MusicFirst LookWatch love blossom in a dystopian schoolhouseA group of students liberate themselves from their oppressive schoolmasters in the video for New York pop singer Zolita’s new single ‘Holy’ShareLink copied ✔️June 21, 2016MusicFirst LookTextSelim Bulut The music video for Zolita’s new single “Holy” takes place in what the 21-year-old pop musician describes as a “patriarchal dystopian schoolhouse”. One of the students launches a rebellion alongside the girl she loves, starting a revolutionary anti-cult known as ‘The Cult of Girls’. “Given the recent political climate, I feel incredibly lucky to have made a video that covers the idea of escaping oppression, let alone embracing a same-sex relationship,” Zolita says. The song comes from Zolita’s debut EP Immaculate Conception, a set of R&B-leaning songs exploring themes of female sexuality, spirituality, and feminism that the New York-based artist and filmmaker self-released last year. “I wrote ‘Holy’ from a place of unrequited love, which to me has always felt like a form of religion,” she says, “The concept of sacrificing yourself for who you love and apotheosizing that person is an idea I really resonate with.” The clip for “Holy” was shot over a weekend in a historic schoolhouse and directed by Zolita herself with co-director Jake Saner. “I think music videos are the most impactful way to articulate an idea to a large group of people,” Zolita explains, “After I saw how my first music video ‘Explosion’ was able to establish a community based on one shared experience, I realized I needed to continue telling stories disenfranchised people could identify with, stories that would have resonated with me growing up.” “The severity of the video’s conclusion was the most challenging to shoot, for everyone involved,” she adds, “But I knew it was thematically crucial because ultimately this is a story of a girl who sacrifices everything for what she believes in. In the end not only is she immortalized, but so are her ideas. She teaches the other girls something that transcends herself and ultimately plants the seed for further overthrow of an unjust system – and the birth of a cult of girls.” Expand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.READ MORE7 essential albums by the SoulquariansThe KPop Demon Hunters directors on fan theories and a potential sequelFashion is filthier than ever at the Barbican’s Dirty Looksplaybody: The club night bringing connection back to the dancefloorAn interview with IC3PEAK, the band Putin couldn’t silenceFrost Children answer the dA-Zed quizThe 5 best features from PinkPantheress’ new remix albumMoses Ideka is making pagan synth-folk from the heart of south LondonBehind-the-scenes at Oklou and FKA twigs’ new video shootBjörk calls for the release of musician ‘kidnapped’ by Israeli authorities‘Her dumbest album yet’: Are Swifties turning on Taylor Swift?IB Kamara on branching out into music