Throwing slick guitar licks on top of quintessential rock lyrics, the video for Brandon James Gwinn’s new single ‘Black Nail Polish’ is the latest release from his album BULLIT (released earlier this summer). Turning looks that range from a feather plumed rocker to a Scissorhands-inspired one of a kind ‘lewk’, but a black nail or a smokey eye is something that Gwinn is very familiar with since middle school. Gwinn says his initial interest is “probably because Carson Daly wore it on TRL,” going on to say “I shopped at Hot Topic in the early 2000s and loved anything where glam rock and gothic intersected. Still do. I don’t leave the house without nails and eye make up most nights. Why would I?” “There’s a certain amount of seriousness in the color black,” he continues. “It is very witchy which is obviously my jam. It’s also sexy AF. Give me a smokey eye on a guy —or a gal, or a they — literally, anytime, anywhere, any occasion.”
The video for ‘Black Nail Polish’ shows Gwinn going from from daytime businessman to nighttime BDSM sex club patron, himself decked out in leather, fingerless gloves and of course, deep black nail polish. The club has that smokey and sticky vibe that so many New York City haunts have been known to have, and comedian Sarah Fye checks in from Nashville as Gwinn’s boss with a secret life of her own! Despite multiple looks and locales, the most trying part of the shoot for Gwinn was the scene in the elevator. Gwinn says “I’m claustrophobic and terrified of getting stuck in one, which has happened to me,” he explains. “It took every ounce of courage I had to not lose my shit and freak out!”
“Black Nail Polish” has proven to be a favorite of fans on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music since the BULLIT album dropped earlier this summer (the first single ‘Cristal Conners’ dropped earlier this summer). “The response from folks has been pretty incredible,” Brandon reflects. “As we watched the popularity of the song grow through the fall, we knew it was ripe for a sexy, creepy video.”
The Nashville, Tennessee born artist (who himself produced Trixie Mattel’s albums Two Birds and One Stone) is keenly aware of the freedom that comes with simply being naughty. “There are good and bad things about letting yourself get a little extreme and misbehaving,” Gwinn says from his New York City home. “As the song says ‘it’s bleak and babe, it’s beautiful…’ Ultimately, I say, go crazy, be wild. You only live once!”
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