Jessica Breanne Reaches the Flash Point in ‘Bad Shape’

Jessica Breanne is among the cadre of Nashville musicians who aren’t constantly playing shows and releasing new material — but once you’ve heard some of their work or seen them perform, you’re always on the lookout for what they’ve got to share next. In September 2021, she released Rosebud Queen, her first album under her own name since the amicable dissolution of her former blues-rock band The Electric Hearts.

As she explained around the time of Rosebud Queen’s release, the groovy, highly nuanced record is largely about harnessing vulnerability as a strength. “I’d always been scared to talk about a lot of the darkness that has surrounded me,” she told contributor Olivia Ladd. “Really these songs are beacons of light that help me get through hard times. They’re all little quilts and palaces I’ve built to protect from dark and damaging things.”

If you weren’t online on Black Friday, you might have missed Breanne’s phenomenal music video for “Bad Shape,” directed by filmmaker Kevin Doyle, who also concocted some potent special visual effects. With pounding bass and drums and phantasmal guitars that almost sound like they’re singing, the opening few bars set the ominous mood and give you a country-blues flavor.

The camera follows Breanne and her husband and bandmate John Fox — who’s playing her character’s husband in the video — around what appears to be a palatial estate in the late 19th century. Breanne sings about layers of trauma that have turned the relationship dynamic into something torturous: “The mask that you wear tricked me from seeing / I keep my eyes wide to show you your reflection / Just to try and catch a glimpse of your true nature / Yet you cower and hide yourself away.” Under these circumstances, the couple is now in what you might call a combustible state.

Check it out above and snag a copy of Rosebud Queen from your favorite record store or via Bandcamp. Find all the links to her website, social media and releases via Linktree.