Pop singer/songwriter Vanessa Carlton shared a timely new video for her political song “Die, Dinosaur.” It was originally released as part of her latest album, Love Is An Art, which came out in March on Dine Alone Records.
Carlton’s best known for her 2002 superhit “A Thousand Miles,” but she’s continued making soft yet melodic pop music since then. Love Is An Art is her sixth studio album, and also features the dreamy singles, “The Only Way to Love” and “Miner’s Canary.”
“Die, Dinosaur” has politically-charged lyrics, but remains calm. Carlton starts right off with the hook, “Young courage never fades/Keeps thinking of brand new ways/Counting down the days/Until you die dino, die dino, die dino, die.” It’s fairly sparse, with piano chords, shuffling drums, subtle guitar and Dave Fridmann’s atmospheric production touches.
“This song is about young people patiently awaiting the death of the dinosaurs in power,” Carlton said in a statement, “It’s about seeing the ‘way of the world’ as fundamentally wrong, oppressive and therefore, completely irrelevant. Young people will not participate in the societal contracts that they clearly see as wrong. The song was inspired by young leaders who are unafraid to challenge the archaic, tone deaf, sexist, and white supremacist ideology in power.”
This song is for the brave voices who prophesize the inevitable crumbling, falling of the white man who cannot listen, cannot change,” She clarified one of the lines from the song, “He is the ‘man in the weather changing.’”
The video shows old red-tinted protest footage with occasional superimposed shots in white. It’s notably inclusive of protests from various communities, and features a lot of people of color and non-english speakers. Carlton’s desire to vote out the people in power has been matched by a lot of people throughout history, and she shows that in the video.
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