Brand new queer pop project Celestial Skies has released a music video for their whimsical electropop debut Forget Me Not.
A euphoric mixture of floating synths and tranquil vocals, Forget Me Not gives a nod to the New Romantic love songs of the 90s.
Accompanied by a music video, described by Chris Selman (creator of Celestial Skies) as a “little queer love story”, the song curates evocative and melodic harmonies for queer love to blossom.
Created after watching the hit Netflix show Heartstopper, a coming-of-age love story that had the world in a trance, Selman and director Darius Shu wanted the visual to follow the lyrics of the song about the early moments of getting to know someone.
The video begins with Selman walking through a park and catching the eye of an individual dancing to a song while wearing headphones. Much like a rom-com or a teenage dream, the two begin dancing in a park, then come back together to develop their relationship.
The love-stricken pair gravitate slowly towards each other, eyes locking, hands meeting and finally embracing. The video mimics the patterns of coming-of-age romantic storylines, encompassed by the dream-like sounds of Forget Me Not.
Shu’s extensive cinematography background on LGTBQ+ projects, such as music videos for Drag Race UK stars Tia Kofi and The Vivienne, and short films His Hands and Secret Child, created the perfect platform to build a queer production team.
Starring alongside singer Selman is Keenan Knight, West End Performer and actor in the hit musical, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.
With a range of musical inspirations from the Marina and Years & Years to Blur and Pulp, Celestial Skies’ debut album, Songs For Blue Romantics, is to be released later this year.
The act is mainly Selman himself, who writes and sings all the songs, and who recorded the tracks with some of his peers from university. The name Celestial Skies is a pseudonym, nodding to his initials to make the audience aware that he is behind the creation of the band.
Selman gave an insight into the writing process of the song, and how it tells the story of feeling the first moments of love: “It’s telling the story of those initial interactions, first getting to know someone, and seeing how that goes.
“There always comes a time when you’re just starting to get to know someone new – wondering how this relationship is going to develop, is it going to be friends or something more? So it’s a song written in that setting, about those experiences – I’m hoping a lot of queer people will relate to it.”
On how Heartstopper inspired the video, Selman explains: “We filmed the video about a month ago, at a time when Darius and I had both just watched Heartstopper – which we both adored, it’s so beautiful.
“We discussed the idea that those early moments – stealing first glances, first time holding hands, first kiss and so on… They are, of course, really cute and exciting in a teenage coming-of-age tale, but they’re still cute and exciting when you’re in your 20s or your 30s or whatever age you might be.
“So we wanted to tell that story, too. Keenan was great as well – he’d also just seen Heartstopper, so he knew exactly what we were going for!”
While Celestial Skies is a new project for Selman, music isn’t new territory for him.
“I wrote and released a lot of songs under various guises a while ago and had a bit of success – national BBC airplay, introducing Live Lounge sessions, tours of O2 Academies and so on,” he says.
“I put that to one side when I joined the London Gay Men’s Chorus a few years back, as that was giving me lots of performance opportunities at places like the Clapham Grand and the Troxy – lots of really great iconic venues! – but it kept me a bit too busy to be pursuing my own music at the same time.
“When lockdown first hit, I had some time where I wasn’t doing anything with the Chorus guys. I started writing again, updating older songs and writing some new ones. As restrictions began to ease I took these songs to the studio and worked on them with some of my friends from university – we now have an album which we can’t wait to share!”
Celestial Skies’ album will be released after the summer, with a launch party to follow in September.
Forget Me Not, the first single from Songs For Blue Romantics, is out now.
You can watch the music video here or below.
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