Australian meme-pop artist explores trauma bonds in “Luvbomb”
South African/Australian indie pop artist, Guard, dropped his latest single, ‘Luvbomb’ on April 21st with a mind-bending music video to accompany it.
Born in a small town in South Africa before immigrating to Australia at a young age, he was brought up on the internet, fostering a love for pop music & pop culture, expressing himself through poetry, lyrics, filmmaking and graphic design.
Guard is well known for his work as a meme lord, with over 900,000 meme lovers following his Instagram pages. This visibility has also given him an opportunity to raise awareness around mental health, which he consistently does through introspective music following his personal struggles.
The new release, ‘Luvbomb’, explores the psychology behind relationship toxicity, with Guard delving into the concept of love bombing. He reveals that the manipulative tactic is often associated with narcissism, where one person will dump all of their affection on another and then dramatically take it all away. Guard, who is embracing his South African roots in the single, says that he explored the topic to understand how the behavior stems from a deep insecurity based on trauma. Although he has never consciously love-bombed someone, he admits that certain behaviors, such as being over-complimentary & overly generous can be perceived this way. He adds that he can see how these behaviors stem from his own insecurity & fears.
The music video accompanying ‘Luvbomb’ is a trippy visual experience that takes the audience into the mind of Guard. Exploring themes like disassociation, substance abuse & alter egos, the stark visuals offer a dramatic contrast to the upbeat sonic journey of the song. Guard has decided to explore the concept of being a villain in this project, he says in comparison to his 2020 independent album ‘The Identified Patient’.
‘Luvbomb’ is the first single from Guard’s forthcoming album, “it was all a meme…”, a love letter to his meme fans. It is a project that Guard made with his first instinct on every song, without any rewrites. He has chosen to go with it, despite the imposter syndrome that comes with being an artist.
“With this project I decided to go with my first instinct on every song. Every song was made in one go – no re writing, this is what I made in these circumstances & I am choosing to go with it despite the imposter syndrome that comes with being an artist.
Luvbomb is like my James Bond song – if I was to make one, this is what it would sound like 😳😳😳” – Guard
Over the past few years, Guard has received support from Triple J, as well as music publications like Billboard, PAPER & V Magazine and has been recognized as a prominent LGBTQ+ artist.
Guard continues to create conceptual, unexpected pop music that draws from personal experience, aiming to blur the lines between technology and humanity so that listeners are forced to remain aware of – and continue to question – society around them.
