As Pride Month wraps up, independent electronic music artist LONER leaves a note at our doors: Fuck toxic masculinity.
Lean Ordinario’s music alter ego LONER just dropped the confessional visual for the Jon Olarte-directed “Catwalk.” The track is off his “Manila Dance” EP, a collaborative work with producer Aries.
In an honest snapshot of the underground club scene backed up by compelling vocals, LONER explores the unnecessary standards society has slapped regarding dressing up. “I should not feel ashamed of wearing just what I want, man. It’s not about you but it’s about me, so what do you care man?” he slams. Throughout the track, he stresses how people should stop making a big fuss out of people’s wardrobe rotation—like purses picked by boys who like girls.
“Growing up, I always felt judged for being picky about clothing as if I was doing something wrong,” LONER says. “Masculinity gets quite toxic when you’re doing things that society has deemed ‘feminine.’ I wrote this song to express that frustration.”
In the MV, the protagonists are an Elephant pre-party crowd. “When my girlfriend brought me to an Elephant night in XX XX, I was amazed by the unapologetic energy from the partygoers. They were a huge inspiration to me as I was writing this song and I knew I wanted to feature them on a music video,” he reveals. “I thought that was the best way to pay homage to their confidence and pride in being themselves.”
Gender norms are evident in the simplest activities like dressing up. At the end of the day, we all have the right to wear what we want.
Check out LONER’s LGBTQ+ community-dedicated music video here:
Photo by Kristelle Ramos