Youthfire – Nice Boys

“I used this line as a central theme to explore, through my own personal experience, how I relate to the concept of love, relationships and sex as a queer person.” says Stephen Carmichael, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter and producer better known as Youthfire. The resulting track is ‘Nice Boys’. A quirky and at-times glitchy meditation on human connection and love in all its glorious forms.

When director Jac Meddings was tasked with the visuals for ‘Nice Boys’ he buried himself in the song to find the parts of it that he felt needed to be brought to light. Meddings tells: “I conceptualized this video the way I do most videos, listening to it a few times through to get a feeling for it, listening for themes or phrases that jump out to me, and then having discussions with the musician to hear about what they intended to express through the song. After this, I can generally piece together a concept. This particular project really grew and evolved throughout the process with the help of Youthfire.”

Youthfire – Nice Boys

Youthfire does have this incredibly distinct style and personality about everything he does that feels truly authentic to him both as a performer and an individual. With ‘Nice Boys’ seeking to be an exploration and representation of their own experiences within a broader conversation, we asked Meddings how they set about capturing that eclecticism and character of Youthfire in the video.

Meddings replies: “The process was wild. Stephen is one of the most exciting people I’ve worked with. We had a great connection and creative energy after our first meeting which really helped grow and expand our idea. Stephen had really important input into aesthetics, costumes, and motifs which allowed his individualism to shine through in the video. Stephen also did the majority of the editing work which allowed for a lot of creative expression. I don’t think Stephen faltered even once during the entire process, always bringing energy and enthusiasm, that was really inspiring.”