Soldier’s Heart Gives Obsession A Good Name

The Belgian electro-pop group challenges perceptions of love and insanity with “Randy.”

February 17, 2016

There is something really, really special about "Randy." The song is by Belgian electro-pop group Soldier's Heart, who are releasing their debut full length Night By Night on April 22, and the video stars the group's lead singer Sylvie Kreusch in very '80s outfits alongside a super hunky slice of man. (If you blush at the sight of exposed abdomen muscle, you may want to refrain from watching "Randy." Or, not!)

ADVERTISEMENT

"Randy" reaches its climax when Kreusch sings Honey, what have you done to me repeatedly as she comes at the camera with an arrow. Then (spoiler alert!) over Randy's arrow-pierced chest she sings, When I turn insane/ and when I turn in love/ it's all I ever need. It's a tale of mad, consumptive, love-gone-wrong in which the male hero winds up dead—not an unfamiliar story, but in this one Kreusch is our hero, staring down the viewer with her so-called crazy eyes and daring anyone to cross her.

Kreusch explained in an email to The FADER that the video for "Randy" "is about saving yourself by destroying the one you obsessively love, and portrays the mental decay of a girl madly in love. A girl stupid enough to spend all of her savings on a vintage Marc Jacobs suit, leaving her broke and in debt, and silly enough to not show up at her job so she can hitchhike from country to country to see a boy she loves who doesn't even love her back. Basically me in my late teenage years."

ADVERTISEMENT

I'm obsessed with the way Kreusch sings You got me kicking the habit of you now/ I've got a burning desire, but not in the same dangerous way you love something to the point of needing it to be gone from your life. The human Randy stands for may have needed to be eliminated, but "Randy" is forever. Beautiful, weird, catchy, badass things often come from the ashes of destruction.

Watch the video for "Randy" above, and preorder Night By Night here.

ADVERTISEMENT
Soldier’s Heart Gives Obsession A Good Name