BANKS Wants You to Dive Into Your Feelings

Banks is no stranger to water. Whether shes drowning in it, swimming through it, or wishing she was made of it, water is a constant theme in the singers three bodies of work to date. I feel like it can consume you and you can consume it, she says. When I write about when Im feeling really powerful, I feel like I could consume something. And when Im feeling really vulnerable, it feels like something can consume me. It feels like, in that way, water is my friend. We are one. In Skinnydipped, her second single off her unnamed fourth studio album, water is equal parts cleansing and enigmatic. The song is a regenesisa woman coming into a new and undiscovered power. The production slides below her piercing delivery as she bites on lines like, I aired out my sheets cause they smell like you / I cleaned out the salt in my wounds, and her harmonies further build a world around her to begin anew. Its a waterfall of emotions, and shes asking you to join her for a swim. In the music video, co-directed by the artist herself and Michael Stine, Banks reimagines herself as a siren on the water. She metaphorically molts her skin like a snake, because, for her, the animal signifies rebirth and being present in whatever skin youre in. Working closely with styling duo Sandra Amador and Tom Eerebout, Banks felt that the perfect embodiment of everything Skinnydipped had to say was in the seductive stylings of Bulgari diamonds. She is (literally) dripping in the Serpenti collection: It made me feel like a sirenso powerful, but you cant tell if its dangerous. Thats my favorite feeling. BANKS Bankss new music marks a renewal of sorts after she took the last year and a half in lockdown to overcome mental and physical health struggles and restart her career as an independent artist. Through it all, music has held her down, a necessary anchor in the uncertain world of releasing music on her own and healing herself from the inside out. In those moments [in quarantine], I felt like wet pudding on the floor, she says. Making music really helped me come out of it, and I feel like I had to go [there]. I needed to work through things that were beneath the surface for a long time, but never had time to rear [their] head. Below, ELLE.com caught up with the singer (Jillian when shes not performing) about her new single, creating for herself and by herself, and dressing as the siren shes always been. You co-directed both Skinnydipped and The Devil. How important is it for you to be so deeply involved in what youre creating? Thats everything to me. Ive always written all my own music but been deeply involved in the production. I think having time off, just to marinate on everything and the certain things that I was trying to work through, set me off on this journey of feeling the most independent that Ive ever felt. I think real art comes from the person. Its sharing what you need to share. Its exuding everything that you dont know how to say otherwise. In order to really know an artist, it has to be coming from them, or else its not your own art. How do you go about translating the emotion and mood of a song into a look for a music video or tour? You always seem to have a very specific theme, and its always a little dark and mysterious, yet clean and simple. When I make music, its so visual. If I close my eyes, or if Im writing a melody, I immediately see a color, or I immediately see something jagged, or something really soft, or something smoky. I feel like textures are huge you can you can feel something when you listen to something. And, in that respect, when Im in fittings, its more [about] whatever my gut leads me to. As you go through different phases, youre attracted to different things, and I think that Ive definitely been about simplicity. I like the clean, simple, flowing soft fabricsbut I think The Devil needed something a little rougher. BANKS What was your creative and styling process for Skinnydipped? Its my favorite video Ive [ever] done. My friend Lever Couture designed every dress that I wear in it, and shes just so avant-garde. She knows how to fit a womans body so welltheres a lot of fabric, but its see-through. One dress Im wearing is plasticliterally, plastic all over your skin. It was really fun in that respect, because Skinnydipped is about sirens on a lake in their natural habitat, and you cant tell if theyre dangerous, but theyre divine, and its really empowering. The dresses that I wore for it felt unique and they felt divine. It felt like a creature who you discovered in the woods, who was the queen of some sort of weird thing youve never seen, would wear these dresses. I think they lift you up larger than life, but theyre also really simple at the same time. I love that youre wearing Serpenti pieces in the video. Whenever I think of Bulgari, and specifically the Serpenti line, its always very powerful and sexual and freeing. What drew you to wear those pieces? Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, Skinnydipped is a seductive little beast. Those pieces of art that I was able to wear, you feel so powerful wearing them. They feel like everything that I wanted to represent women as in this video, which is divine, empowered, seductive, sensual, mysterious, everythingthats what the Serpenti collection is. The idea of sirens has always intrigued me so much because theyre these beautiful, enigmatic creatures, but you cant touch them, and you want to, but you cant tell if theyre dangerous or not. The Serpenti collection made me feel like thatit made me feel like a siren. BANKS What are you most looking forward to with this new album and new era? Im most looking forward to just seeing what I can do. Ive never owned my own mind as much as I do now; Ive never owned my own creativity as much as I do now. I dont even know whats going to happen, but Im so excited to see. This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Kevin LeBlanc Kevin LeBlanc is the Fashion Associate at ELLE Magazine. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io The post BANKS Wants You to Dive Into Your Feelings appeared first on Patabook Fashion.

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