Sharon Van Etten has released a new song, “Let Go,” which will be featured in the upcoming documentary, Feels Good Man, about the history behind the internet meme Pepe the Frog.
As anyone who was too online during the 2016 election knows, Pepe the Frog, originally created by artist Matt Furie, began as a peaceful, stoner-related meme before being co-opted by alt-right and Neo-Nazi communities on websites such as 4chan. As documented in Feels Good Man, Furie has spent much of the past few years trying to regain artistic control of Pepe and restore the character’s original, innocent existence, which Van Etten’s song alludes to: “Let it go (let him go)/Let it go (let him go).” The track was produced by Giorgio Angelini, who also produced the documentary.
“After watching the documentary, I just followed the feeling of coming to terms with something and tried to evoke peace through my melody and words,” Van Etten said. “Giorgio was a great collaborator and communicator and I was given a lot of freedom. That says a lot about the film and the people who made it.”
Feels Good Man is the directorial debut of Arthur Jones and won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Emerging Filmmaker at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It premieres Friday, October 19th on PBS.
From Rolling Stone US
