If BANKS’ first single, “Fuck with Myself,” and accompanying music video were any indication of what could follow, you think we’d be primed and prepped for another haunting visual from the artist — and we are. But her videos are beyond our preparations, and “Trainwreck” beckons us into a mind-fuckery that transforms our wildest fears into reality.
“Trainwreck” opens with BANKS on an old television screen and pans out to three identical men watching the screen. These men are omnipresent throughout the video, filming BANKS, dancing with her, and lurking in the dark corners of the bedroom and hallways she inhabits. She can feel them, touch them and see them, but are we sure that they’re real? Or are they merely an extension of her? In one scene in particular, the lights are out and all we can see is a shadow of the four figures creating a spider-like reptilian creature. The lights turn on and the creature disappears, but the four remain as a unit, supporting BANKS as she leans back. It’s confusing and uncomfortable to see her dependency and resistance, but all too familiar. Will she ever escape the rooms, the men, the thoughts, the feelings that chain her? I won’t give away the ending, but it’s definitely one that you have to see for yourself.
