Hurray For The Riff Raff’s excellent new album The Navigator is a poignant, purposeful missive that spits in the face of a presidency that seeks to other marginalized identities even further, and the group’s front woman Alynda Segarra and her band are already racking up accolades and praise for this triumphant record. It’s been a long road for Segarra, who grew up in New York City, traveled the country as a vagabond, and eventually settled in New Orleans, where she began to refine her distinctive blues. By some counts, The Navigator is Segarra and her crew’s seventh album, which is no small feat.
Today, the band debuted a lighthearted video to accompany one of the album’s best tracks, “Living In The City.” In the clip, Segarra and a cast of distinctly diverse and equally stunning girls climb stairwells, dance on roofs, and otherwise inhabiting Brooklyn in the casual, effortless ways that make that place such a magic spot. Directed by Giselle Bailey — a specific request of Segarra’s — the clip captures something about the essence of New York that the singer wanted to convey.
“I wanted Giselle Bailey to direct ‘Living in the City’ because I am a fan of her work and I knew she understood that I wanted to represent the New York City I grew up with,” Segarra said of the video. “Women taking over public space and making room for ourselves in a society where we are so often threatened into hiding. I learned at a young age that survival in the city for me meant having a crew. Together we could move through the concrete maze and create some sense of freedom.”
Watch the clip above, all that definitely comes through.
