Jade Ang Jackman's new music video for artist Akiko Haruna, is an assemblage of scenes that show the artist to cut through the ideas of femininity that society pedals. This visual sonic combination expresses that familiar feeling that wherever you look as a woman you're bound to see a reminder of some way you're expected to conform, as if it hangs in the air. Both Jackman and Akiko Haruna slice that same air with dance and symbols of strength.

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Akiko Haruna 'I am hesitant to push my own narrative in a track meant to deliver a broader message to my audience. Instead I would rather leave room for interpretation, so that they can also have a track as their own and apply to whatever they are going through.

However, to touch on it lightly, I wrote this track as a personal reminder to mentally disengage and disregard certain thought processes that are detrimental to my own growth. Day-to-day experiences have affirmed rules concreted in place throughout my life, but I was and still am in the process of mentally rejecting all of that. A direct translation of the track is essentially me telling myself to not see, hear or feel those rules anymore. I don’t need them anymore.

The video, in short, illustrates the tendency taught to me to conform to expectations of femininity, especially as a mixed race artist in contemporary society. Concepts of restraint and liberation substantiate these ideas through expressions in movement, styling (by An Nguyen) and cinematic direction (by Jade Ang Jackman).'

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‍Jade Ang Jackman 'Working with Akiko Haruna was like working with a triple threat... she is a producer, vocalist, and talented dancer! Low-budget promos can be really tricky when you have an artist whose movement becomes another vessel for their storytelling - it makes it a lot easier! It is one of the first projects that Babes with Blades has been involved with and being able to collaborate with talent who want to extend their practice by involving movement or sport is one of the things that we're about!'

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