Ammar’s asylum
A NEW MUSIC VIDEO FROM THE ONE AND ONLY:
AMMAR.
There are cycles of life that make us feel trapped in everyday trauma. They can turn a city of sanity into the padded cell walls of an asylum. We all can relate to this and in my opinion, this was Ammar’s visual journey into that Asylum
After having a deep and cutting conversation with musician, producer, and songwriter, Ammar, I can see how impactful this music video titled, “Asylum”, would be necessary to create. The video follows Ammar in a dark cycle of doing the same actions over and over. All the while, he sinks deeper into the darkness of the actions. It almost seems cathartically self-destructive but also illuminates a darker part of his life. A part that we can relate to deep down in our souls.
The nature of the video is cyclical and spiraling into a dark, soulless place but this is not to say that the expression of Ammar’s soul was not ever-present. It seemed like he was trying to express how he feels trapped by his creative process, his music, and how it is affecting all aspects of his life. A life, might I add, that has been full of highs and lows from being homeless and having to sleep in his car to living in mansions with some of Hip Hop’s earth-shakers. In the course of our interview, he talked about how the process and production of his first official album: Farewell, xx got him out of a state of stagnancy and depression.
“This album, the moment that I finished it I lost all stagnancy and depression and I gained myself back.”
During the course of the interview, I picked up that Ammar, like many other artists, has a beautiful and almost tragic relationship to their life’s work. Ammar went through times that were beautifully visualized in this music video. Times when we fall into the same rhythms that lack forward movement. Instead of feeling like progress is being made it’s a slow downward spiral. We feel like we have to continue mining the gold but we never get to see it line our own pockets. So we choose to embrace the cell walls of the asylum. Clocking in day in and day out as we hope, one day, that we’ll hit gold before we break or simply go broke.
Ammar said that music is his dream and the only thing he wants to do with his life. Knowing this, I wondered if the dream that sets you free could slowly become an asylum of your own creation. What do you do when you know the cycle and the padded walls seal around you? What do you do when you can see it all happening around you and feel like you can do nothing to stop it?
This was the message of “Asylum”.
We can trap ourselves in the cycles of our lives whether we can see it or not. Every day waking up only to do the same tasks presented to us; mining gold yet never seeing enough to line our pockets. These are the cycles of life that can make us feel stuck. These are the cycles that turn a city of sanity into the padded cell walls of an asylum.
Ammar is a songwriter, producer, and musician based in California and Connecticut.
Make sure to check out his album, Farewell, xx, featuring the song “Asylum”.