Tadpole “For Me”

1999-tadpole-for-meFrom memory, this song was written in the style of a suicide note. While the music is somewhat uplifting, the lyrics have dark undertones and the music video treads that line.

The video takes place in two locations – a men’s toilet and a fancy apartment. The toilets are the magnificently green-tiled toilets at Hotel DeBrett (thanks to Peter at DubDotDash for IDing these!) and they’ve previously featured in the Cicada “Future Folds” video and in Joint Force’s “Static (Part 1)” vid. But this is the first time a girl has ventured into the men’s room. The band perform the song in sped-up mode, as confused businessmen make their way through the band on their way to have an executive pee.

Meanwhile in the apartment, Renee Tadpole plays a spoiled diva. She’s just won an award and is throwing a party. Her apartment is full of people who are partying like they just don’t care. The diva receives some flowers but she just rips up the card, throws the flowers down and laughs.

In the middle of it, there’s a shot of a man sitting on a toilet, wearing sunglasses, talking on the phone. Who is he? Who is he talking to? Why is he wearing sunglasses?

But soon the party gets out of hand. There’s a tussle over the diva’s award trophy and soon she’s angrily kicking out her guests. She goes to the bathroom to take off her makeup and we discover: one man collapsed in the shower, another man luxuriating in a bubble bath, and another man passed out under a glass coffee table. The diva, blissfully unaware, lays down in her comfortable diva bed and snugly curls up with her trophy.

Whenever I see a video like this, I figure the band probably had a lot of fun making all the party scenes, but yet I think the performance footage in the toilet is a lot more effective.

Best bit: the teen-style gluttonous pizza pig-out at the posh party.

Director: Joe Lonie
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… Don meanders.

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