Mega Bog, 'The Clown'

Pierrot, the sad clown, is one of art history's most enduring characters, a stock figure whose humanity makes it painful to watch him play the fool. On "The Clown," the first single off Mega Bog's forthcoming album, End of Everything, Erin Birgy wipes her circus makeup off for good. Bellowing from the top of a staircase of glistening new-wave synths, Birgy experiences an off-kilter aha moment, embracing all of her contradictions rather than settling for the condescension given to a lovable buffoon. "Oh how do you see me now? / Am I still the clown / you found so charming?," Birgy roars at a "young man" who's made the mistake of taking her for granted. She has described the track as "about the terrible, sensual, and chaotic release of merging one's own multitudes," and on "The Clown" she becomes an undeniable force no one could possibly laugh at.

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