Bambie Thug shares ‘Doomsday Blue’ video and tells us about controversial Eurovision entry

Bambie Thug has shared the music video for their upcoming Irish Eurovision entry ‘Doomsday Blue’, as well as telling Rolling Stone UK about the wild reaction they received after winning the country’s Eurosong contest.

The Cork-born artist leans into black magic in the new video, which follows the story of a witch who inadvertently conjures up a strange creature after casting a spell to make a new boyfriend.

It’s a brilliantly vivid visual that is no doubt set to wind up a small but vocal minority in Ireland who weren’t too happy and dared to accuse Bambie of promoting Satanism after they triumphed earlier this year with the alt-rock track.

“I think it was quite iconic to have created such uproar. I’m pissing off the right type of people – people who suppress love, compassion, understanding, people who are slaves to their programming, transphobes, the far-right and a few priests so it seems,” Bambie explains.

You can watch the video for ‘Doomsday Blue’ below and check out our whole Q&A in full.

Talk us through the music video – how does it feed into the themes of the track?

My sister Holly and I came up with the concept while trying to imagine what a dark, witchy Taylor Swift style video might be like. 

The concept follows a young witch fed up with bad relationships writing in their “blaze bible” and casting a spell to make ‘a new better boyfriend’ but instead of a human they conjure a strange creature. Just as the song shifts genre, the video shifts between a witch realm and a candy-coloured dream world. I wanted the dream world to pay homage to Barbie in its styling and it was important for me to include the trans flag as the colour palette. We didn’t plan on having sheep in the video until we went to see the venue and as a passing comment asked ‘d’you think we can use the sheep’. It’s really fun seeing how herding actually works. Those dogs are so smart!

Towards the end of the song (mimicking the electro metal shift) the dream world starts to break down, and the creature they have conjured again, just like any toxic relationship turns on them. It’s a collision of worlds meant to signify the gaslighting, the cheating, the abusive nature of a terrible romance. But the creature also relates to the world outside and for queer people how quickly a situation can turn unsafe. It is also related to our minds, the negative self-talk that we’ve been programmed to have about ourselves and how detrimental that can be for your view of self.  

There are a ton of fun hidden references in the video that my sister and I came up with alongside my creative director and confidante Storm St. Claire; from Hocus Pocus, Mean Girls, Barbie, Watermelons, Kate Bush, The Love Witch, the meme of Pedro Pascal and Nicolas Cage to ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ to even Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam.

Working with Camp Productions on it was incredible, the turnaround was so fast and there was so much love and passion poured into it. Having a team of primarily queer and non-binary people was extremely special for me. 

There’s a lot of dark imagery in there. How fun was it to lean into those themes?

Originally the concept was even more dark but following my Eurosong win and so many parents reaching out about how much their kids loved Doomsday Blue, I decided to make something more universally palatable, quirky and comedic for all audiences. We also decided to make the creature a bit more friendly, inspired by ‘Where The Wild Things Are’.

I adore all things dark, horror, gothic culture, witchcraft (though I would always say that is light work rather than dark) and I love acting so much, it was a lot of fun to morph into different characters. 

Does this give us an idea of what to expect from your Eurovision staging?

My lips are sealed on that one. I don’t want to give anything away before the performance but what I can say is that my choreographer Matt Williams, my director Sergio Jaen and I have created a truly beautiful concept and piece for the big stage. I feel in a way it’s Bambie Thug as you’ve never seen before. I’m really excited and working very hard to deliver something that stands out on that big stage.

There was a degree of uproar when you were announced as Ireland’s Eurovision entry. What did you make of that and, specifically, being called a satanist?

Honestly, I think it was quite iconic to have created such uproar. I’m pissing off the right type of people – people who suppress love, compassion, understanding, people who are slaves to their programming, transphobes, the far-right and a few priests so it seems. These are all things that need a reform of consciousness and the heart. I will never silence my voice or my creativity for anyone. I’m not hurting anyone with my art and frankly the love I’ve received has far outweighed the hate tenfold. 

I think it’s funny that I’m being labelled a Satanist. I don’t practice anything but witchcraft and the only God I pray to is the universe in its many forms, but I do respect Satanists and from the few I know they live in light and are so kind. I think a lot of people take too literally the stories of scripture that are really just moral metaphors (the good ones at least). People fear what they don’t know, and a lot of the time people like me spark fear in others because deep down they are jealous of the freedom I live in. I wish all my haters love and kindness and hope one day they get to experience true compassion for themselves and others. 

You’ve got an army of fans behind you – what’s it been like knowing they have your back?

Oh, it’s so beautiful! Anytime someone misgenders me online or says something negative about me, there’s so many people chasing with protective messages on my behalf.

It’s funny to think that right before Eurosong I was speaking to my sister about Ireland, saying “I really need to up my Irish support, no one knows me there” and now I’m a national treasure, winning a Pride of Cork award too. Its wild! My followers have tripled, we just hit 1 million Spotify streams on Doomsday, the fan art is insane, I’m getting messages from all around the world and it’s really hammering home for me that I’m on the right path.

I’m still an independent artist and my team is tiny (hopefully that changes soon), but I hope that my journey can be a message to people like me, that even if you can’t afford your own place to live right now, if you’re struggling mentally and if you don’t come from wealth or connections that with sheer faith, perseverance and commitment to your craft you can succeed. 

The amount of queer kids and parents of non-binary children who have been impacted by this and reached out is overwhelmingly lovely. I’m not doing this just for me, I never have been. I’m doing it for my family, for the alt scene, for the witches and for the queer community. 

Tracy Chapman said ‘don’t you know talkin bout a revolution sounds like a whisper’ well I don’t whisper, I scream, and I will continue to do so for as long as I’m on this earthly plane.