Watch The Darkness explore gender roles and “self-loathing” in reflective video for ‘I Hate Myself’

nme.com:

The Darkness have shared a music video for their latest single ‘I Hate Myself’, in which they explore gender roles and “self-loathing”.

Watch below.The song was released last month as the second preview of Justin Hawkins and co’s eighth album ‘Dreams On Toast’, due to arrive on March 28 via Cooking Vinyl (pre-order/pre-save here).Speaking about the energetic, punk-inspired tune previously, Hawkins explained: “At last, a joyous, raucous celebration of self-loathing.

I think without regrets we stand to learn less from our experiences – to deny them and compartmentalise them is to deny ourselves an opportunity to grow.“So, it’s time for us to sing this uplifting ode to remorse in the hope that we don’t make the same mistakes again and history does not repeat itself.”The lyrics find the frontman recalling his struggles following the breakdown of a relationship – though he does so with a tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating approach.He sings: “There goes a girl I was incredibly cruel to/ I thought that she was in my way/ The girl I adore/ She don’t wanna know me any more/ I hate myself I hate myself I do/ I hate myself so you don’t have to.”Now, The Darkness have unveiled a simple yet effective official video for the track.

Directed by Simon Emmett (Welcome To The Darkness), the close-up visuals were captured in one take and remain in their unedited form.The intimate clip sees Hawkins portray a chain-smoking diva in full make-up with long, flowing hair as he stares down the camera lens.