Semiah Unveils Her Latest Single, “Withdrawals”

As a deluge of artists seek to be the next digital flash in the pan, Semiah is a breath of fresh mountain air. She’s as at home on stage, where she’s spent 20 of her 25 years, as she is chopping firewood or on an urban dancefloor in bejewelled glam. Regularly showered with encores and standing ovations for her live performances, Semiah moves effortlessly from intimate solo club shows to large concert theatres accompanied by dancers and musicians. Like a flirty dervish storyteller who can tear your heart out with a side-eye giggle, she has the uncanny ability to etch herself into the souls of swooning concertgoers. But don’t let the playful cowgirl edge fool you; she has more spiritual depth than most twice her age.

Her latest single, “Withdrawals,” is an electro-pop punk love-gone-wrong song co-produced with Montreal collaborator Teleh0rn. Production features include traditional Haudenosaunee vocal techniques and innovative metallic elements that align with the accompanying video’s Katana sword fight choreography. Glittering pink characters step out of the snowy mountains like an Indigenous Charlie’s Angels with a warrior punk anime edge. Semiah produced, directed, co-choreographed, co-edited and created the wardrobe for the video, which serves as a small snapshot of a larger storyline that she aims to make into a feature film. Montana Summers stars as the Villain, with Katie Couchie as the Purple Spy and Kali Kennedy as the Blue Spy.

Discussing the video, Semiah states:

“Without spoiling the plot line of the larger movie, I am the lead spy in a femme fatale trio who is hunting down a supervillain into the wilderness of the snowy mountains. The Villain is reminiscent of my breakup story in the song but told in a new and entertaining way. I wanted to write a story that has the same moral lesson but is more Hollywood, and also not something so personal to me as I still feel uncomfortable sharing really personal things about my life through my art.

“Basically, there is some chemistry between the Villain and myself. Throughout the music video, I have many chances to kill the Villain, but I choose not to since there are still some feelings left. This is really shown in the last scene of the music video where the show ends on a cliffhanger of who kills who, since we are caught in a standstill. The audience is left not knowing whether we makeup, we both die or maybe someone wins?

“I based the music video off of classic female spy movies like Kill Bill, Charlie’s Angels, and D.E.B.S. I watched these movies religiously for inspiration. I really love capturing female ferocity and rage in juxtaposition to cute outfits and makeup. This really was the inspiration for the outfits of the music video which I designed and made myself. As a Native artist, I wanted to include some Native elements in the clothing. For example, I beaded my own flower medallion on the back of my leather jacket in the first scene. I also featured a lot of fur in the first outfit where I am wearing a brown coat and the girls are wearing beige fur coats.

“This actually turned out to be a moral challenge to me. I wanted to have fur in the music video but I wanted to make sure the fur was ethically sourced so I actually was trying to find some Native hunters and see if they had any pelts available. Since I wasn’t able to find anyone in time, I decided that instead, I was going to use vintage fur coats so that I would not contribute to the death of a new animal. It’s not that I am against hunting, but I would need to know the hunter who provides me with the fur. I need to know every part of the animal was used and that it was an ethical death for the animal which cannot be guaranteed with a fur farm and if I do not personally know and trust the hunter.

“I spent a lot of time thrifting for these outfits and furs. At the onset of planning for the video I wanted to make all original hand-made clothes and started making a real leather jacket. However, time was running out, and I had to order a jacket online and bead the back of it instead. Maybe for the feature film of this, I am currently writing, I can have a larger wardrobe budget and more time!”

Semiah “Withdrawals” single artwork