Feature REVIEW/Video:

Having to stay in your house for months at a time can allow for all kinds of emotions. Sure, it can be boredom, loneliness, sadness, the Covid-19 classics. But what about being jealous of snails? Those nonchalant lazy snails just having a blast outside not even knowing their luck?

20 year old pop artist Benee from Auckland, New Zealand turned this exact random thought into a super playful and fun song and a beautiful, colorful and ridiculous music video. It talks about how the snail can’t quite put a finger on why the humans aren’t coming out: "Wonder why you stay inside. I can't talk, can't speak my mind. Why you wanna waste your time? Why don't you join me outside?” The beginning of the video is heavily populated by larger than life pet snails be it in Benee’s bedroom where she’s lethargically lying on her bed in lockdown or in a feeding scene of Benee throwing full cabbages at her friends.

The track’s sound is a 80’s pop synthesizer experiment, produced in a DIY home studio, in a magical, spacey video game sound effect landscape.The vocals start with sweet little monotonous melodies in the verse "Everything is good, everything is fine. Thought I'd let you know, having a great time”, and then turn into a spoken chant in the very catchy chorus that you would hear in the schoolyard of an elementary school accompanied by a clapping choreography: "I'm like a snail, you're a guy, Kinda mad I can't fly. When it's day, hide away, But come out when it rains”.

The second part of the video is filmed as if Benee were the snail herself, she takes a magical serum and suddenly she rides through a rain storm on a bicycle and the world turns into a whimsical place full of gigantic neon purple mushrooms and a sky full of northern lights. She’s wearing a dress that reminds of the old fashioned one Alice in Wonderland wore in the Disney movie and has the most colorful and fairytale hair style and makeup.

In a time in which the energy is mostly heavy and serious, “snail” gives our eyes and brains a refreshing playful break. It’s pretty brilliant. To take those mysterious thoughts we all had at least when we were kids but often push aside later because they’re considered insignificant and to actually give them a life and a platform. What a dedication to pure creativity! It’s almost as if Benee is reminding us to not take ourselves too seriously, and remember to play!

Benee won Single of The Year, Best Solo Artist, Best Breakthrough Artist and Best Pop Artist at the New Zealand Music Awards in 2019 and acclaimed international success with her single "Supalonely” on the video clip platform TikTok.