On May 2nd, K. Forest, Brampton native and R&B singer and songwriter, debuted the visuals for his 2020 single “Against the Wall.”
Best known as the mind behind Travis Scott’s 2016 track “guidance,” K. Forest’s work under his own act has been steadily building an audience in Toronto and beyond, garnering over 135 000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
Directed by Devo, the video uses a starkly contrasted visual aesthetic to communicate the narrative themes that permeate “Against the Wall.” The song’s main focus is the isolation that comes with success, and likewise, the video uses the juxtaposition of light and dark to drive that point home. From the monochromatic palette to the shots of K. Forest holding a flickering light in his cupped hands, this is a theme that is maintained visually throughout this wailing condemnation of the cynicism of success.
“My back against the wall, can’t feel nothing at all,” he laments on the track’s hook. The video, directed by Devo, mirrors this suffocating sentiment by placing K. Forest alone in a white, empty room, while intercut shots of the natural world suggest dreams of escape. The alternation of shots of a young boy and K. Forest himself in this room seems to imply a life sentence — isolation and self-reliance from the past to the present. Given the current situation in the city and beyond, this audio-visual ode to solitude resonates as especially timely and relatable.
The simple but striking visuals compliment the sparse but hypnotic “Against the Wall” in terms of music, and the patent loneliness that permeates the video communicates the drawbacks of hustle, fame and fortune in terms of message. Watch K. Forest’s “Against the Wall” below: