Video Premiere: Amy Correia “The Beggar”

Here is the premiere of ‘The Beggar’, the latest single from the award-winning songwriter Amy Correia.  The LA-based singer delivers an outstanding performance that feels like her deepest, most personal reflections are being shared with the listener.  Lines like: “My mind is broken glass,” are immediate and affecting; the song is full of images and symbols, and intriguing ideas and language.  At times beautifully tuneful, Correia’s vocal is also frequently almost-spoken, an intimate conversation that forms a direct link with the audience.  It’s a powerful, emotionally connecting and effective style that works well alongside the changes in pace, the musical pauses and the moments when musical layers become more urgent.  A compelling video, creatively well-thought out and well-produced, adds texture and meaning to the song.

Correia explained the concept of the song and video to AUK: “The beggar archetype is one I’ve always been drawn to and empathised with. The song started off as a character study about someone I imagined living on the street, but I ended up identifying with some of this character’s dark qualities, 
my own shadow, which we explore in the video, created by Jessie Carter Clavin.  We’re playing with the idea of facing parts of oneself that is ‘the beggar’, full of destructive tendencies – self-pity, helplessness, anger, depression, etc., meeting all that pain, and ultimately letting it go.”  The cinematic video begins dramatically, with Correia running to a waiting car which then accelerates away.  Later, in a clever twist, we see what she was running from.  Throughout, the video returns to the theme of confronting and rejecting the parts of oneself that are uncomfortable and the smartly-sequenced film really enhances the song’s lyrical exploration of the central character.

‘The Beggar’ is taken from Correia’s forthcoming EP ‘As We Are’, which is due for release on 25th March 2022.  The five songs in the collection address such themes as mortality, loss and regret.  It’s a reflective, introspective record, featuring well-crafted songs and thought-provoking lyrical content.  Look out for ‘As We Are’ but start here, with the intriguing internal conflict of the character in ‘The Beggar’.  Correia has shared a stage with the likes of Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt, Richard Thompson and Chrissie Hynde and has made a number of television appearances as part of Marc Cohn’s band.  Having released acclaimed music on major labels, The multi-instrumentalist was an early convert to crowd-funded independent releases.  Enjoy.