Nacional Records just released the video for Alex Anwandter’s “Siempre es Viernes en Mi Corazón,” the first single off his most recent album Amiga, and it’s a visual sucker-punch worthy of the profoundly cutting track.
The video finds Alex droning through life as a factory worker, turning knobs and making PA announcements. His coworkers, emotionless in flesh-tone masks, silently watch him walk by, adding to the sterile industrial atmosphere of the video. He begins to antagonize them by shimmying and blowing kisses at them, eventually connecting with one, maskless, played by Ale Sergi of Miranda!
Sergi’s character is intriguing, because he and Alex quite literally see each other as kindred outsiders. Their interactions escalate from eye contact, to a secret stairwell rendezvous, to Sergi publicly outing Alex and having him ejected from the factory. During the cut scene at the video’s end, where Sergi guiltlessly tells a reporter about how much he loves his life and his job, Alex is commenting on the betrayal and complacency of a community that often irresponsibly chastises and thrusts people out of the closet.
Symbolism abounds in the video, nowhere stronger than in Alex’s bedroom scenes. The line “la iglesia me mandó al infierno” features a close-up of an upside down marquee Catholic cross, and during “el congreso piensa que estoy enfermo,” the camera pans to a portrait of Jaime Guzmán, founder of the far-right UDI party and architect of Chile’s dictatorship-penned constitution, who was investigated by Chile’s secret police for “homosexual behavior.” Having lost everything, Alex burns the portrait, no longer willing to live or sleep in the shadow of Guzmán’s hypocrisy or of the world he helped create. The video’s final punctuating statement comes during the song’s breakdown, where Alex goes into a full voguing session, a celebration of freedom and a nod to queer figures before him.
Alex Anwandter is making beautiful, provocative art that continues to redefine the role of pop star as social commentator. The stories he tells through film and song outline more than just his own journey, but that of many without a voice or a way out. “Siempre es Viernes en Mi Corazón” is the light at the end of a long existential tunnel, where the weekend represents the promise of freedom, equality, and peace.
Amiga is available on iTunes and Amazon now via Nacional Records.