The artist that brought the blogosphere to a standstill about a year ago has yet to put out any new music in recent times. Even so, ZHU hasn’t been slacking. Yesterday, ZHU released the Cocaine Model music video. With a quick glimpse of new music to come at the end of the video!

ZHU, to me, is an artist that brings us a breath of fresh air in a way that is unexpected! His dreamy vocals over deep bass lines bring a vibe to his music that not only resonates with the listener, but creates a vibe and an atmosphere in any venue that his music is played in. This is what gets me excited about new music that ZHU puts out.

I’m a fan of pretty much all his tracks so far, and seeing the teaser at the end of “Cocaine Model” gets me anxious! The Cocaine Model music video itself showcases scenes that seem very retro and at times psychedelic. In a way, the visuals are very reflective of ZHU’s music style. I’m trying to decode any kind of meaning that the video might have. We see a blue dress in a lot of scenes which could be a criticism on society, or even the fashion industry represented by the dress. We see little girls playing which represents innocence, the creation of the blue dress when it’s under the sewing machine, a man dressing in fashionable drag only to model in front of the mirror, an enthusiastic model at a photo shoot in a blue dress, a woman at a nightclub with a blue dress on who seems to walk out embarrassed or ashamed for some reason, not to mention that she is by herself. We also see flashes of prescription drugs, and eventually the blue dress tossed aside, and lit on fire.

We can easily substitute the words in the title of the song “Cocaine Model” to “Fashion Model”, and though there isn’t any depiction of cocaine being used, perhaps fashion is the drug. A drug that leads to a lonesome road. After all, we did see a birthday cake with no one around it. One character decided to break free, by cutting off her blue hair. I’m still trying to figure out who the character with blonde dreads is, if you have any ideas, leave a comment! Perhaps this character represents pure beauty, forgotten and left in the dark. I know, seems like a strange concept, but I really can’t pinpoint it. The more I watch the video and the more I write, it seems like a criticism on the fashion industry, an industry that corrupts our youth, especially young girls. As we hear in the opening, fashion fails, and beauty is eternal:

“When I was 7 my father said fashion fails but beauty is eternal. Elegance is illumination. Blue is a language. Love and obsession is separated by a thin line, and that line is infatuation.”

Perhaps I’m reading into this video too much and going beyond its entertainment factor. Even so, I like to think that there is deeper meaning in any art form, especially from an artist like ZHU. For now, ZHU is and will probably remain one of my favorite artists in recent times. Not to mention his marketing and publicity tactics which I think are pretty genius! With that being said, check out the Cocaine Model music video, and be sure to watch till the very end for the teaser of new music!