Hi! My name is Tiggi Hawke and I’m so excited to talk about my new single “Giants” and to discuss how it was made, so thank you for having me.
The funny thing about “Giants” is that it was actually so close to being ready after the very first demo that honestly, if there was a weird worst case scenario, it probably could’ve been released. Some background; “Giants” was actually written on a writing camp with the incredible Mali-Koa and the Jaded Boys who are out of this world.
This song means a lot to me in a lot of ways, but one being that it’s very honest and is a big step for me personally, and everyone involved. Especially in the writing process, which let me explore out of my comfort zone whilst being so supportive and I feel so lucky to have been working together in that way.
When it came to the production side of things, it was more of a touch up situation to be honest, and Jaded worked their magic like always. It’s funny though, because listening back to the first demo, it’s mostly there but those little additions all add up, a lot more than I think sometimes! We re-recorded some of the vocals and added a TON more stacks, I think there’s over 40 ‘shouts’ on there!
When we started bringing all the pieces together on the next singles and album at the beginning of the year, I made myself a promise which was that this body of work was going to be unashamedly me and the most ‘me’ I could make it, which is terrifying and next-level exciting in equal measure.
I think everyone, unfortunately, had way too much time to be introspective in the last couple of years but one thing that came out of it for me was having a much clearer vision of myself, the good and the bad. One of the things I really wanted to focus on and bring together with the music was the visual aspect which I haven’t really had the opportunity to do for the last few things I released.
In my brain, sonics and visuals are really heavily linked. I love having visual references when I write for other artists, I think it can convey a lot more emotion sometimes than a written description, so I had an idea of what I could see happening in the video and then I met Dan Sanders.
She changed everything. She somehow managed to dig around in my brain and pull what I was imagining into real life, which was amazing for me, I’ve never had something so accurately represented in real life vs in my head!
Another person who literally pulled my ideas into being (and me out of my comfort zone) is Adele Cany, who is single-handedly responsible for all the amazing outfits you see in the music video (I can take no responsibility for them).
Along this emotional and visual journey, I was introduced to Oliver Kane and Sam Hampson, whose ideas for the music video were so on the same page as mine, it was clearly a sign. After a bit of back and forth, they nailed down the direction and ‘script’ for the music video.
The whole process was new to me to be honest, the longest shoot I’ve ever done has been a day, and after a lot of scouting by them we headed up to the Lake District for a 3-day shoot. I can honestly say, I loved every single second.
Everyone on the team was incredible and supportive, everyone was included on a creative level as well which I love because it means that as well as the music being a culmination of loads of people’s time and work, so is the music video!
Conceptually, the video features a lot of connective moments between myself and the nature surrounding me in a very explorative way. The idea is that I am projecting myself from my ‘main alien form’ (with the halo) into this incredible landscape almost as a kind of avatar to do that exploration and the manipulation of the terrain that you see later into the video.
The world of VFX is one I’ve just been introduced to, and one I never want to leave! It’s amazing what people can do and the amount of imagination that goes into it as well, I am literally in awe of everyone at this point.
I really hope you enjoy listening to and watching “Giants”, and thank you for letting me ramble on about everything (I will do it forever!)
