‘Broken Man’ — St. Vincent — Single Review
Annie “St. Vincent” Clark is back with a brand new track, and I can’t stop listening to it. When that happens, I usually take to my blog to gush about all my thoughts and feelings toward the piece of media — with this one seemingly coming out of nowhere. As discussed in my review of the last lead single for her ‘Daddy’s Home’ album, there was a lead up to it, but it felt as though ‘Broken Man’ had a lead up of just 24 hours. All of a sudden her Instagram was proclaiming “TOMORROW” and I spotted her account only had six posts. Even her profile picture was just white text on a black background. With this news, with this tease, I started to ruminate. Was a new St. Vincent album on the horizon?
It’d been three years since her last and, in all honesty, I didn’t really enjoy that one. Sure, I was obsessed with the lead single and captivated by the “down and out hooker” aesthetic. There’s a few songs on the album I absolutely love, along with the sound. But as a cohesive project? It wasn’t my favourite, which is why I never spoke about the album as a whole. And it made me sad, to think an artist I love, who’d got me through an extremely rough patch back in 2018, had released an album I didn’t like so much. Once news broke of ‘All Born Screaming’, along with the artwork and title of the lead single, I was hooked. I became hopeful. Then I finally sat down to watch the video and hear it, the day after it dropped.
The timeline from ‘Los Ageless’ to ‘Broken Man’ is insane, and incredible. Between 2017 and 2024 we’ve seen St. Vincent in a pastel hospital room, doing her best impersonation of Bowie’s ‘Young Americans’, and now setting herself on fire while playing around with gender language. All in the space of eight years, across three albums. Three different incarnations of St. Vincent who, just like Bowie, changes her entire persona and sound from album to album. With these last three, I don’t think it’s been more explicit. When St. Vincent announces a new album, you have absolutely no idea what sound or vision you’re going to get. But with the latest one, St. Vincent herself and director Alex Da Corte seem to be the only hangovers.
Da Corte is responsible for the ‘New York’ music video, a bright setting set against a heartbreaking ballad; now the sound and vision both match and lock in together. We see St. Vincent alone, dressed to impress, crying and cradling a microphone. As guitars thrash in, we see her erupt into flames, eventually getting in our metaphorical faces after her white shirt is (presumably) burnt off. Not only is she igniting herself, she’s exposing herself. All the “brokenness” and “gnarliness of existence” you feel living a life day to day. And this song came at a time where I was feeling those emotions to my core; every loud guitar chord resonated with me, along with the idea of being a “broken [wo]man”. This song was released at the right time, for me, feeling as though I’m stuck in my own void — the same one we see St. Vincent have a “violent dance with the camera” in here.
‘Broken Man’ as a song title is interesting in itself. While St. Vincent presents as a woman, particularly on her previous record ‘Daddy’s Home’, we hear her singing about a “broken man” here — perhaps even identifying as one. St. Vincent has previously spoken about how she “believes in gender fluidity” and “engages in the spectrum”, but with gender politics running so high as of late, it makes me wonder if the title is intentional. A way to play into it, demystify it, make everything arbitrary. St. Vincent has said that she “doesn’t really identify as anything”, and here it feels as though the idea and expectation of an explicit man and woman are being bent and toyed with. Listening to the song, we hear a female vocalist sing about being a “broken man”; in video we see long hair, a short skirt, a black bra, heels — trademarks of women and femme presenting people — but it all appears very business. Women in suits are incredibly hot, but for a long time now, women in the workplace and workforce have always been repressed and kept to the bottom of the pile. A female/woman CEO feels like a very recent thing; we wouldn’t have seen it less than a hundred years ago. So for St. Vincent to be femininely presenting in a masculine way, while singing about and proclaiming to be a “broken man”, feels like the ultimate way to be bending and experimenting with gender stereotypes. And one of my favourite aspects of this whole single release, along with the line “I can make your kingdom come”.
Sonically we hear what is, to me, a totally new and different St. Vincent. In addition to learning there’s a plethora of guest appearances on the album, we’ve also learnt ‘All Born Screaming’ is her debut album as sole producer. She describes it as having her hand “on every moment”. While the song felt very underwhelming on my very first listen, repeated listens have given me the opportunity to pick it apart — focus on this element, that element, recoil with the guitars and holy shit, that’s Dave Grohl on drums! She has said the song is a “slow burn” and I agree, each new layer builds it up to an eruption and climax headed by Grohl. But it’s dirty, it’s nasty, and incredibly groovy. I love a good bassline and this one is repetitive, commanding you to groove as she shouts “who the hell do you think I am!?” as metallic clanks echo behind the vocals. If ‘Daddy’s Home ‘ is St. Vincent doing Bowie, ‘All Born Screaming’ is her doing Nine Inch Nails. And the fact the album is entirely self produced, with such an addictive lead single, leaves me excited for and desperate to hear more.
Luckily we’ve not got long to wait, as ‘All Born Screaming’ arrives April 26th this year. It’s ten songs long, with ‘Broken Man’ being track three of ten. Hopefully we can get another single and/or video before the album is released, but I know I’ll have ‘Broken Man’ on repeat, and be eagerly waiting to drop a needle on a vinyl copy once it arrives. Dear St. Vincent, I cannot wait to be screaming along with you.
Read my other St. Vincent reviews: Pay Your Way In Pain / MassEducation / Masseduction / I Am A Lot Like You! / Self Titled / Strange Mercy
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