"MIEL" : A SPOON EACH

TRCKMG
Nov 8, 2022
8 min read

honey, n.

1.a. A sweet sticky fluid or semi-solid substance from whitish to dark brown in colour, produced by honeybees, other social bees, and certain other insects, usually derived from the nectar of flowers, and stored by the bees as a food source.

5.a. As a term of endearment or affectionate form of address: sweetheart, darling.

b. A person who is beloved of another; a lover, a sweetheart; esp. a girlfriend, a wife.

("honey, n. and a.", OED)

POSITION

The song miel finds itself at the heart of November Ultra's beautiful Bedroom Walls (2022). Some albums clearly have an overall narrative arch, yet even without assuming or claiming that this is the case here, each song stands in relation to the one before and after – even if they may hold completely different time-lines, people, feelings and perspectives, the order in which we listen to the pieces can tell a story of its own. Embedded between "monomania" and "fade", miel marks a moment of realization, coming to terms with the inevitable. Its neighbours contextualize this nicely.

The previous song ends on a low point with the repetition of "I cry and I panic, I lay on the floor, now that I'm down I can't fall anymore"; this image encapsulates a moment of sadness and defeat that is both oppressive and freeing – life pushes you to the ground, yet: there is nowhere lower to go. You cannot mess it up more, fall any deeper. November Ultra states about "monomania": "[I]t was about depression and how comforting it is to finally touch rock bottom, it's like 'okay here I am, now the only way is up, but let's just rest here for a little while.'" (Grand-Pierre)

When you are lying on the floor you literally get to experience a different perspective and sometimes this helps a lot with clarity. When a relationship is in crisis, deflating, steering towards a dead end, often there is a spiral of working each other up and down, fighting – for the relationship, for a future. The realization that it will not work out might only become visible, creep in, in a moment of exhausted quiet – when you hit a low and suddenly know:

From here, the only way is up and that means out, too. November Ultra sings: "You and me,

I don't think that we were meant to be".

After "monomania", miel is a gentle declaration of that understanding and the bittersweet taste of love that will meet an end, of love that you are not ready to let go of, just yet. The following song "fade" dives deeper into the topic of separation/loss, grief and loneliness: "I'm kinda lonely, but I'm hardly all alone, I'm very homely, but got no place to call my own, 'cause when I'm all alone, my mind is spiralling, I'm staring at my phone, but you won't call, because I stopped answering, this hurts me more, than any man could ever, you loved me more, than any man will ever".

(Still, Zite et Léo, "miel" by November Ultra, 2022)

COLOUR

As Taylor Joe explored in the essay "Colour and Narrative", paying attention to colour is a fruitful approach when studying a video. What is the story that the colours tell? Does it go along with the lyrics? With the plot of the video? Is there an opposition, a countermovement? In this case I argue that the distribution of colours underlines the impossibility of the love which is sung about in this song.

The most dominant colours in this music video are the blue of the sky, shades of purple/pink and, of course, yellow. The rooms in the house have individual colour schemes and throughout the video, and November Ultra is dressed in outfits corresponding to the dominant colours.

Before the bee appears, she is wearing her signature palette, purple/pink. The kitchen and living room are completely kept in yellow, and there the singer is also wearing an all yellow outfit (equally so when painting the bee's portrait) – she is completely adapted to the bee's yellow. The bathroom is kept in rosé tones and so is November Ultra's outfit there. The bedroom is in blue tones. While the bee is always themselves in each environment and room, the singer seems to leave her true colours behind when spending time with the bee. Especially in the living room and kitchen, which are completely bee-coloured. In these rooms where most of the domestic work is done, her adjustment seems to be the strongest – ultimately the domestic married life with children is just what November Ultra rejects in the opening lines of the song.

One colour story is that of one-sided adaptation, another one is the expression of complementary opposites. On the colour wheel yellow and purple diametrically oppose each other. This means they are complementary, yet also that mixing them together results in a rather unpleasant gray that erases the brilliance of both. While they say opposites attract, in the representation of the love interest as a different species and complementary colour, the difference between the two is really emphasized. The bee is her honey, and she is the bee's honey – they complement each other well, however, their lives, wishes and sources of happiness might not mix well.

(Still, Zite et Léo, "miel" by November Ultra, 2022)

LOVING

"Why do we lie to each other?" (November Ultra, miel)

"Why do we keep faking?" (Lykke Li, "so sad so sexy")

Both November Ultra and Lykke Li ask the same question in their respective songs about the time before a separation, the period of realization. Why do we pretend as if this is working, as if there will be a future together? To give this a cheesy ending: Situations like these are not black and white. Just like relationships usually do not turn all bad all of a sudden, acts of love are not suddenly all lie and fake. The good, the beautiful, the sweetness is still there and reasons for loving and hope exist as always. There is a lot of love in wanting to continue despite difference, despite seeing the end. However, this zone might be just as gray – and sad – as a mix of complementary colours.

PS: While Lykke Li is my uncontested queen of sadness, I will gladly accept November Ultra as queen of tenderness.

