Before she started writing moody, brooding pop songs in the tradition of Fiona Apple and Feist, Sara Jackson-Holman stuck mostly to classical music. Those classical roots are on full display during her second album, Cardiology, which pits her trained piano chops against electro-pop synths, sweeping strings and R&B percussion.
Written in the wake of her grandfather’s death, “For Albert” kicks off with a riff borrowed from “Für Elise” before moving into a minor-key groove. It’s baroque and bumpin’ at the same time, and when Jackson-Holman boasts that she’s “on the up and up,” you believe her.
In the video, she plays a mermaid. A sailor chases after her throughout the whole video, even convincing a group of witches to work their dark magic and turn Jackson-Holman’s tail into a pair of legs. At the end of the song, though, she winds up walking back into the water, leaving the sailor alone on the shore. Sucks for you, man! She’s on the up and up.
“For Albert is a song about moving on,” notes Jackson-Holman. “It’s inspired by my late grandfather’s favorite saying, ‘get over it.’ In the video, I am a mermaid who finds herself suddenly caught up in an unfamiliar world of love and magic. For me, making the video was a fulfilled childhood fantasy–I used to pretend I was Ariel in the bathtub, and felt I belonged to the sea.”