Singled Out: Stevi Daft's Vertigo

Keavin Wiggins | 12-06-2023

Los Angeles rocker Stevi Daft just released a new single and video called "Vertigo," and to celebrate we asked her to tell us about the track. Here is the story:

I was traveling the day I had my worst vertigo spell. While I was reeling at the airport, the muse tapped me on the shoulder and took over. I poured my sickness onto the page. It first came out as a poem, and all of the verse lyrics were written within a few minutes. The chorus was teased out in the following weeks.

Lyrically, it's a banishment spell to get rid of my condition. Songs are often manifestations... I do a lot of spellcrafting, and was willing to try anything to get rid of the vertigo, so I decided to approach the song as a spell. If I'm going to be singing this song for the rest of my life, what message am I sending out into the universe? A careful-what-you-wish-for moment, but in reverse. Vertigo is so disorienting, and doing this felt like I was taking my power back.

Sonically, I aimed to give the listener a taste of what it's like to go through this. You can fall at any moment, and just when you have an anchor, the rug is pulled. Every choice throughout the process, sonically and visually, boils down to this ethos. The verses have a waltz feel to them - a wonky cyclical dance that starts off eerie and mysterious - and when the chorus hits, we punch into 4/4 time, straight-ahead, loud rock n roll. The lyrics of the chorus also have a spiral feel - it bookends with "vertigo, let me go," and "let me go, vertigo..." There is a key change a half step down, and then back up again for the climax. The structure itself is also circular and unusual, starting and ending with a verse.

I'm really proud of the music video for this one - it captures snippets of the banishment ritual I performed on set (there are performance shots in there as well). We used kaleidoscope filters and mirror effects to encapsulate how my vision is affected when it hits. Once the video is out, the spell will be complete. And so it is!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about Stevi here