Chinese political dissident and installation artist Ai Weiwei has released the first song from his previously reported forthcoming metal album. Titled “Dumbass,” the track features very raw vocals sung in the Mandarin tongue over a chugging rhythm and grinding guitars. Frankly put, it’s a closer aural cousin to Papa Roach than to Boris, but the message isn’t so much the medium as, well, the message. Directed at China’s Communist rulers, the lyrics (handily translated beneath the YouTube clip) function as one “fuck you” to the Man, who “claims he’s invincible” while running “a country that puts out like a hooker.”
Above you’ll find the video for the song, directed by Weiwei and featuring the cinematography of Wong Kar-Wai collaborator Christopher Doyle. The occasionally disturbing footage is an open reference to the 81 days that the artist spent in authorities’ custody after being arrested on possibly trumped-up tax evasion charges in 2011. Surreality eventually prevails as Weiwei turns the tables on his captors and gets a haircut from his young son. The album will be called Divina Commedia and was partially inspired by public supporter Elton John.
