Bachelor, the band started by Melina Duterte, also known as Jay Som and Palehound’s Ellen Kempner, shared a music video for their song “Back of My Hand” on May 28, 2021. The video features Duterte and Kempner, and was directed by Kempner. “Back of My Hand” is a song off of Bachelor’s anticipated debut studio album, Doomin’ Sun, released May 28.
The music begins with dissonant synths that almost resemble the drone of an alarm clock, before sharply cutting off when a clipped drum beat begins. A guitar complements the lower register of Kempner as she begins to sing, “I’m your biggest fan/Got your song in my head/And your poster’s above my bed/You watch me sleeping.” The song’s narrative explores the obsessive nature of today’s music fans, examining how harmful celebrity culture can be to fans’ mental health. “You date the beauty queens/I see their bodies in magazines/Sharp jaw size 0 jeans/I skip a meal/I drink some tea.”
The music video for “Back of My Hand” elevates this idea. In the video, we see Jay Som and Palehound as they relax in a bedroom, muted colors and ‘90s-esque aesthetics clashing ever so slightly with the poster, pillows and blankets that decorate the room. It follows the two as they kidnap Norm Normal after approaching him for an autograph. The pair bring Normal to their basement where they serenade him and end up fighting each other for his attention. Normal escapes and the video ends as the pair burn their photos of Harry Styles.
“For the ‘Back Of My Hand’ video, we wanted more than anything to make something fun given the limited time and options available due to the current pandemic. Ultimately deciding to put Ellen in the director’s chair as well as film at her home with a skeleton crew. Our final single is about the dark side of fandom and we wanted to exaggerate that as much as possible in our video concept. When it came to choosing an artist to obsess over we quickly chose Harry Styles as we both are truly big fans!” said Bachelor in a press release.
Bachelor is set for a full schedule of live performances, including an upcoming livestream for Doomin’ Sun, featuring a myriad of artists including Tegan and Sara, Jeff Tweedy and Julien Baker. Bachelor will also be hitting the road with Lucy Dacus in September on her Home Video tour.
Bachelor is a fairly recent collaboration between Kempner and Duterte. The two joined forces in February 2021 and released “Anything at All.” In March, the two released a video for their song “Stay in the Car.”
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