This official new Freddie Mercury music video serves as an unashamedly queer tribute
The video for Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow features a tragic romance
A new official music video has been released for Freddie Mercury solo track Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow, and it’s unashamedly queer.
The animated video was released to mark the 73rd birthday of the queer musical icon, who died during the AIDS crisis in 1991.
The Mercury Phoenix Trust and Universal Music Group teamed up with Esteban Bravo and Beth David, the creators of acclaimed gay animated short film In a Heartbeat, to create the video for Mercury’s haunting 1985 single.
The video features two ethereal figures who are engaged in a romance, dancing together until one of them is overcome by a deadly virus.
Esteban Bravo and Beth David explained: “We wanted to tell a story that was relevant to Freddie’s life, but not explicitly about him.
“The AIDS crisis of the 1980s is a huge part of LGBT+ history, and it’s something that we knew needed to be handled with care.
“It’s a fine line to walk between shedding light on a subject, and perpetuating a stigma, and we were cautious not to lean into tropes and stereotypes that might hurt the modern understanding of the AIDS virus, rather than help it.”
Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow video inspired by AIDS biology
The pair explained that the two figures represent white blood cells being attacked and damaged by the HIV virus, which is the cause of the AIDS.
They said: “In researching the HIV/AIDS virus and the way it affects the body’s immune system, we were inspired to take a look at the story through a more microscopic lens. It is a love story between two white blood cells, one of which has become infected by the virus.
“This perspective gave us a more direct visual representation of our conflict, which allowed us to explore the more nuanced struggles the characters face in their relationship with each other, their perceptions of themselves, and society’s perception, bias, and neglect of them.”
The Freddie Mercury video is inspired by the biology of the HIV virus
The video also shows how much has changed since Mercury died in 1991, with the characters in the video surviving the virus, living long enough to grow old together, and even get married.
Bravo and David explained: “The LGBT+ community fought for years for the right to proper research and healthcare, and because of that fight, millions of lives have been saved.
“We wanted to celebrate that victory. Through perseverance, strength, and love, our characters not only survive, but live long, healthy lives together.”
New Freddie Mercury music video is about ‘the ineffable power love’
Dave Rocco of Universal Music Group said: “Of the many responsibilities we have to our artists, safeguarding their legacies is perhaps the most important one.
“As far-reaching and as radical a legacy as Freddie Mercury’s, it is our duty to ensure he continues to provoke, educate and inspire.
“As far-reaching and as radical a legacy as Freddie Mercury’s, it is our duty to ensure he continues to provoke, educate and inspire.”
“In speaking with [Queen manager] Jim Beach about ‘Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow,’ we knew this piece had to be made in Freddie’s image: honest, brave and, most of all, beautiful.
“We wanted to tell a story not of two men, but rather of a connection and the ineffable power love has in conquering incomprehension and fear.
“It is a reflection of the thread that runs throughout Freddie’s oeuvre. It is what made him ‘never boring,’ and part of why his magic lives on.”
