Spice Girl Melanie Brown stars in a shockingly powerful and disturbing video ‘Love Should Not Hurt’ highlighting the horror of domestic abuse for British composer, director and worship leader Fabio D’Andrea’s new album “24” to be released later on this year.
In the video, directed by chart-topping Fabio, Melanie performs a deeply moving piece, that tells the story of the trauma experienced by a woman whose seemingly perfect relationship is in fact a living nightmare of violence, control and fear. Melanie says: “This video is very real. Violence and abuse happens everywhere. And this performance represents the stories and the experiences of those women I have met, spoken to, or heard about. It touches all of us.”
A short-film director in addition to chart-topping musician, Fabio directs this compelling piece. Fabio is using his art to shine a powerful light on pertinent social issues. The neo-classical pianist’s “24” album – the first-ever classical video album consists of 24 original piano pieces by Fabio (one in every key), each accompanied by a video starring an actor or celebrity. He recently worked with Russell Tovey to highlight issues around fame and mental health, their video ‘Something Left To Love’ going to Number 1 of the official iTunes Music video chart, outselling Arianna Grade and P!nk to get to number 1.
Melanie’s dance routine was choreographed by Fabio’s collaborator, the renowned Ashley Wallen who has worked with Kylie Minogue and Mariah Carey. Wallen also choreographed The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman.
Melanie’s own gruelling story of coercive control during her own ten-year-long abusive marriage was previously highlighted in her memoir Brutally Honest. Despite being at the height of her fame with prime-time shows from X Factor in the UK and America’s Got Talent in the US, she was experiencing severe trauma within her marriage. Melanie attempted suicide and continued to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome even in the years after her split from her former husband in 2017. Since the publication of her book, Melanie has become a vociferous campaigner for Women’s Aid and was invited to No 10 Downing Street to launch a report for the charity on abuse.
Recently the World Health Organization reported that an estimated 641 million women had faced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner over the course of their lifetime. In total 736 million women experience physical or sexual violence when you include women subjected to sexual violence from a non-partner, meaning that 1 in 3 women experience this at least once in their lives.
Domestic abuse exists in every section of society and on average, one woman is killed every four days in the UK by a current or previous partner. Without the services provided by Women’s Aid, many more women could be at risk.
Melanie said, “I”m so incredibly proud to be part of this project which means so much to me because this is a collaboration of three things that are so important in my life; music, dance and a way to highlight the ever-increasing issue of violence towards women. It seems strange to say I am proud of showing something so brutal and disturbing but it is my mission to raise awareness of something so many women go through every day, every week, every month of their lives.
I have had my own experiences of abusive relationships but as Patron of Women’s Aid I have spoken to so many other women, listened to what they have gone through and I know how very real the danger is to so many women out there and I’m not going to stop breaking the silence and then shame around this subject because it’s too much and we have to stand up and do something. My heart breaks for every single woman and child who suffers from some form of domestic abuse. I want this to count for all victims of abuse. I want to help raise awareness, raise money and do anything I can to put a stop to this epidemic.”
It’s a subject close to Fabio’s heart too. Every member of the cast and crew working on the project had their own experiences of knowing someone affected by domestic abuse, including one of Fabio’s producers, Hester Ruoff, whose assistant Laureline Garcia-Bertaux, was brutally murdered by her boyfriend two years ago. Fabio said, “So much can be communicated via the arts that cannot be in other ways. We all hope this video can connect with as many people as possible. Domestic violence exists in every section of society but we rarely hear about it. This music and this video aims to change that.
This video performance represents the stories and the experiences of many, many women. It is very real, very raw. Violence and abuse happens everywhere. Everyone involved in this project and the production of this project had their own experiences so this was hugely emotional for everyone. It’s heartbreaking in so many ways but we hope this video can be used as a force for good.”
Teresa Parker, Head of Communications for Women’s Aid of which Melanie is a patron, said: “This video and classical song release is a powerful, emotional portrayal of domestic abuse, based on the many conversations that Melanie has had with survivors since becoming Patron of Women’s Aid two years ago. I’d like to thank Melanie, Fabio and everyone involved in this project for the passion and dedication that went into creating this video, I know that it will raise invaluable awareness of domestic abuse worldwide. The story told in the video is the reason why we desperately need domestic abuse services for women and children, survivors are very often running for their lives at the point when they try to access help.”
Fabio’s bold vision has drawn support from around the globe, attracting a raft of famous actors, dancers and choreographers to produce his award-winning videos. The unprecedented project connects various artforms and is part of Fabio’s visionary long-term goal of establishing a label to support other forward-thinking artists whose creative output stretches beyond the confines of the current music-industry model.
Set to an emotive soundtrack of Fabio’s cascading piano music, the video combines the three art forms – film, contemporary classical music and dance – to pack an even more powerful punch. Other videos in the series feature dancers from The Royal Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, The London Contemporary Dance School, as well as hip-hop dance companies. ‘Sleeping Beauty’ featuring Emma Rigby was arranged by the ex-principal dancer of Rambert, Dane Hurst, and won more than 20 international awards including the LA Short Fest.
Selected as the first in a series of human rights and social justice pieces we aim to bring you this week. Please feel free to share with us any work you’re doing that is related to these topics.