Today, Anohni shares a video for “Scapegoat,” the centerpiece of her latest album, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, released on Rough Trade and Secretly Canadian. Shortly after its release, Vulture praised “Scapegoat” as one of the Best Songs of 2023 stating, “Both prayer and plight — a blunt assessment of our current world and a hope that its bigotry will eventually end.”
Directed by Anohni’s sister, the London-based filmmaker Sara Hegarty, the “Scapegoat” video portrays a young woman contained in isolation, who escapes to a pastoral world where a mandate of care protects her, and she is free to express herself. The video asks if such a society is within reach. The film was art directed by the photographer and visual artist Barbara Hegarty, and assisted by Ella Hegarty.
The song “Scapegoat” — co-written by Ahohni and producer Jimmy Hogarth — articulates the crisis of those caught in cycles of persecution, interweaving the intentions of a perpetrator with an omniscient voice, perhaps that of nature herself. Anohni speaks to victims of sexual assault, kidnapping, murder, gun violence, torture, and bullying. She asserts that certain human bodies are designated as expendable by strangers and familiar people.
“Scapegoat” features unusual visuals contrasting darker lyrics. The lyrics dehumanize people, especially women, but the entire song may be speaking to victims of human trafficking. “You’re so killable // Just so killable // It’s not personal //It’s just the way you were born // And in this society // A scapegoat is all I can be // Oh, you’re so killable // I can say just what I want // I can use you like a toilet”. Notice the one lyric: “A scapegoat is all I can be”, this phrase expresses the entire gist of the song by how blunt it is; it’s straight to the point, and It makes it seem like the main actress’s character is nothing but a burden.
The visuals of “Scapegoat” describe a different story. The main character gets to walk in nature, have friends, play with babies, and eat grapes. She is happy, which is the opposite of what the lyrics describe. She holds hands with an unknown young woman who smiles with her. They join a woman in a green dress and frolic in yellow flower fields. Despite this, the lyrics sing about a possible Nihilism. “It doesn’t matter who you are // Or where you come from // It doesn’t matter what you’ve got to give // Or why you want to live”. The video ends with the girls smiling and jumping around while a guitar solo ends the clip.
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