Hayes Warner has unleashed the video for her latest single, “Messy.” The song is a slow burn f-you to a careless partner who posted pics of a new romantic interest before her wounds even scabbed up. Here, Warner writes with visceral and evocative emotionality—sharing the full range of her emotions honestly while also weaving in a story arc of what exactly went down. At times, Warner sings from tender heartbreak, and, at other times, she lashes out with empowered rage. The song’s rugged beat, woozy atmospherics, and ultra-catchy-but-melancholy hooks hit like a ballad banger.
Warner’s video for “Messy” is an intimate portrayal of post-breakup rituals. It’s haunting, heartbreaking, and at times, kind of hilarious.
“If you know you’re going to see your ex in most social settings, at a certain point, you have to give into the situation and find the humor in the awkwardness,” Warner says. “I wanted to bring that energy into the video, along with the eye-rolling and frustration.”
The filmic short is a mosaic of different moments in moving through the stages of loss. Depressed days lounging around in your room. Moments of propped-up strength through commiserating with your friends. And jolts of swaggering resentfulness when the anger of the breakup creeps back up. The video’s stark color palette of whites, beiges, and blacks, and intriguing use of camera perspectives, including selfie style footage and peephole viewpoints, lends it almost a psych-horror, The Shining-like cinematic quality — but with a sense of self-conscious humor.
