Kimbra certainly got her wish with her clever and beautiful reimagination of Snow White in the music video for “Kimbra’s Wish.” The singer, known for her unique aesthetic, collaborated with Portland-based artist Adam C Sager to dream up her updated visuals of the movie’s classic song “I’m Wishing.” Sager, who has worked on projects such as Portlandia and Coroline, was the perfect director to breathe life into the vision.
In the surreal video, Kimbra plays the roles of both Snow White and the Evil Witch. The scenes are taken directly from the Disney classic, with the singer digitally inserted into the scenery using green screens. She interacts with the animation, acting out classic scenes from Snow White. What adds to the ingenuity of the project is the production of Kimbra’s remake of “I’m Wishing.” In the behind-the-scenes video, Kimbra expands on the concept of reimagining classics. “I wanted to retranslate it (Snow White) somehow, give it a more R&B vibe,” she said. “Darken it a little bit.”
She definitely achieved her goal. The words are copied almost verbatim from the original, but the bass and synth interlocking behind the melody change the song completely. Add in some hand claps and ethereal harmonies and you almost forget what the original sounds like at all. Hearing the childhood classic over a beat that could easily be the backbone of an R&B banger manages to be strange and incredibly beautiful at the same time.
Putting a twist on cult classics is nothing new for Kimbra. She recently used the 1996 hit film Space Jam as inspiration for her live improvised musical and visual event also called Space Jam. Props to the artist for showing us new ways to show appreciation for the cultural classics that inspire proceeding generations of artistic expression.
