Janette King, “In Vain” (DoP: Nancy Pettinicchio)

You try to make it work, try to accommodate your partner’s needs, try things that maybe you’d have never considered before, all in the hopes that you can hold together a relationship that may have already passed its expiration date. Plus, it’s becoming more and more common for couples to attempt the polyamorous route. It works for some, but not everyone. Oftentimes it leaves one (or both) halves of the relationship feeling like they just aren’t enough.  

This is the topic Janette King grapples with in the new video for her song “In Vain.” The song itself comes from her 2019 EP 143. The EP’s name is a reference to that old texting code that stood in for “I Love You” (if you’re not hip to that then you probably weren’t texting much between the years 2007-2013). Each of the EP’s five songs explores some facet of a loving relationship and mulls over the different forms that love can take. 

Based in Montreal, King primarily makes R&B tracks, though each song is tinged with the stylings of adjacent genres. Some of the songs on 143 dip their toes into house and synthpop, and each features stellar production from a cohort of collaborators. “In Vain” is no exception, featuring production by Jordan Esau and kelpie. that lends the track the feel of an 80s new wave ballad. 

The video itself—directed by Tram Ngiegm—is shot beautifully, guided by Nancy Pettinicchio, who served as the shoot’s director of photography. Of the various settings in the video, it features scenic tableaux of the signer dancing in between a white sheet that blows in the wind, which adds a striking contrast: while King is clearly outside, surrounded by trees and near the coastline, the sheet isolates her from the surrounding environment, an image mean to “reflect the feelings of loneliness in her relationship.” But the video is not solely about isolation; there is growth and expansion, and this is on display in the shots of King performing yoga-like dances while basking in sunlight and in a park surrounded by friends.

At the end of it all, reminders of the outdoor world and times spent with friends are inevitably important right now, giving us all hope for better times ahead. “In Vain” can serve as a reminder that what we need most right now is acceptance of ourselves in the face of long stretches of time spent in isolation. 

Watch the video for Janette King’s “In Vain” below.