iHorror has the great honor of sharing an exclusive first look at McKenna Michels’ new music video Born To Die.

Directed by Nick Peterson,  Born To Die is a hauntingly beautiful short film/music video.  The macabre period piece, inspired by the 18th-century witch trials, pairs perfectly with the deep soulful vocals of McKenna Michels.  Watch for yourself below!

Watch the world premiere of Born To Die by McKenna Michels

“I was right in the middle of working on my new album and wound up watching ‘Chicago’ really late one night,” explains Michels. “I had just listened to ‘Cell Block Tango’ where they sing ‘he had it comin’’ and it’s 4 am when our minds are maybe not in their most rational state and out pops these lyrics. I wrote the song in 10 minutes.” “But right from the moment we started recording the track, I knew I wanted to set it to visuals that told the story of a witch trial – I’m obsessed with that time period,” she continues. “So we settled on building a short film around the fate of a woman who was condemned to die at the very tail end of the witch trial era…there is a hanging scene that’s a nod to ‘The Crucible,’ the classic ‘burning the witch at the stake’ and more. But it fails every time – she just won’t die.”

Michels turned to director Nick Peterson to develop her concept, direct and produce the short. “My job was to take the essence of McKenna’s story of the witch that can’t be killed and then build it into an epic short film that’s both important and entertaining for an audience,” Peterson says.

“Everything was meticulously planned out in an 80-page director’s book,” with detailed shot plans and locations along with painstaking minutiae about wardrobe, makeup and more. The short was filmed in Los Angeles at Disney Ranch and a historic mansion and without the use of visual effects. “Everything you see is real, that’s why it looks so good,” adds Peterson.

“There are also so many details within this story that you could watch it several times and still see something new each time, like the iconography of the priests, all the details of the wardrobe and the incredible actors which include K.C. Clyde (‘Yellowstone’), Mark Hapka (‘Days of Our Lives,’ ‘Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side’), Dr. Robert Rey (‘Dr. 90210’) and producer Chris ‘Doc’ Wyatt (‘Napoleon Dynamite’).”

The gallows humor of Born To Die also underscores a serious message. “The film is really about domestic abuse,” Michels says, “and tells the story about women who aren’t believed. The male character lies and society believes him. But in the end, they may think she’s dead but she’s alive. My message is for people to never give up because there is life at the end, no matter how many people it feels like are against you or don’t believe you.”

McKenna Michels turned to music as a way to heal from a traumatic childhood at the hands of an abusive mother. Trained in opera, the young singer/songwriter cultivates her songs from poetry and writes about themes of heartbreak, hope and resilience. Her most recent single, “Broken Like This,” was her second Top 30 AC hit. Her previous Top 30 AC hit, “Tired,” was from last year’s debut EP, “Renaissance.”

Nick Peterson graduated from the Experimental Animation program at CalArts, producing visual effects for a number of years before transitioning into full-time directing. Peterson’s films have been screened in festivals such as Sundance and SXSW. His award-winning music videos have garnered over 500 hundred million views and he has directed a Super Bowl commercial for Chrysler.

For further information about McKenna Michels, please go to McKenna Michels Music or follow her on:

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