Virginie B kicks off the festival season with a music video combining two songs from Astral 2000

Virginie B adds a new dimension to the visual universe of her second album Astral 2000 with a music video for the songs Lock U up (I don't want to do this) and 9ft tall insect angel steps on you. This new video arrives on the eve of a busy summer for the artist, who will be performing at a number of festivals across Quebec, such as Francos de Montréal, La Noce, Festival d'été de Québec and Festif! de Baie-Saint-Paul, among others. See the list below for details.

Directed by Rosalie Bordeleau, who also worked with Virginie B on the album’s other music videos, Lock U up/9ft tall insect angel steps on you represents the synthesis of their collaborations; it features the fantasy elements of Madone, the industrial coldness of Hyperboi, the use of AI from Autoportrait, and the performance aspect of Astral 2000.

Through each of Astral 2000’s music videos, we explored dynamics of observation, specifically the relationship between the observer and the observed, explains the director. In Lock U up/9ft tall insect angel steps on you, we begin in the position of the observer, with the audience entering Virginie B's personal space, before switching to that of the observed at the very end. It was our first experience with prosthetic makeup; we wanted to amplify the sensation of strangeness as much as possible, as if a creature from elsewhere was taking possession of the stage. We embraced this feeling of being an alien in the face of the world, adapting it in our own way.

Both songs are linked by the influence of Björk, whose compositional methods inspired Virginie B, notably her use of voice, sampling and sequencers. All the sounds that make up 9ft tall are actually based on sung and sampled sections of my voice, manipulated in every possible way, adds Virginie. Lock U up is a direct reference to the song Hunter from the album Homogenic, of which the rhythm is reproduced in the intro.

About Astral 2000

The irreverent Virginie B reveals her extravagance on Astral 2000, her second album and first to be released on Bonsound. At once quirky and accessible, visceral and sophisticated, synthetic and deeply human, its songs explore conflicting personal themes: Virginie goes back and forth between her love of nature and fascination with new technologies, her longing for lazy days and the urgency of her mortality, her desire for simple pleasures and need to perform in the spotlight, her relationship with her femininity, her desires and the excesses they often result in.

Conceived alongside producer and multi-instrumentalist Louis Jeay-Beaulieu, Astral 2000 is one of the first hyperpop albums to come out of Quebec, and its originality makes it stand out from the genre’s leading acts. On this second album, Virginie B presents herself as a carefree queen, a digital nymph, a timeless creature.

About Virginie B

Virginie B's irresistible quirkiness is matched only by her boundless creativity. The singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist offers a unique interpretation of hyperpop that incorporates touches of nu-jazz, funk and R&B, complemented with a sophisticated conceptual approach inherited from art pop and a pronounced taste for maximalism and glamour.

Tour dates

*Opening for Philippe Katerine