London-based filmmaker teams up with singer-songwriter Anna B Savage's new single Chelsea Hotel #3 on a track about discovering female pleasure. The song re-examines what female sexuality needs, dissipating ideas of female objectification, and at times switching it round to fuel a humorous, yet poignant piece of work. The song is taken from Savage's upcoming debut album, which is due later this year.

Savage << 'Wank More' was my 2016 New Year’s Resolution. It was part of my need to battle all the internalised bullshit I had ingested about women. I’ve spent the last few years actively unlearning things I spent my first twenty years passively being fed. Like how women are sexualised, but never allowed to be sexual, they are the object (sometimes even an object). It took me until 21 to start masturbating, even longer to realise that sex was also for me (groundbreaking, I know) and that I had agency and could and should ask for things. It’s wildly frustrating and sad. Out of these thoughts came 'Chelsea Hotel #3.'

The song, similarly to Leonard Cohen’s 'Chelsea Hotel #2', starts with ‘head on an unmade bed’ and tracks a conversation, internal rather than external, that follows. I go through historical experiences of pleasure, both at the hands of others, and my own (and with accoutrements). From a passive, unknowing sexual youth to an active, exploratory modern day version of myself, more willing to acknowledge and, yes, list the things that get me off.

While it’s a naked nod to Cohen’s Janis Joplin in 'Chelsea Hotel #2', in my mind it’s an even bigger nod to Chris Kraus’s I Love Dick, a book which prompted me to be able to express myself in this way. The man in 'Chelsea Hotel #3' is a stand in for all men, and as I’m telling my story, here he plays the role of the passive pawn and ‘muse’, a like for like role reversal of how women have ‘inspired’ men for centuries.

The song is a groan of boredom for the role of passive, mute, muse women, and a scream for female autonomy and pleasure. >>

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Daniel << I was really excited to work on this video when I read Anna’s initial idea & themes behind the song. I wanted to give an honest portrayal of pleasure whilst being in a fantasy environment. Playing with sensuality & the senses through light, colour and textures. I feel that sexuality generally doesn’t get portrayed in a complex & personal way and I think it’s important for people to be able to express & place their experiences in their own context and I hope I created that for Anna >>

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