New Jersey born and raised and LA-based Sarah Hollins returns with latest single Good Girl. The new tune, co-written and produced by Erik Kertes (Michael Bublé, Shakira, Melissa Etheridge, Jewel) is about the people pleasing that girls are taught to perform to obtain what they want and to move forward through life. It also speaks on the slippery slope of astrology becoming its own type of dogma. The music video was shot in Riverside, CA by a mostly female crew (female director, female director of photography, female editor/colourist, and an all-female cast). It captures the essence of female friendship, 2000s skater culture, and Southern California.
Sarah Hollins
Friends Sarah Hollins and director Maryna Bogdan were looking for the right project to work on together after Bogdan had made her short film, Nana, and after she had heard Hollins’ music. Hollins tells Rockshot Magazine: “After I wrote the song, I knew that I wanted to make a video that celebrated skating culture but with girls as the focus and not boys. I came to Maryna with my idea and we worked together over the course of a few months to flesh out the idea and shoot it.”
She continues: “As millennials, the skating culture of the 2000’s dominated pop culture and while millennial girls enjoyed it and were a part of it in our own way, it was riddled with toxic masculinity and misogyny and girls were often ridiculed, demeaned, or not welcomed or included in the skate culture/hangs. We wanted to make a video that showcased girls having fun together and injecting welcoming, safe, inclusive, and positive female energy into that culture and space. An energy that extends to and includes all women, including trans women (the red headed actress in the video, Juni, is a trans woman).”
Speaking about the Southern California location for the video shoot Hollins comments: “The choice to highlight Southern California was to pay homage to skate culture’s history in SoCal as well as, for me, the safe haven that SoCal provided me after leaving New Jersey to move here over 12 years ago. The peacefulness and relaxed, easygoing nature of SoCal often offers a sanctuary for many people. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I went to college at California Baptist University in Riverside, CA. I felt at home there and met a group of friends that welcomed me and made Riverside a special place and second home for me. I wanted to film the video there and showcase how beautiful Riverside is as it is often overlooked in comparison to Los Angeles.”
Sarah Hollins
And speaking of the specific choice to focus on working with a female crew she adds: “We also chose to work with a mostly female crew to highlight and honour the feminist messaging of the song. It speaks to the female experience of being conditioned to people please and go along with what others tell you to do, so we wanted the people behind the camera to personally understand and reflect that sentiment and experience as well.”
Sarah Hollins is librarian by day and an indie rocker by night. Born and raised in New Jersey and based in Los Angeles since 2012, she sounds like your favourite ’90s nostalgia hooked up to Robert Smith’s amp. Some of her influences include Aaliyah, Paramore, Third Eye Blind, Taylor Swift, The Cure, Coheed and Cambria, and Death Cab For Cutie. Over the years, Hollins has been a choir-kid geek, a pop-punk frontwoman, and a folk singer. Raised in the Christian church, Sarah’s vulnerable pop/rock work often explores religious/sexual/childhood trauma and coming out.
Check out the Maryna Bogdan-directed video for Good Girl below:
Hollins recorded her Heartbeat EP in 2016 at Capitol Studios where they had the listening party in the legendary Studio B. She played the BottleRock festival in Napa Valley in 2018 and often performs at Los Angeles institution, Hotel Cafe (think early acoustic performances from the likes of John Mayer, Adele, Anna Nalick, Sara Bareilles and Katy Perry).
Sarah Hollins
She released her debut full length album, Catholic Guilt, in 2022, a self-produced and fully live EP, Sad Dad Rock, in May 2023, and the single, Doom, featuring Semler in September 2023. Sarah Hollins can frequently be found lurking on Reddit for Lord of the Rings memes and screaming “Man your own jackhammer!” at Coheed and Cambria shows. Check out all things Sarah Hollins over here: https://sarahhollins.com/
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