Carly Binding “Alright With Me”

2002-carly-binding-alright-with-meHaving done a Geri and escaped from her girl group, Carly Binding was ready to launch herself as a serious pop singer-songwriter. This video provides a stark contrast to the garish world of TrueBliss. The bright orange power bob is gone, replaced with soft natural curls, and the scfi Lycra has been switched for natural fibres (the surprisingly enough don’t look especially out of date a decade down the line). Carly’s sitting on the back of a truck, strumming her acoustic guitar and singing the song she wrote. She’s got a one-way ticket out of Reality Popville, headed straight for Credibility Street.

“Alright With Me” was her second solo single, a pleasant enough country pop song, with a better than average chorus that saw it reach number 10 in the charts. So it’s no wonder that the video plays it very safe, going for a sweet portrayal of Carly in the great outdoors. I get the feeling this is the sort of video treatment that someone like Anika Moa might have felt uncomfortable doing, but it’s a very Carly kind of vid.

As well as sitting on the back of a ute, we also find Jaime Ridge’s future stepmum standing in a green field with a picturesque power pylon behind her, by the muddy shores of the inner Manukau harbour and sitting in the stands at a provincial sports ground. It’s establishing Carly as an ordinary Kiwi chick, the kind who is more at home with her guitar in a pair of jeans than in the orange Lycra of the TrueBliss months.

It’s a really nicely shot video, especially with the lighting of Carly against the scenic backgrounds. Given that most recent Greg Page videos have been of a darker, rockier style, it’s refreshing to see him given the opportunity to make something a bit more vanilla. Though putting a power pylon in a music video is a welcome contrast to the touristy landcapes of similar videos.

Best bit: Carly’s relentless cheer as she bumps along the potholed dirt road.

Note: A second “Alright With Me” video was made for Australia. It’s not online, but you can see a bit of it in this video.

Director: Greg Page
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

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