NO HALO

**NO HALO** is the first track in the 2019 BROCKHAMPTON album *GINGER*. It features the first ever collaboration with Deb Never. It was released as the fourth single for the album with an accompanying music video on August 21, 2019.

## Background

In a since deleted tweet, Kevin Abstract confirmed that Ryan Beatty and Deb Never would appear on *GINGER*, among other guests that he would choose not to reveal yet.

On July 31, the group's Instagram story had a short video of a car driving down a street with a portion of this track playing. Although some fans were confused that this was the single that they were releasing that night (actually "I BEEN BORN AGAIN"), Kevin later clarified that the two songs are completely different.

Fans later nicknamed the track "I'M SURE I'LL FIND IT" based off of the chorus' lyrics heard in this snippet.

About three hours before the music video's release on August 21, 2019, he asked for his Twitter followers to follow Deb Never.

> if you are a fan of brockhampton please follow @deb\_never
>
>

Hours before the music video was published, the entire song was leaked.

## Song

The track title builds upon the religious imagery that the album's titles follow, referencing halos.

Lyrically the track features the group speaking on their imperfections as human beings. The vocalists reference failed relationships, breakups, depression, and substance abuse.

At the end of Matt's verse, he compares his partner wanting to take things that they shared during a failed relationship to a FBI raid, "baby wanna raid the whole apartment like the FBI." He also references the James Bond film *GoldenEye*. Merlyn's verse immediately states that he is depressed, ending with the repetition of lyrics saying that he is running out of options, while Dom's verse notably contains the lyric that says "Used to fight all my night terrors, now I smoke through the dreams," referencing to him having to take drugs to ease his mind from problems. Immediately after Dom's verse, JOBA narrates a scenario in which he stumbled into a church drunk and searched for religious help. The final verse of the song comes with Bearface asking why people need to feel the fire, a possible reference to *Things We Lost In The Fire* radio.

## Music video

The music video duration is in sync with the official track's duration, which is 4:20. A post on the album's Instagram page implies that the site for JOBA's verse was selected around June 29, although this could have been a delayed upload.

The music video opens with the trademark red title of the track that most *GINGER* music videos feature. Matt raps his verse with bright lights shining off his metallic suit. When it is time for Deb's verse, it cuts to her sitting down with an owl. Also shown is her, Merlyn, and Matt singing the chorus together in a car driving through a city.

Merlyn's verse contains visuals of him rapping in some sort of room and on a boat rocking on the sea (which is obviously just a set.)

The pre-chorus features Kevin Abstract, JOBA, Kiko, Romil, Jabari, Bearface, Dom, and someone in the back singing in darkness with occasional lights flickering revealing their existence in sync with the lyrics.

The second chorus features Deb, Merlyn, and Matt singing looking up to a fisheye lens panning around an unknown place with concrete. Dom raps his verse in the same scene.

JOBA's verse is recorded in a church with red lighting and occasional white flashing lights. The church in which this was shot at might have been The Best of Mt. Olive Primitive Baptist Church, located in Louvale, Georgia, as a post on the album's Instagram account implies.

Bearface's short verse is delivered with him in his metallic suit in a small room that is also reflective. This is likely a car as a post on the album's Instagram page implies.

The chorus is delivered in a similar fashion to the first time, featuring Deb sitting down with an owl again and in a car with the fellow chorus singers. The end of the music video features many of the BROCKHAMPTON members standing in darkness with a light glossing over them. The *GINGER* logo appears on the screen as the video ends.

In an interview on Sway's Universe on August 28, 2019, Kevin Abstract explained the process of filming the music video. In the interview he explained that Spencer Ford gave them a treatment of the video, and they liked the idea of the music video and shot the video two days before its release. HK supposedly stayed up all night editing the video.

## Personnel

### Song

Credits adapted from the BROCKHAMPTON website.

#### Writing credits

* Matt Champion
* William Wood
* Ian Simpson
* Dominique Simpson
* Russell Boring
* Ciaran McDonald
* Ryan Beatty
* Jabari Manwarring
* Romil Hemnani

#### Production credits

* Produced by Jabari Manwa
* Additional production by Romil Hemnani
* Guitar by Chuks Chiejine
* Vocals by Deb Never

#### Recording credits

* Recorded by Romil Hemnani at the BROCKHAMPTON Factory, Los Angeles, California
* Mixed by Tom Elmhirst at Electric Lady Studios, New York, New York
* Mix engineered by Brandon Bost
* Mix assisted by Matthew Scatchell
* Mastered by Vlado Meller at Vlado Meller Mastering, Charleston, South Carolina

#### Additional credits

* Deb Never appears courtesy of WeDidIt Records

### Music video

* Directed by Spencer Ford
* Produced by Weston Freas, Jon Nunes, and Kevin Doan
* Director of Photography is Jake Wolfert
* Editing and coloring by Henock Sileshi
* Gaffer is Jakob Longcob
* Grip is Jack Fahey and Jordan Rodriguez
* Wardrobe by Nick Lenzini and Weston Freas

## Trivia

* This is the first collaboration between BROCKHAMPTON and Deb Never.
* There are two forms of artwork for this single:
	+ There is the official music video thumbnail that could be viewed here. It matches the artwork for the other music videos.
	+ On Spotify the single's artwork is slightly different, with the art style looking similar to the leaked "SUGAR" single cover.
* There is an alternate snippet video of this song featuring Merlyn singing his verse, posted on August 30, 2019.
* The band performed the song live on *Jimmy Kimmel!* on September 6, 2019 with Deb Never.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/kevinabstract/status/1164374504816046080
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.instagram.com/p/BzT3tVtACrE/
3. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/B1kb8XxBSv6/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://youtu.be/goQcG\_kCzwc?t=1552
5. ↑ http://brckhmptn.com/aircrew/
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/kevinabstract/status/1167553588572360705
7. ↑ https://youtu.be/JuAKa9RLwdM