Ginger Root: The Art of a Timeline
Ginger Root: The Art of a Timeline
By Isabella Karmis
As a visual learner, it is almost impossible for me to listen to music without envisioning miscellaneous fragments in my mind. I see what music allows me to feel, I try to imagine the arrangements in the studio when the music was recorded, and I picture scenes from my own life. In the past year there has been one specific artist who has visually and audibly shown me the importance of connecting the two senses to build a greater world. It is a strange sentiment to say that one of my favourite visionaries, musicians, and directors shares a name with one of my favourite vegetables: Ginger Root.
I discovered Ginger Root (aka Cameron Lew) in a quest early last year to expand my music catalogue. I felt like something was missing in how I was experiencing music: it felt as though I was only connecting with music on a surface level rather than really immersing myself in the experience. The first song I stumbled upon, and the first many stumble upon, is ‘Loretta’. ‘Loretta’ captured my attention, as a mix of 80s city pop, groovy jazz, and soul. ‘Loretta’, and the greater EP City Slicker, felt fresh and funky (from the EP I also recommend ‘City Slicker’ and ‘Juban District’!). I became quickly encapsulated by Ginger Root's ability to blend different genres seamlessly together, and for the relationship he formed between lyrical and musical composition. His songs feel as though time is split to balance appreciation for instrumental music and lyrical melody, a showcase of the intentionality in his art.
I finally had the idea to see if Ginger Root had published any music videos, and that quick YouTube search changed my entire perception of the concept of Ginger Root. Ginger Root’s music videos are created in unison with a story timeline, within each Ginger Root creating an entire cinematic universe. The channel further serves as an archive of Cameron’s musical growth, both before and now as Ginger Root, documenting Cameron’s musical growth as far back as eleven years ago (I have in fact watched his college rendition of The Office Theme, which truly showcases his range of instrumental capabilities).
Associated with Ginger Root’s music, there are two major timelines: Nisemono Timeline and SHINBANGUMI Timeline. The former is in collaboration with his EP Nisemono from 2022, and the album SHINBANGUMI from Summer 2024. Each music video and each supplemental video he makes further immerses his viewers/listeners into his timeline and other reality. Segments of the story correspond with each song, in ways that perhaps might not align necessarily with the lyrics, but with the beat, tempo, and visuals connecting music and vision. I became infatuated with SHINBANGUMI after the release of ‘No Problems’, and the corresponding music video which detailed Ginger Root getting fired from his production company from his protest to continue making more Loretta songs (a critique to show that he is more than the single song which began to garner him fame), and his determination to create his own production company. I started to treat each song and each music video like its own film premiere: I would count down until I could hear the new song as well as watch what happens to Ginger Root and his growing group of company employees as the former company attempts to shut them down.
Ginger Root altered how I viewed my relationship between music and film. Before Ginger Root, I had viewed them as mostly separate entities with the understanding that sometimes songs were made for movies, and sometimes movies inspired songs. But now I could not retain that same understanding, their separations became blurred. I was referring to a new song with the same characteristics and description as a film premiere, and in the music videos I was looking to understand how the song and its musical production informed the creative visual approaches. The final video in the SHINBANGUMI timeline is a twenty-minute premiere to resolve the adventures and challenges Ginger Root’s company has endured, tying together several songs to illustrate the timeline’s end. I had the same feeling of pure joy watching the end of the SHINBANGUMI timeline as in the theatre watching what you’re realising is one of your new favourite films, something which I was only fortunate to feel from Ginger Root interweaving music and film.
Sometimes people will ask you the question in icebreaker situations “music or film?”. But how can you choose one when it needs the other? Ginger Root has taught me that film and music not only enhance and deepen one another to tell a story, but they are intertwined. Ginger Root’s art was the highlight of my summer last year, and I’m so excited to see what he creates next. If you aren’t a Ginger Root fan, you need to be: both listening and watching.