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Music

Bailey Wiley Wants You to See Her Without the Shiny Stuff

VICE NZ is excited to premiere the artist's beautiful new video, 'Sugar'.
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Bailey Wiley is just one of the many amazing Kiwi acts helping VICE to kick out the 2018 cobwebs at our Auckland Christmas party. It's free, you're all invited, and you can RSVP here.

Bailey Wiley wanted her fans to see 'Sugar' "in its purest form". Shot and recorded live in Auckland's Cornwall Park, as the sun set one evening, the video is a comeback statement for an artist who has, as she puts it, "been off the radar musically for so long".

"It was really important that people saw me for who I was and just the way I am with no shiny stuff. I think that’s the most important thing.”

The organic approach to the song, recorded with just the keys to accompany her voice, was about getting to the "the essence of what the song is about"—a meditation on a relationship at a juncture. "I don’t want to be the only one feeling this way, and if you’re not feeling this way then holla, ‘cos I’ll bounce. It was really just about that 50/50 moment of seeing if he was down, and also just making him aware that I am lit, I am a good woman.”

And stripping back the video highlighted those themes. The original plan had been to chop it up and take the best parts of the four or so times she ran through the song, but Bailey loved the organic, raw nature of a one-take video. "That’s not why we’re doing this, to show everyone the perfect sound of ‘Sugar’? But it was like, that’s not what it’s about, and so I kinda had this conversation with Jordan [Arts], who was the director, and I said, "It’s actually ok to have a few off notes… That’s human man.'"