Thundercat, “Them Changes”

by Alexandra Molotkow

I’m obsessed with this song, I can’t leave it alone. (Thank you, T!!) I love the off-ness of those chords and that rhyme scheme, and the combination of heavy and light. Thundercat, from an interview with Nathan Stevens of Pop Matters:

I feel like a lot of it was a genuine outpouring from the realization that I’ve been experiencing, watching a lot of people close to me die. It’s almost like absurd. [laughs] You just go “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” [laughs] What is this shit? My best friend dies then it’s like a chain of events afterwards. That was the first of a few of my friends that passed on. Then a friend of mine that I called to play for Suicidal Tendencies named Tim Williams and he pass in a very violent manner. And also another friend of mine, a very important musician in Los Angeles amongst other musicians and amongst people who knew him, and he committed suicide, a young cat by the name of Zane Musa. These are guys that I’ve known for the majority of my profession career, even as a teenager. Those kinds of things happening, literally back to back, it’s so intense that it’s like “You can’t be serious.” It’s the whole thing of everything being slightly overwhelming.

Pair it with this statement from video director Carlos Lopez Estrada:

Thundercat’s take on heartbreak is so atypical that I figured the video for the song should be anything but a classic relationship-gone-wrong story. Stories like athletes’ careers ending after injuries or artists losing their site/hearing/ability to perform; these concepts are truly heartbreaking. I also know that Thundercat has a thing for samurais — so I saw an opportunity to make everyone happy here. Or everyone sad, I guess.