Juliana Hafield – “Broken Doll” Video
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If you were a conscious consumer of music in the early ’90s, then you likely remember Juliana Hatfield, whose alt-pop gems persistently made the radio better than it would’ve otherwise been. Earlier this year, Hatfield followed up an album of Olivia Newton-John covers with Weird, a new album of originals. (Hatfield’s old Blake Babies bandmate Freda Love Smith contributes.) And after she already made a video for the Weird song “Lost Ship,” Hatfield now has a new clip for “Broken Doll.” It’s a good one.
The “Broken Doll” video isn’t some big-budget affair, but it stretches its single joke further than anyone could’ve anticipated. Hatfield plays a Playboy bunny who goes to live on a farm. She hangs out with a dog and a donkey, attempts to steal carrots from a vegetable garden, and deals with the persistent problem of her fuzzy bunny tail falling off. Rachel Lichtman directed the video, and Wilco’s Pat Sansone introduces it. Check it out below, via Network 77.
Of the video, Hatfield says:
I love physical comedy and I finally got to do some myself in this video. We are taking the piss out of glamour while also paying homage to the history of the bunnies. (My mom was one of the original Playboy club cocktail waitresses in NYC in the early 1960’s — she wore the outfit and did the bunny dip to serve the drinks).
Lichtman says:
This particular feminine archetype is so iconic, and the concept of being “put out to pasture” makes such a strong and hilarious statement — and Juliana plays it beautifully. I mean that literally: Despite the funny pratfalls and muck, she is more gorgeous than ever. Our sensibilities are so on the same wavelength and I think that continues to shine through in this video — plus it was (clearly) a lot of fun to make.
Weird is out now on American Laundromat Records.