Speedy Ortiz leader Sadie Dupuis is readying a new Sad13 solo album (Haunted Painting), and she has teased it with some creative visuals before it drops in about a month. Now she is back with another, this time for “Hysterical.”
In the clip, Dupuis is browsing the internet on her laptop, and before she knows it, a murderous ghost enters her life and those of her friends. The song is targeted at “unfunny comedians [who] love to argue that ‘PC culture’ destroys comedy.” She expanded on that idea in an interview with The Fader, saying:
“I think there were three comedians in really short proximity last year who made some kind of claim that comedy isn’t funny anymore and they can’t work in it because ‘PC culture’ and ‘cancel culture’ have made things unfunny. I think one was Todd Phillips in promoting Joker, he was like, ‘I won’t do comedy because the feminists have destroyed it’ [laughs]. This was around the time that Hari Kondabolu — who did The Problem With Apu — was getting death threats again because they finally decided to relent on that character in The Simpsons. It’s just a common refrain that, to me, is ironic. I never had a big interest in comedy growing up because it was always not for me. It was intentionally shutting women out or making them the butt of jokes that just weren’t good. As comedy has become more inclusive, I’m actually interested in it now and was able to get some of my favorite people in comedy to be in this music video.”
Watch the “Hysterical” video above.
Haunted Painting is out 9/25 via Wax Nine. Pre-order it here.