On Our Radar: Haley Blais taps into an ongoing horror with her "Remove Tag" video

by Mike Usinger on April 5th, 2018 at 4:43 PM

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With the possible exceptions of Cara Delevingne, Gal Gadot, Idris Elba, and Kofi Siriboe, who among us hasn’t looked at a photo of ourselves and though “Why am I so fucking hideous?” Especially when overhead fluorescent lights are involved.

Considering this, it’s no surprise that it took Haley Blais about two lines to get us onboard with her “Remove Tag”. Those, in case you're curious, were the song’s first two lines: “The picture you posted was really unflattering/I hope you don’t think less of me.”

In the accompanying video, Blais spends two and a half minutes giving us reason to wonder exactly what we’re doing wrong in our personal lives.

Where are all these house parties that she’s attending, and why are they packed with shiny happy people drinking out of retro-looking mason jars and clinking plastic cups?

Didn’t the guy who sabred the champagne see that he chipped the neck of the bottle, and if he didn’t, did someone end up in emergency after drinking a piece of glass?

Where can we get our hands on Blais's totally styling orange, white, and blue Los Angeles sweatshirt?

All these questions might have led to a fresh wave of inner torment and angst if “Remove Tag” wasn’t so bloody gorgeous. Whether intentionally or not, Blais finds a beautifully breezy sweet spot between the classic Scottish twee-pop of Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura and honey-coated alternative MOR.

“Remove Tag” is, by the way, autobiographical, the singer noting on YouTube: “This song is very transparent in its meaning; it’s literally about the worst photo ever taken of me in high school, that was repeatedly posted on Instagram.”

We can relate, mostly because practically every photo ever taken of us in high school, not to mention the years that have followed, has pretty much been the worst photo ever.

Even if Cara Delevingne, Gal Gadot, Idris Elba, and Kofi Siriboe will never know our pain, it’s nice to know that Blais does.