Airling’s music video for her current single, ‘Stallin’, was released not long ago, and in October she's heading on a national tour.
The ‘Stallin’ music video features none other than Nacho Pop, former co-host and choreographer for ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. “I met him when I was at Splendour and we went to visit the One Day DJ boys at the place I was staying and we were just playing basketball, and I didn't even realise he was this amazing dancer. He listened to my music and knew that I was looking for dancers and said he would love to be in it,” Airling says.
Airling could not be happier with the final results and thanks her amazing team for it. “I love it, I worked with a really amazing team on the clip. The directors from Forman Film, I've known them for years; they're good friends of mine. They put everything into it and worked so hard. It's a super-special thing when you see everything when it comes out the way you'd dreamt,” she says.
Kane Mazlin from the band Sans Parents, and former lead singer of Hungry Kids Of Hungary, gave Airling a hand with the tune and the pay-phone idea for the clip. “I was imagining myself being in a relationship with a guy, and I was in limbo about the whole thing. You know, that feeling when someone doesn't know what they want. How it makes you feel so awkward and weak.
"And with the pay phone, you know, if someone's calling you from a pay phone they might get you, but you can never really call them back, a very one-sided way of communicating. So that was what I was intending,” she says.
When asked what she wants people to feel when listening to her music, Airling is humble. “I never want to control what anyone feels. But what is super fulfilling, is when people instinctually feel something honest. Whether they hate it or they love it or feel sad or it makes them feel saucy, as long as it's a natural and honest emotion, then I'm really happy.”
And earlier this year, when Airling teamed up with Japanese Wallpaper for the single ‘Forces’ they definitely touched some hearts. “We had an email once from this guy, after I did the club roadtrip with Japanese Wallpaper; he sent us a huge email thanking us basically for almost saving his life, and how he was considering committing suicide.
"He said that the lyrics in the song really brought him back from that space and he realised he had his little sister and a girlfriend that he didn't want to hurt and he didn't want to ruin them. So he was quoting the lyrics to us and thanking us for reminding him. I think that's one of the biggest gifts you could hear about as an artist. That you could help someone through that.”
This weekend Airling starts another tour, this time to showcase her new single as well as some new tracks she’s been working on. “We're changing things up a bit and I've been writing a lot and working on the body of the album, so I think we're gonna try to play a bunch of new songs.
“I'm dying to show everyone what I've been working on and I'm heading in a more R&B-ish direction, so it's gonna be a very saucy show I think.”
Written by Eirin Boee
Airling Tour Dates
Fri 9 Oct - Newtown Social Club (Sydney)Fri 16 Oct - The Foundry (Brisbane)
Sat 17 Oct - Northcote Social Club (Melbourne)
Sun 18 Oct - Aviary Rooftop Sessions (Perth)
