Candace Roberts’ “Take Back Your Beaver” Video Release
A musical celebration in honor of the hair down there
 

Photo Credit: Jane Goldman

 

July 14, 2015 San Francisco, CA­­

Cabaret Singer/Songwriter Candace Roberts is pleased to present the release of her new music video, “Take Back Your Beaver.”  Written, performed, co-directed, co-edited and produced by Roberts, who has a background in film, “Take Back Your Beaver” is the follow up to last summer’s release of “Not My City Anymore” a political protest song about economic inequality in San Francisco. “Take Back Your Beaver” was a clear choice for Roberts’ next music video both because of the song’s local popularity, as well as its provocative commentary on the media’s colonization of women’s bodies.

History

This song is largely influenced by personal experience. When Roberts was a teenager, her sister explained the concept of personal grooming, and she also created a rap to make sure the message was received: My sister's got a big brown beaver. She needs to learn to keep it cleaner. The sister character (played by Ady Abbot) in “Take Back Your Beaver” was largely inspired by Roberts’ rapping sister.
Furthermore, in her early-twenties, Roberts lived in Mexico City, at which time she was rejected on a date due to the state of her outgrown pubic hair. Roberts jokingly refers to the incident as “a humiliating tale of dating-gone-wrong due to a loathsome quantity of pubic hair.” Nevertheless, the experience was pivotal for Roberts. Not only is “Take Back Your Beaver” personally cathartic, but it is also a rally cry to anyone who views pubic hair as something to be ashamed of, tamed or altogether dismissed. Roberts states, “Let’s just be in our bodies however we choose to be and want to be.”

 Visual

“Take Back Your Beaver” draws inspiration from musicals and classic movies chock full of choreography and over-the-top costumes and sets. The video has a frenetic relationship to time, with several decades loosely represented in non-consecutive order including: a Gidget-style beach scene, 60s chorus girl interludes, a 70s beauty pageant, 80s Jane Fonda workout scenes and a representation of “the now.” A common thread is woven with sweetly saccharine pastels and pepto bismol pink glitter, colors and textures deliberately chosen to contrast with the video’s healthy population of black merkins.   

Production

This is Roberts’ second music video written, co-directed, co-edited and produced by herself. “Take Back Your Beaver” reassembles much of the same cast and crew with USF Film Professor Danny Plotnick, co-directing and co-editing, and Damian Lucas as Director of Photography. Many of the same Bay Area artists from the queer and cabaret communities play supporting roles including: Ady Abbot, Kevin Khoi Tran, Joe Wicht, Dawn Meredith Smith, Jill Vice, Rotimi Agbabiaka and Cody Caronna, just to name a few.

As in the past, Roberts bootstrapped her entire video with the help of Kickstarter donations and loans from family and friends. Organizing talent and resources to realize her singular vision, Roberts’ spent over 9 months putting this piece together armed, in the beginning, with only hand-drawn storyboards of stick figures (click here to view).

Context

Roberts gained a lot of local notoriety in San Francisco from last year’s release of “Not My City Anymore”, both positive and negative. It was revealed to the press early on that Roberts is a professional pet-sitter, who splits her time living in her client’s homes and her car in order to afford life as an artist in San Francisco. This bohemian lifestyle choice came under fire in the media with alternating sentiments of entitlement and heroism. One year later, Roberts is living the exact same way, still performing all over town, most recently on the main stage at San Francisco’s Pride celebration.

Candace Roberts is a San Francisco based singer/songwriter, filmmaker and cabaret artist. In 2014 she released a much acclaimed music video called “Not My City Anymore” about gentrification and economic inequality in San Francisco. Since the release of her 2010 CD, “Honeymoon for One”, Candace has been playing such local venues as the Fillmore, Cafe du Nord, the Lost Church, and the Make-Out Room. In addition to playing her own songs, Candace covers the American songbook, tells stories and plays ukulele with her longtime piano player Larisa Migachyov. Candace took up residency at Martuni’s Piano Bar in 2012 and she increasingly finds herself rocking the house concert circuit … as well as the funeral circuit!

Follow Candace:
www.candaceroberts.com
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