‘Welcome to Bad Dad Club, this is us, this is a safe space,’ is the introductory undertone of a premiering music video for the Benjamin Yellowitz single, ‘Bad Dad Club’ – a visual conceptualization of the ethereal reality of when pain and trauma meet art and emerge into a powerful healing anthem.
Benjamin Yellowitz, alongside the music video’s protagonist Manuel Di Francesco, welcomes you to the Bad Dad Club, where raspy emotive vocals dance hand in hand with a fusion of folk and warm electronica that is inviting and comforting, letting go of complex family relationships.
“When I was growing up, I fell in love with the world; I didn’t care who it was as long as they knew love,” sings Benjamin Yellowitz while visuals depict a sit-down club meeting, a chills-down-the-spine lyric if you ask me. For the chorus scene, protagonist Manuel Di Francesco slays a neon-pink lit-up choreography in an olive green bodycon dress, translating atmospheric soundscapes and poignant lyrics into liberating dance flow.
Yellowitz highlights gender fluidity in ‘Bad Dad Club’: “Without challenges, we don’t get stronger eh?! We wanted to make a video that focuses on the silver lining of having a difficult dad. Manuel Di Francesco beautifully celebrates gender fluidity and queerness in all his movements – changing the narrative of the classic traumatic queer story we so commonly experience on TV.”
He adds: “It’s a song of juxtaposition between being beautifully accepted, and the strength found in having classic daddy issues… There’s plenty of us out there… Are you part of the Bad Dad Club?”.
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Photographer: Siân Herbert
Words: Karolina Kramplova
Director – Sara Harrak
DOP – Veronica Keszthelyi-Scown
Camera – Steph Whiting
Gaffer – Camilla Dazzi
Lighting Assistant – Lucas Edwards
Editor – James Byrne
Make Up – Charlie Fitzjohn
Make Up Assistant – Nic Marilyn
Stylist – Tanis Marchand
Photographer – Siân Herbert
BTS Photographer – Christian Young
Logo – Niki MacRae
On screen:
Manuel Di Francesco
Ammar Siddique
Gordon Stamford
Jelisa Ferguson
Sandy Sonics
Siân Herbert
Kerttu Sylvia
Thanks to Amber Willis Lou Burton, Jessie Jones, Luke Johnson
Song written by Benjamin Yellowitz & Sandy Sonics
Song produced by Benjamin Yellowitz
Co-produced by Matt Harris and DYVR