- Music
- 23 Sep 21
The singer-songwriter and Saucy Monky musician lived on the West Hollywood street back in 2012.
Irish singer-songwriter has released her third and final single of 2021 in the form of 'Harratt Street', continuing on the theme of break-up and loss while exploring her LA past.
Having left her native Dublin in the ‘90s, Cullen landed staff writing gigs with Disney and Warner Chappell, after an executive stopped by the restaurant where she was waitressing and accepted her demo tape. It was the start of a hugely successful phase of her career, during which she helped to soundtrack everything from carefree Nickelodeon shows like iCarly and Drake And Josh, to the tense CBS cop drama Blue Bloods, and cult lesbian film And Then Came Lola.
She took to the stage as a solo artist, Annmarie Montade, before joining Cynthia Catania as part of noughties indie darlings Saucy Monky. Cullen was learning at every stage. Fast-forward to 2021, and following a spell in Barcelona that started with her landing a tech job and ended with the painful break-up of her marriage, Annmarie is back in Ireland and creating powerful, emotionally charged music.
The melancholic and anthemic ‘Harratt Street’ is the follow-up to her acclaimed singles ‘What I Once Meant To You’ and ‘Circus’ which collectively scored an Irish iTunes No.1, received national press and airplay.
In the emotive split-screen video, Annmarie takes viewers on a retrospective journey of a time in West Hollywood in California where she lived for many years.
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"The street is situated a short walk from the infamous rock clubs on the Sunset Strip like The Viper Room and The Roxy and it’s down the street from the swanky Hotel Chateau Marmont," Annmarie tells Hot Press.
"A short walk in the other direction delivers a completely different vibe with the gay neighbourhood in West Hollywood, situated on Santa Monica Boulevard. Both places were amazing for people watching and I have very fond memories of that time. My apartment building, and the street in general, had an outdated '70s decor that I loved. I thought it’d be a good idea to include some actual footage that I took from my time there to complement the nostalgic and retro vibe I was going for."
Cullen maintains the retro footage in colour and modern day footage in black-and-white, including stock footage to help communicate the mood of the song in other scenes.
"I invited my good friend Naimee Coleman and my Saucy Monky bandmates Cynthia Catania and Steve Giles to sing and perform a cameo in the video," Annmarie adds, incorporating her past to her present art form. "It felt appropriate because they have been a part of my music and personal journey for years."
"Lastly, I saved the rear view mirror driving footage until the end. My friend Sue Ann Pien (and wife of my bandmate Cynthia Catania) filmed those extra shots for me. My old car also features in the video, which I sold to Sue Ann and Cynthia before I left LA."
"Apart from it being a break-up song, I guess in a nutshell the song is about how nostalgia can be uncomfortable sometimes," the musician acknowledges. "I like people to derive their own meaning from the lyrics, so I will leave it at that."
Revisit Annmarie Cullen's June 2021 Hot Press interview here.
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Check out the video for 'Harratt Street' below: