolent character, invades the virtual reality and attempts to harm Senka.
She fights back and reaches out to Apollo for help, but he is unable to aid her because it is a virtual reality. He becomes overwhelmed and shakes uncontrollably until he removes the VR headset and returns to reality. He then centres himself and realises that it was not the real world.
I’ll let you interpret what all that means about the world we live in today.
Watch the video for “MEDITATE” below and stream it everywhere else here.
