Stupid People

At 22, Pip Millett, hailing from Manchester, is marking her presence on the UK R&B scene. Following her recent critically acclaimed second EP Lost in June which found the young, precocious artist using her firm yet smooth, tender voice to detail very intimate, personal and familial experiences and relationships; she’s back as we approach the end of summer 2020 (a strange one to say the least) with ‘Stupid People’ - a song which, accompanied with the video, is sure to strike a feeling with you.

‘Stupid People’ which has a very stripped-back guitar instrumental enables Pip Millet’s confessional style to shine through. Shot by director KC Locke, a long-time collaborator whose credits include Aitch, Stormzy and Ed Sheeran, the video tenderly depicts two couples who seemingly have tension as they try to embrace each other in a sunlit countryside which effectively captures a summer romance tone, while Pip, stands solo, acting very much as an omnipresent overseer in this circumstance, continually breaking the 4th wall as she sings with forlornness over the loss of a past relationship and laments in the chorus, all the mistakes ‘Stupid People’ make but declares “I’m a stupid person/ You let me down, you let me down”. Pip spoke on the track and explained “It’s about longing for the old and then realising it was s**t anyway, and feeling kinda stupid for ever wanting it at all.” This is a notion most of us have experienced and is a potent reminder that it’s rarely easy to move on from a past love.

It’s also worth noting that later in the second verse, Pip makes a metafictional reference that adds another interesting layer to the theme as she sings “I’ll write a song about you/about the greatest fall” which is funny considering we’re already listening to a song of hers whereby the so-called person is already a prominent subject matter. This shows an acute self-awareness from Pip that as a musician, the vulnerability that comes from anything deemed sacred or to be protective over such as a relationship, is eventually offered up and transformed into art for public consumption; further highlighting the contentious tightrope artists have to walk as they wrestle with whether their private experiences can be worth the sacrifice in the sake of their art.  KC makes excellent use of sunlight and space as he illuminates Pip with sun flare lens whilst making her and the two other couples feel like they’re existing in their own respective worlds, reflecting once again the strange times we’re living in of being so distant between one another but romanticizing the longing to be closer than ever before. 

Pip Millett continues to have her finger on the pulse concerning the trials and tribulations of youth and other heavyweight topics as she makes music immensely relatable to our own stories and the growing pains, we all have and, in many ways, continue to experience. Pip is scheduled, fingers crossed, to be back on the road from November with an already sold-out show at London’s Jazz Café. A very special individual is emerging in front of our very eyes, watch this space!