Kitty Coen @ the Movies, I
Shorts and Reels might be popular right now, but a three-minute music video was once considered brief. Done right, they enhance the music to a new level. We open the lid on some of Kitty's best cinematic moments.
This is part of our short series on Kitty Coen and moves beyond her music to some of her most iconic video shoots. You can find a playlist with all the videos here. And if you missed my intro article, you can dip in there first.
Paul Dettmann
Before we dig in I want to try and explain one of the key motifs in many of these videos, especially the later ones. I can tell you hand on heart that Kitty is one of the most charming and self-effacing musicians around. When she recognised me in Camden and turned on the charm, I was spellbound. I managed to stagger out into the spring night unaided, weak-kneed, but it was an effort. Let's say she has an aura. So when you see the character in these videos with a glasslike blank stare, it is artifice. She is acting. It is an effect used by David Lynch and earlier than that in film noir. When she is crying or screaming, silently, it is jarring and makes you feel uneasy. It is not an easy thing to do as an actor, and it is very deliberately done.
Era: Disco Lemonade
The songs on Kitty Coen's Disco Lemonade EP were released around five years ago. These videos are less stylised than 2026 Kitty and feel a little like high school TV episodes rather than the spooky motion pictures she makes today. She probably isn't aware of the classics we watched like Grange Hill and Waterloo Road. What is striking in the videos (as in these songs) is just how polished they are, given that it represents the artist's first major selection of songs. She emerges almost fully formed.
Era: ✰HELLCAT✰
Kitty isn't drinking lemonade any more. She's a year or two older and starting to leave the high school locker room drama firmly behind her, most likely permanently. There is an increased confidence in many of the videos. They are more cinematic, by which I mean both bigger in concept and darker emotionally and stylistically.
Everything's A Mess resonated with me. I had it on in the car at full blast and the anger felt very real. The video starts with a lonely Kitty in headphones lighting up a ciggy in a graveyard. Most of the video happens under the enormous neon sign of a liquor store sometime in the 1950s. My favourite part is when she finally snaps and starts head-banging to the loudest solo of the song. This is when the anger boils over. Before that point, she appears on the verge of tears. You probably want to save her, to fix her, but be warned. She's self-contained. She really doesn't want you to call. It's a brilliant one-woman show that turned out to be a great starting point.
Take Rotten Tomatoes. It starts off with Kitty singing against a blue background. Then she's lying in a field, then she's in a car. She's happy sometimes, dancing at other times. It's just a normal music video. Until. Until those tomatoes begin to fly. There is something profoundly disturbing at her lack of reaction to the fruits being hurled in her direction. You might know that they are heavier than they look. She's metaphorically in the stocks of medieval times and barely registering any emotion. This is the beginning of a visual transformation that she takes forward with each new cycle.
In unfollow me we find ourselves in classic high school politics. Her character is a bookish nerd, presumably highly intelligent but someone who often finds themselves the butt of the joke, easily ignored. As the song unfolds, she gradually transforms into after-hours Kitty, an eye-catching bombshell who is suddenly popular. It's a story that appeals to every generation but the "ugly duckling" make-over is nicely done.
Era: Conversations with the Moon
conversations with the moon, the title track, is a lyric video, just as simple as Everything's A Mess, starting off in a graveyard with Kitty in a simple white dress. The enormous flower in her hair cannot convince us she is happy. This is one of the videos that set me on the road of interpreting her videos as Lynchian shorts. Her facial expression is so blank, even while she reels off the saddest and most emotional lyrics of the whole album. This dichotomy or contradiction between how she looks and what she is saying is pure David Lynch. It makes the viewer uneasy, uncomfortable. She's really not okay. Finally, a minute from the end, she snaps, and we see the anger expressed on her face. It's really nicely done. Then she's blanking us again.
coca!ne jacket is one of my favourites. It looks like a fun night out in Nashville. It's a heavier, louder song, which I really enjoyed live. And it guest stars local legend Leilani Kilgore on guitar! What more could you want?
virginia is for lovers is too powerful and tragic to dissect here. You just have to watch it. I will try to write about it next time but it's both dark and voyeuristic, and also ghostly and deeply moving. I enjoyed watching these videos and can feel a follow-up piece coming later this summer.
Q&A, pt. 2
If you would like to read part 1 first, see here. We're stoked that Kitty found the time to think about these questions and write about her inspirations and journey.
How long have you been a pro musician?
Long enough to know there’s nothing romantic about it unless you make it that way. I’ve been doing this seriously for years, but sometimes it feel like a life sentence because I really can’t seem to care about any other work the same way.
Lyrics or music first?
Usually a feeling first. Then a line shows up like it’s been waiting for me, and the music kind of builds a world around it.
Are you from a musical family?
Not really, but my parents were big music listeners and made sure I knew what bands played what songs. Many road trips from Texas to my grandparents' farm in Missouri with a game my dad coined “name that band”. But no instruments in the house and my singing always sort of got in their nerves. My parents worked non-stop from 4am to 10pm everyday with hour-long commutes to and from the city back to our house in Denton, TX. So they were always tired by the time they got home and I was hell in a hand basket as a child so they did their best and I love them for that. They see now it wasn’t just a phase!
When did you first decide to make a career/life in music?
It was in New Orleans, LA at Niki music festival. I was working as a photographer for the fest but I remember wanting nothing more than to be on stage. After the show I roamed the city and listened to all the live music at the different blues and jazz bars. And I just knew. To be honest it didn’t feel like a decision. It felt like the only option that didn’t make me disappear into someone who I wasn’t.
Which is your favourite song off the new album and why?
My favorite is conversations with the moon 😄 it was one of those songs that just came out so quickly and it always knew exactly what it wanted to be. I admire that. Not all songs are like that. Some are more contrived than others. I also know I'm not the only one that’s been a headcase talking to the moon. Feels good to not feel alone in this world.
You can start here to begin your Kitty Coen enchantment. Her Insta is here and the videos are here. Join her mailing list here.
Paul Dettmann
