leek-lark:I’ve been looping Will Roland’s performance of Jeff by Joe Iconis, because it

leek-lark:

I’ve been looping Will Roland’s performance of Jeff by Joe Iconis, because it makes me feel emotions. I drew a little sketch of it and thought I might as well post it.

The problem with this song is that at first listen it’s weird as hell and showing people involves a lot of “no wait, here him out. no trust me. it’s really deep commentary about human nature I promise.” Anyway, I think Joe Iconis is really good at writing characters and also Will’s performance of Jeff made me cry.

(here’s the video)

I’ve been listening to this video on loop for a few days and nobody in my family has responded correctly when I showed them (they are too distracted by the fact that the character is creepy and gross).

But like, I need to talk about this video so badly. I have no coherent thoughts about it, but I’m just going to write out some nonsense because I need someone to understand how much this song absolutely wrecks me.

The song is about the character more than it is about his situation. The fact that he’s obsessing over the “naked Korean girl” is used for shock factor/comedy/because this song needs something crazy that shows us that the character’s lost it. It creates this complex character that is difficult for the audience to figure out how to react to - as real people always are. It’s not just like ‘here’s a depressed character, it’s very upsetting’ it’s ‘here’s a character, his situation is undeniably sad, but he’s also a fucking freak. how do you feel about him?’. Joe Iconis songs don’t tend to shy away from things that will make the characters unlikable, or ridiculous, or uncomfortably real. 

But the song is about the main character completely falling apart; he becomes obsessed with this girl out of necessity because he doesn’t know how to live. He’s completely lost and desperate and the thing he’s relying on is not only out of reach, but also not at all something he’s allowed to want. The song is telling us this guy is completely falling apart, and this idea is solidified in the lyrics of the song (“please show me what to do…wish I was just like you” “I wonder what you think…as I step off the brink” etc.). In my opinion it’s a really heart breaking song, and the discomfort the story brings makes the song more interesting and evocative. Joe Iconis’ writing is often both comedic and disturbing, and I really love how he creates such a complex character/story every time. 

The way Will Roland sings it, especially from the “myself, just staring back at me” to the end of the song, is so so devastating. It makes me want to cry nearly every time. (I’m biased towards him obviously but that’s allowed).