Pacific Northwest native Olivia Thomas (aka LIV), and co-host of Free Smoke, has just dropped the new music for “Unbothered”, the title track from her 2019 album “Black Girl Unbothered“.
The video, a co-production with production company Harvest House, had it’s struggles coming together, and Liv describes this as well as the overall concept at the beginning of the video…
“I love being a fucking black woman. I love black women, period. Our shit is lit. We look good. We’re strong. We’re smart. We’re fun. And I wanted to create something, that centered us. I wanted to put us in a space that celebrated us. I wanted to write a song that talked about just us being our fucking selves, and what that means. Especially me being a black queer woman. All I need is safe spaces most days, and sometimes, I don’t always find them. But with this I wanted to create something that did that, and we started to do that, and then… shit just changed”. – LIV
The initial shoot at SIGNL Studio A was almost cancelled. COVID was becoming more serious in Seattle, and we were days away from a potential quarantine. At the last minute the crew decided to go ahead and was able to capture the core footage for the video. However, Seattle finally did go into quarantine shortly after, and any further production on the video was halted.
Unable to shoot any further scenes, and with some crew members having to drop-off the production, Liv took up the reigns herself. As we came out of quarantine and the city started to ease up restrictions, Liv was able to alter the concept, capture additional socially-distant footage and even edited the entire video herself.
The result, we think, came out just as great as the original concepts we heard about. Incorporating not only the original themes of the video, but harnessing these new times we find ourselves in. A smart narrative that enhances the message.
Check out the full video below, and be sure to check out Liv’s Instagram post which tags all the main collaborators involved.