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i told some of my colleagues in the lab i’m in at uni that i covered “mary on a cross,“ and one of them asked if i was gonna sing “unholy“ by sam smith. at first, i didn’t really give the song much thought. but upon hearing covers from eiry, anna and chloe, i recognized the song from tik tok, and the creative cogs in my brain started whirring.
i saw how chloe and anna did a lyric rewrite of the song to include a dual perspective, and i was inspired to do something similar by rewriting the lyrics to fit the story of my ocs, magdalena and judith. (fun fact: i wrote these lyrics while wildly distracted from writing an essay i was assigned to do). i imagine this song happening towards the end of magdalena’s arch, where she finally accepts herself for who she is and gives into her love for judith.
perhaps it is due to my catholic upbringing, but i’ve always been obsessed with catholic imagery and aesthetics. as a result, i wanted to include a lot of it in my lyric rewrite. below, you can find timestamps for references i want to highlight as well as their explanations.
— 0:09 a reference to revelation 17:4-5 in the bible
— 1:26 refers to the apostles creed, a prayer often said during catholic mass that acts as a confession of faith
— 1:29 refers to the phrases uttered during the sacrament of communion. typically, the person serving the host or the wine will say, “the body of christ“ or “the blood of christ.“ i was mainly inspired to include a lyric like this because of the song “bedroom hymns“ by florence the machine. in her song, she sings, “this is his body, this is his love, such selfish prayers and i can’t get enough“ (listen to the full song: )
— 1:31 two references are (kind of) made here. i used the word “immaculate“ to allude to the virgin mary’s immaculate conception, which means that she was free from original sin from the moment she was conceived. i also used the word “communion“ to refer to the sacrament of the same name. the word itself also refers to a coming together of sorts. i just realized this now, but this line basically says that a union like magdalena and judith’s is just as holy and sinless in spite of what bigots might say.
— 1:35 two references made here again! before entering the pews (that is, the benches you sit on) in a catholic church, you must genuflect; you face the altar, get down on your right knee and do the sign of the cross. i also talk about mary magdalene in this line. mary magdalene is a figure in the bible who repented for her sins and washed jesus’ feet with her hair and perfumes.
— 1:37 a reference to how witches/heretics were burned at the stake, though when writing this line i was mainly thinking about joan of arc.
— 1:45 in the bible, when jesus was sentenced to death, he was crowned with a wreath of thorns as a way to mock him, since he was called “king of the jews.“ also, a martyr is someone who is killed for their religious or other beliefs. many figures and saints within catholic literature died through martyrdom.
— 2:00 lilith is thought to be adam’s first wife before eve. she was cast out of eden for refusing to submit to adam.
🎶 COVER CREDITS
— Original song by Sam Smith (ft. Kim Petras)
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— Instrumental by @kevinliumusic
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— Mix/Master by ryuuki
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— Vocals by Justine M.
🎨 ART
— The art used in the video was made by mekarer.
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FTC: this video is not sponsored. all opinions are my own.
DISCLAIMER: i own nothing in this video except for my voice. this cover is not for profit whatsoever and is purely for fun. :)
#UNHOLY #SamSmith #CoverArtist #JustinesMic