On Our Radar: Madisyn Gifford’s “Nice Things” video suggests a bottle and a stuffie beat real friends every time | The Georgia Straight

After 16 months or so spending every waking hour at home alone, the solitary life has started to seem like the greatest thing ever. Who needs real people to interact with when you’ve got Siri, Alexa, Rachel Maddow, Bobby Flay, and your beloved English budgies Ms. Meryl Cheep and the Godfeather?

Based on what we see in the video for “Nice Things”, Madisyn Gifford seems to be on the same wavelength. There’s no point inviting real people over for wine, hamburger dinners, afternoon tea, or impromptu games of strip poker when you’ve got a gorgeous white teddy bear to hang out with.

The great thing about having no one but a stuffed animal for companionship is that said inanimate object isn’t going to judge you. It doesn’t matter that you’ve always got a glass of wine at hand whether sitting down at the table for dinner or applying the Maybelline at your vintage vanity. Or that retreating to the inflatable pool in the living room is a good a reason as any to whip up a martini. Hell, you can even pour NoName vodka on your cornflakes and no one—certainly not Sir Snowball McSnuggabug—will bat an eye.

Even though drinking seems to by nine out of Gifford’s 10 favourite things, she couldn’t sound more focused or together on “Nice Things”. Pop with a sugar-dipped, indie-soul heart, the track’s great trick is sounding timeless. Stick it on a late-’90s-themed mixed tape between Morcheeba and Sneaker Pimps as it fits right in. Flash forward a decade and it won’t sound out of place between Beyoncé and your favourite Christine Aguilera/Linda Perry collabo. And while Gifford hasn’t yet secured her seat at the top-tier lunch table with the likes off Carly Rae Jepsen and Billie Eilish, “Nice Things” definitely suggests she’s got big plans for the future.

Back to the visual side of things, it’s hard not to love a video that winningly seems to take its visual cues from, in no particular order, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Edward Scissorhands, the post-Divine films of John Waters, and Camera Obscura’s unbeatable “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken”. And which understands that, used responsibly and correctly, alcohol almost always makes everything better.

It all adds up to a great argument that some folks figure out what they want to do at a younger age than others, and then proceed to go for it. Now pass the prosecco-based French 75, Madisyn Gifford. And don’t skimp on the gin.