PPS: Thanks for nothing postman – entered the house, overreacted violently, then heroically 'fixed' the situation he caused to arise. He was neglected in these reflections, however, maybe worth to note that he is also dressed in black and yellow, very bee-y of him.)

STEPHANIE

Honey: Sweet, delicate and smooth. Able to reduce inflammations, it can vary in taste and colour. It is antiseptic and antibacterial, helps with digestion and can be used as a mild laxative. It is polysemantic, describing a precious treasure, Winnie The Pooh's favourite food, a specific shade of yellow, a dearly beloved or even friendly stranger. November Ultra's music, no stranger to us, definitely shares the sweetness and smoothness of honey. A sound that is rich in layers and texture but also "soft and tender". A melasse of flavours and shades, more complex than the first glance would have you assume.

A buzz

The video opens with November Ultra being gifted numerous big flowers anonymously before we eventually get to see a large, fuzzy and adorable bee flying towards her house, holding yet another big bloom, revealing who the mysterious gift giver was, as the first chorus sets in. Honey honey.

(Still, Zite et Léo, "miel" by November Ultra, 2022)

Honeybees are not solitary. They are led by a queen, who is mainly responsible for generating offspring, as she is the only viable figure within the hive of around sixty thousand bees that gets to be the mother of all.

She is fed, cleaned, housed, her eggs and nymphs taken care of by her daughters. All of which inherit the roles of babysitter, housekeeper, architect, builder, scout, bodyguard, pollen collector, and cook, among other things, across the span of their lifetime. They are the only ones with a sting to defend themselves, their hive and queen. The queen also has a sting, which is only used in combat with younger queens, threatening to take her position.

Drones are the male bees within the hive. They roughly make up ten percent of the entire hive, depending on how well the system is doing. It has been shown that hives that are struggling tend to produce more drones, as they are lower maintenance, develop from unfertilized eggs and even though they are somewhat parasitic, not contributing to the well being of the hive, neither by building, collecting or producing honey, they are still tolerated.

They have no sting, therefore no real way to defend themselves or others. They are tolerated by the hive for most of the year but once autumn arrives, they are not granted access inside anymore and end up dying off during winter. Their single purpose, as far as we know, is to outcompete other drones in the nuptial flight. A queen will take to the sky, leaving behind a trace of pheromones, signaling drones from near and far of her willingness to pair. Often she will then be followed by a swarm of drones, eager to mate. The queen however, is capable of flying higher than most other honeybees, ensuring only the fittest are capable of following her.

Visually this video works with plenty of playful references to bees. Whether it be the tall hairstyles, traditionally called bee-hives, the flowers, which might be dahlias and hydrangeas, that can be a good food source for numerous bees, depending on the cultivar. The colour shemes, as mentioned by Stephanie, reveal rich honey tones and notes of lavender and purple. A rough generalization implies that flowers with blue, lavender and purple notes have become more sparse, even though they are usually very nectar and pollen rich flowers, making them especially desirable for numerous pollinators, including the honeybee. And even the lyrics of the song can be applied in a more bee-like context, for instance, during the first verse:

"I don't wanna get married

Don't wanna have your baby, baby

You say that I will change my mind

Maybe I will, down the line"

As this particular bee seems to have taken an interest in November Ultra, and later on does not defend itself with a sting when fighting with the postman, it is safe to assume it is in fact a drone. Seeing November Ultra as a queen. She does not want marriage, does not want babies, no nuptial flight. This drone, as endearing it appears in the video, (made by Zité & Leo, well known for their music videos, incorporating lucious and charming sets and characters), could be read as a hopeless promise of love. November Ultra goes on to sing:

"Even though I know there is no future for You and me It's you or me It's you against me You will be better without me"

Part of the tragedy behind the easy life of drones, is their very short lifespans. Their main goal is to pass on their sperm to a queen who is willing to accept, however, even if they manage to do so, which is rare considering the ratio of drones to queens, and the fact that a queen will only ever partake in the nuptial flight once in her life, they perish as soon as the act is done. The drone's penis bulb stays stuck inside the queen, resulting in it being ripped out of the drone's body, pulling out entire organs attached to it. And if you do not get the chance of reproduction, and such a cruel death, you eventually are left out in the cold by your sisters.

Why plan a future with a being who is not capable of existing for that long? Of course this is not literally the case, but you might end up staying in something you know will not last, but you are just not ready to let it go just yet. What if November Ultra is aware of this horrendous cycle as a queen? Perhaps this drone means too much for her to be able to accept such a sacrifice, in the end trying to protect it, only for it to end by the mercy of someone else. For all the benefits honey does have, it is also sticky.

(Still, Zite et Léo, "miel" by November Ultra, 2022)

Help A Bee Out!

It is in fact possible to help a malnourished, weak or tired bee out by offering it some honey, as shown in the video! It will eat for a while, and just as abruptly fly off, as it did out of November Ultra's arms. Determined, focused and with a concrete direction in mind.

TAYLOR JOE