Trust The Mask – Otaku

Official music video­for the dark pop song 'Otaku' per­formed by the Italian duo 'Trust The Mask'. The song is taken from the album 'Idiom'. The music video for this latest release is a test­a­ment to what can be achieved with pas­sion and cre­ativ­ity on a shoes­tring budget. The hand­made cos­tumes and masks are a visu­al feast and the focus is on cre­at­ing an immers­ive exper­i­ence for the view­er rather than an arti­fi­cial story. The use of just a hand­ful of set­tings helps to elev­ate the song visu­ally without detract­ing from the music.

The song itself is a fas­cin­at­ing listen, with strange noises and unset­tling sounds in the intro that quickly grab the listener's atten­tion. The first verse may come across as a bit too com­mer­cial pop for some, but any such doubts quickly dis­ap­pear as the song pro­gresses. I would cat­egor­ize this as a "more exper­i­ment­al" dark pop genre, in line with the band's own descrip­tion of it as a dysto­pi­an, glitchy cyber-pop song.

Despite the uncon­ven­tion­al ele­ments in the song, it still man­ages to be catchy and access­ible, mak­ing it a great listen for fans of all kinds of pop music. The chor­us is par­tic­u­larly mem­or­able and the use of glitchy effects through­out helps to cre­ate a sense of unease that is both intriguing and engaging.

Listen to 'Trust The Mask – Otaku' on Spotify

Lyrics of 'Trust The Mask – Otaku'

I can be a girl, can be a boy
I can be a God, can be a toy
Why should I live in only one skin?
My head hurts, it’s two o’clock
But I swear, I swear it’s the last match

Sorry sorry feel­ings can­not be tamed
We can move or die
We can run, we can run, we can run
Sorry sorry feel­ings can­not be tamed
We can move or die
We can run, we can run, we can run

Five o’clock
It’s half past nine
I’m strug­gling to keep the time
My bed my shelter
The room my house
I feel inside but

No one to talk to
Nothing to explain
Is it day or night?
Dead or alive?
My moth­er calls
My name and cries
She cries, she cries, she cries

Sorry sorry feel­ings can­not be tamed
We can move or die
We can run, we can run, we can run
Sorry sorry feel­ings can­not be tamed
We can move or die
We can run, we can run, we can run

Trust The Mask about 'Otaku'

[…] Trust the Mask share their second slice of dynam­ic synth action, in the form of the glitch infused, futur­ist­ic cyber-pop single and accom­pa­ny­ing visu­al ‘Otaku’. Taken from the Japanese lan­guage, Otaku trans­lates to a per­son or group of people that eschew human inter­ac­tions in favour of video games and anime. It describes someone who is obsessed with com­put­ing, tech­no­logy or cer­tain aspects of pop­u­lar cul­ture to the det­ri­ment of their social skills.

Injected with indus­tri­al sounds and punc­tu­ated with Vittoria's eth­er­e­al, oth­er­worldly vocals, ‘Otaku’ is then laced with a pier­cing middle east­ern-esque pipe which clev­erly com­bines the essence of the ancient and the futuristic.

Featuring both artists adorn­ing their incred­ible sig­na­ture style head­wear the video shares scenes of the duo entangled in a sea of cables and wires. A face off between light and shad­ow, a battle between good and evil, a dance between the two sides of self, Trust the Mask show us both sides of the coin in meta­phor­ic sym­bol­ism and beau­ti­ful symmetry.

A pro­posed dysto­pia that even­tu­ally becomes real­ity, the refrain, in pure Trust the Mask style, lets us glimpse the light at the end of the tun­nel. Overflowing with waves of ana­log synths, incis­ive drums and snares from the 80's, ‘Otaku’ is accom­pan­ied with a mes­mer­ising visu­al, draped in mysticism. […]