STORY BEHIND BULLY SINGLE

May 28

4 min read

Updated: Oct 4

MY FIRST PROMOTION!

Following a series of bizarre catastrophic events, artist & producer Mary Singer vowed to live alone as a rogue freelancer, determined to create as much of her original material as possible by herself! Mary's first attempt at living alone involved housemates by whom she was stalked and relentlessly harassed, but during this phase she landed her first (and final) Supervisor position and it was there, Mary met her real-life arch nemesis!

GIRL BAND

"The abuse got so bad, I started sneaking into the broom cupboard during shifts to cry on the floor in peace!" Mary was turned away with little to show for the fancy role, except one thing... A song! It was called "Bully". The eight year old recording was dug out of her archive "Bully sounded OK but definitely needed a remix! Luckily I was able to extract the stems using AI." Days later, Mary had finalised the song and recorded a "full band" music video in cosplay as her own fictional line-up, quoting "I had a lot of fun choosing outfits for my various musical personas!"

ROBOT FAMILY

Her dealings with artificial intelligence goes beyond stem extraction as she describes "I love collaborating with my robot family!" The main character Mary generated for 'Bully' was a spin-off encompassing elements from each of her 'band mates', depicted with comic-book heroine composure. Mary also tells the story of 'the bully' within the narrative "It looks nothing like who he really was, but I just let the machine draw it's own guy..." What makes the song nostalgic isn't just it's age but also the turning point it symbolises for Mary as a chapter of reinvention and finding new levels of strength.

STALKED AT HOME

Mary got revenge on every single housemate before leaving behind her beloved Victorian-inspired room "that was the place where my inner set-designer came to life! It just turned so dark there... I remember leaving my room open for a moment to make tea in the kitchen. As a sat down, I noticed the sound of breathing coming from my walk-in cupboard, and opened the door to find the guy who'd been stalking my room lying there wearing my nighty and my hat he'd stolen from a mannequin I kept by the door, whose arm I hadn't noticed had been torn off!"

SWEET REVENGE

But Mary's revenge was over a prank that threatened her life. Having never got to the bottom of who was behind it, she interrogated every tenant she bumped into, the very day she collected keys for her new place. "I held a meeting to show everyone the false widow spider I’d managed to catch, to warn all my housemates of their danger... When I returned from the shop, the spider had vanished and all housemates had dispersed. Nobody told me where it had gone but two weeks later I found it... still alive and floating in the glass of apple juice I’d taken a sip from moments earlier!"

UNIQUE GUITAR

Living alone is bliss! I put a lot of work into my loft-theatre conversion and was really happy with how it looked in the video. Nearly every surface is reflective so the lights set it off really well, but I think my prize possession is my fog machine!" Mary suspects she may be on the autistic spectrum "apparently, a symptom of autism is feeling about stuff the way typical people feel about each other..." But she loves promoting her friends, so here's a shout-out to Andy Headley, the man behind the craftsmanship (from scratch!) of Mary's iconic electric guitar, the one and only 'Re-Offernder - Tw@tecaster!' Incredible Leicester music producer/guitarist looking for artists to record, Andy also has expert ways with instrument set-up and restoration.

STANDING ALONE

'Bully' marks a defining moment in my story, so it feels like I’m telling it from the top and I'm glad it's infectious pop-rock melody snuck back into my head and that I was able to salvage the original moment into something I'm proud to call my own, but more so because it's completely my own, from the instruments in your speakers to the visuals on your screen. I love it because it's proof to myself that, while it may not always to necessary let alone the wisest choice, I can do whatever I want now - no bottlenecks or barriers, no nasty neighbours thumping the walls, just me, my robots and my stuff! Enjoy what became of "Bully" and I'm excited for any comments you care to leave on the video...

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