[dropcap size=big]C[/dropcap]uco’s new music video for “Hydrocodone” is a reconciliation with the traumatic car crash he suffered last fall and his departure from adolescence. The title of the song is aptly named after the opioid given to him post-surgery. He was high from it when he finished the song.
Cuco recently signed to Interscope and "Hydrocodone" is the first track from his upcoming debut album. A bidding war to sign the 20-year-old Chicano artist ended last month with Cuco landing a seven-figure deal and ownership over the masters, according to Fader.
The video was shot in Mexico City, which is also where his parents are from. Besides being an expression of reconciliation, “it’s a love letter to our parents' culture,” director Jazmin Garcia explained in an interview with L.A. Taco.
Garcia, who is Mexican and Guatemalan, divides her time between Mexico City and L.A. She is a former producer at Mitu and an emerging talent in the West Coast filmmakers scene.
While the lyrics of the song lament a breakup, the video is more concerned with the feelings surrounding trauma. Cuco’s car crash in October resulted in him having to cancel his tour for the year. He announced a new North American tour when dropped the song earlier this year.
The story of the video can be interpreted as Cuco replaying the accident in his head while he’s bedridden. He imagines what his funeral would have been like. Cuco leads a walking funeral procession with several characters carrying a casket. But the funeral isn’t somber, rather all the people in a attendance are jovial. “I didn’t want it to be sad, I wanted it to be a celebration of life,” Garcia told L.A. Taco.
“I didn’t want to just focus on a love story,” Garcia added. “I really vibed with the idea of what he was going through at the time.”
The song speaks to the feeling of sedation especially when he appears to be high on hydrocodone.
Cuco had been working on the song for two years and finished it during his recovery from the accident.
In one part of the video, Cuco is in a full body cast laying in bed, with the arms raised in the air and children in masks parade around the room. “The kids represent that innocence we lose as we get older,” Garcia said.
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