South African singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou‘s “Skin Crawl” is outrageously appropriate for the time in which we’re living. Taking on themes of sexism, misogyny, and her own experience with “a range of extremely negative and traumatic incidences at the hands of men,” Alice Phoebe Lou recruited a group of her closest friends – “Supportive, sensitive, and wonderful men,” she says – to appear in the music video for “Skin Crawl.”

It’s a simple, strikingly emotive, DIY video, and the song itself is equal parts starkly poetic and lushly textured. “I guess I needed to write a song that was straight to the point,” she says of “Skin Crawl.” “I find that when dealing with “heavy” subject matter that is important to you, it can be a tricky balance trying to get the message across while keeping up the poetry.”

“You’re making my skin wanna crawl into all of these cracks and these crevices

Don’t worry, I know how to have a good time

Just don’t need a smile to be enjoying myself.” 

“This is not to say that I paint men with a single brush,” she goes on to say. “The song’s intention is to ask that we all work towards a world where we strive to make each other feel comfortable and safe at all times.”

“That’s the dream, really,” she finishes. “Cozy and safe and equal.”

Watch the video for “Skin Crawl” here, and catch Alice Phoebe Lou on tour across North America in March 2019.