I hope you’ve had a chance to listen to the song online! I thought you might enjoy a little peek into the inspiration behind the song and the video.

It started off as a half-assed joke. Years ago, before we were married, my husband told me about a sweet Jamaican couple he’d known in Toronto who were fond of using the pet names “My King” and “My Queen” (in strong Jamaican accents no less).

I didn’t want to be a killjoy, but every feminist fibre of my being (of which there are many) immediately got all in a snuff. “My whaaaaat????” I yelped.  I simply could NOT imagine calling any man “my King”. Gaah, it just felt so…. WRONG. I mean, here we’ve done decades of work as women to undo the patriarchal system and this woman was willing to proverbially lay herself down before her man and bow to his honour? [Sure, he was using the same term of endearment with her, but somehow that didn’t seem so out of line. Lol. ;)]

But then a few years later I had my son and suddenly the emotional earthquake that is motherhood rocked me to the core. I was absolutely floored by the LOVE this tiny being brought into my life. And not only was it my JOB to keep him alive, but I was so incredibly willing and joyful to take on the responsibility of putting him above all else. At last, I knew what it was like to be so willingly subservient and to put everything aside to serve another. I had found the king of my heart.

And he did more than simply steal my heart. He gave me an opportunity to look beyond my small little self and get a glimpse of the big wild future. It’s like the whole cycle of life just locked into high gear in my consciousness and I could see a million future generations carrying the torch for humanity. And I truly wanted him to own his position of authority in his own life and write his destiny.

I originally conceived the video it as a collection of ‘selfies’ of a mama watching her child grow up through her phone. We hummed and hawed about using a real baby and how we would make it feel more artsy than a home video. I decided to make a mock-up to test the concept and see how it looked on screen and I happened to grab a floppy toy giraffe. When we saw it bouncing around on screen, we immediately realized that using some kind of toy would be way more symbolic and funny than a real human. So we decided to leverage my sewing skills to build a muppet and harness Leo’s puppeteering experience. Cam (from Turtlebox Productions) who did all the filming and editing immediately had great ideas about ageing the puppet over time and pulling together a whole narrative with the piece.

It was a long and fun journey to record the song and make the video, almost two years in the making! So many incredibly talented people were involved. I hope you enjoy the fruits of our labours! 🙂