Queen Kwong has released a video for her new single, The Mourning Song, from last year's Couples Only album, and it may prove to be an uncomfortable watch for her former partner, Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland.
Shot in Los Angeles' bikini bar Jumbo’s Clown Room, the video finds the singer, Carré Callaway, pole-dancing for a 'dirty rat', and the song's lyrics are fairly unambiguous.
"Thought you said what’s yours is mine," runs one verse. "Back it up. Back to your prime. When was that, maybe 1999? You were onstage living a monkey-do life. Another day another new disguise."
Last year, Callaway told Bandcamp Daily that when her marriage broke down in 2019, she was given just three days to vacate the home she shared with Borland.
A key lyric from The Mourning Song reads: "The house was sold with all our things left inside. You said it would be the end of my life but at least I’m not dead inside." Perhaps the most cutting lyric on the track adds, "I’ve only ever loved one man and you weren’t that guy. But I tried and I tried and I tried."
Earlier this month a Michigan judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Borland, which accused Callaway of damaging his “public image and reputation." In a statement discussing her new single, the singer notes that its release was held up due to that legal action.
"The Mourning Song is probably the most personal and blunt song on the record," says Callaway, "so I wanted the video to be equally as bold and vulnerable."
"Alongside director Tammy Sanchez, a queer, femme visionary, and an all-female and non-binary crew, we removed the male gaze and replaced it with pride. We shot the video at Hollywood’s famous bikini bar Jumbo’s Clown Room last summer, but its release was delayed because of recent legal action. Now that I’m on the other side of that, this video release means even more to me. It represents women’s power, artistic expression, and refusal to be quiet. It’s time to be fearless and proud."
Watch the video below:
