Written by Tyra Buckley
In his September 14th, 1962 speech regarding America’s Cup, a famously recognised sailing competition, President JFK discussed with his Newport audience the significance of the sea; the bond forged between man and water, described more as an unforeseeable, formidable force than a simple source for survival, and a crucial element of the human body’s functioning. He tells the Australian Ambassador Howard Beale and various others gathered within the former Cornelius Vanderbilt estate: “I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it’s because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it’s because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came.”
The President recognised the ocean as something more than a simple view. More than an ebbing and flowing tide that comes and goes and crashes and falls. The sea is humanised in that it is part of us, and we are drawn to it the same way we gravitate towards what we know, even subconsciously, to be ours; the way we find home, family, and ancient civilisations unknowingly.
Arno Sacco recognises this too. The Belgian-born, Caribbean artist released his single entitled Blue Boy in July of this year, in which he uses the motif of bodies of water to symbolise the freedom of breaking a cycle.
He tells me from his home in Belgium, brimming with high energy and wearing a (fitting) blue t-shirt, that he felt as though he was constantly trying to escape his childhood home, grasping for the freedom that came with moving out like trying to hold sand in your palm whilst it sifts through your fingers.
“I feel like Blue Boy is like an ode to trying to escape from a certain cycle. I lived in a very small town far away from everything that’s lively, and that was getting to me–the small mindedness of just the town and the people in it. And there’s not a lot of creativity going on here. I feel like the song speaks about that, and it speaks about trying to break a cycle but not fully being capable of breaking it just yet, so you end up in the same place again and again and again.”
In the music video, tinged with a cool colour grading to reinforce not only the significance of him running into the ocean, asking the tide to come in and wash away the life he had etched out in the sand, to wipe the slate clean and provide him with a blank canvas to “take a leap of faith” and begin new, but also reflect the title and its birth out of Arno’s appreciation for the English language, as his second language, and the term “feeling blue,” Arno falls into the sea. He runs with direction through the dark of night to the beach, by this time already seeing the sunrise, and runs directly into the ocean. He lets the waves crash and ripple around him, lift and shake him as though his body is becoming one with the sea, “going back from whence [he] came,” as JFK said.
It’s part of the message that the sea becomes an escape and, whilst Sacco’s song itself does not focus purely on the ocean itself, it reflects everything it stands for–rebirth, like Aphrodite who emerged from the sea, the cycle of life (as the source of life), and boundless opportunity. Being “lost, unable to be found / impatiently patiently waiting for a miracle to come around.”
Filmed in the neighbourhood where he grew up and shaped by the music he listened to on his own accord–downloaded in preparation for a road trip to Slovenia rather than forced on him by the Belgian radio–the song was so clearly held so close to his chest for so long because there is intimacy in it; in returning to the place he longed to escape, once housing the version of him before Frank Ocean got to shape his sound, and SZA his writing. Before his “janky headphones” gave him any idea that he could just quit school, work in retail and “try and make this thing work.”
It also draws inspiration from films like Moonlight (2016) and Waves (2019), both of which are famous for their use of the sea as a character in itself–an omnipresent, provocative body capable of cleansing, rebirthing, and loss. Director Mary Zimmerman, speaking with The Atlantic author who decided to write about her own experience watching Moonlight emphasised on the use of water to drive a message: “In Shakespeare, water is symbolic in terms of crossing a rubicon, and of transformation. In a lot of cultures, it’s where you go to meet the Gods, because they come out of water,” she tells the author, who claims it’s all she could think about throughout the film. Undeniably, in his decision to involve water and to take inspiration from these films, Arno reaches for the metaphors that come with the symbolism of the sea, and signifies his own rebirth, escape, and creative journey.
“It’s just a metaphor for so many things that I was feeling at the time,” Arno says. “And, also, just because it looks gorgeous. I feel like just running into water or running [in general] always looks so beautiful because it has such a freeing feel to it. And I really like the ending, where I’m drenched with water and laying in my house.”
The idea of the tide ebbing and flowing, advancing and receding, became a comfort, it seems, in the release of the debut. Having worked on it for three years, tirelessly dissecting and evolving, the R&B/Soul song became something of a legend; something to “tease and not release” whilst he took on a close inspection and critique of the work composed quickly and quietly in his bedroom one “magical” night. Decorating the song became one of his favourite parts, likening it to filling in the outline of a drawing and placing it in a sonic space.
He says, still, despite the release having come and gone, that “if I could, I would still take it back and tweak a lot of stuff that I do, chords, do this and do that.” Even so, the three years spent were evidently worth the time and effort it took to watch a project held so close to his heart come to life. “I feel like it’s a good thing that I spent that much time on it because otherwise it wouldn’t have been what it is now. But I feel like I should just also not be too self critical and harsh on myself, because I feel like if I didn’t hold myself to such a high standard, it would have been finished way earlier.”
He focuses also on seeking the things you know are out there, like the dance shows of dolphins in the middle of the ocean or the London music scene where Sacco feels as though he is integrating himself very well with not only the help of Au Contraire, his team, but also the enthusiasm of other Londoners.
In the creative capital where music thrives, Arno says “I feel like everyone has been very nice to me, and everyone has been very open and willing to help me out and see worth in the potential that I have, which is very flattering. And I wouldn’t say that I necessarily got that same vibe from Belgium, to be honest. From my experience in London, I feel like a lot of artists and creatives are very supportive of one another, and I really do appreciate it.”
You can listen to Arno Sacco’s single ‘Blue Boy’ now on all streaming services.
