A Closer Look at iamamiwhoami’s b Video

31

Category : Food for Thought, Interesting Facts

REFERENCES:

- decoding iamamiwhoami – the beginnings
- A Closer Look at iamamiwhoami’s b Video
- iamamiwhoami’s o video
- u-1
- u-2
- n from Nature/Natural
- T – back in the kingdom we were Kings and Queens
- And this is Y all that’s left is Hope

- Iamamiwhoami – Sources of Inspiration
- Identity in iamamiwhoami
- An Archetypal and Mythological Approach to iamamiwhoami
- iamamiwhoami official youtube channel

Hey, speaking of archetypes and myths, huh?

towhomitmayconcern

So finally, we’ve been offered a real confirmation that this entire iamamiwhoami thing is real and has as final result, an artistic product.

iamamiwhoami’s first song and video. Watch it again and then follow me as I have tried to break it into pieces and explain my point of view:

Lyrics:

There it was, a land of decay
We should pack our things and run away
Rest in the quicksand
Shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand
Sink slowly now, take flight
Let the silence take us at daylight
Take a deep breath as we go, as we go

Wanting higher
Wanting higher up
Wanting higher
‘Til the moon forces us to climb back down
I’d rather stay, I’d rather let us drown

Wanting higher
Wanting higher up
Wanting higher

What a harsh, unpleasant hello
The kind of love I’ve learned to live with although
I will never shake what’s there behind
Your songs are still playing in my mind
All that white only turns to blue
Look after me and I’ll look after you
Take a deep breath as we go, as we go

It’s quite a long road, if you’re not patient, come back another day.

First and foremost, stop saying it’s not the same campaign and it’s not the same girl. They are. Don’t fool yourself. There are symbols you encounter in all videos, including the 7th. As for the relation to the Mandragora Officinarum – which seems to have totally disappeared in the 7th, huh? – I told you guys you should look at things from a symbolical perspective. It’s the birth of an artistic product. Everything that is born into this world comes out with a shriek. Even music. It’s the artist’s effort in the act of creation.

Let’s begin. Action seems to take place into our old cabin in the forest. Hints: wooden environment – wooden walls, furniture, same color, windows offering a view towards trees, forest.

There are four characters:

1. MO

2. Three men:

man2+piano
2ndman+piano
3rdman-dr

After watching the videos and working frame by frame, I have come to a conclusion: to me, there are two possibilities:

Scenario #1: A mental hospice therapy room. Case in which we’re dealing with some sort of rehab facility. Again, METAPHORICALLY speaking.

1 – Mandragora is the pill. Music is the medicine. We have a doctor (at the table) and two sick men having therapy applied. Mandragora receives her patients and starts her therapy session (turns the sandals upside down) and then calms them with her music (and, by mistake, the doctor takes it too lol)

sickman1
1stmansickgoestosleep
sick2dnman
2dnmangoestosleep
manreallyfallsasleepbeard

2 – Mandra is the patient, the man at the table is the therapist, the other two are male nurses. Hint: the nurse shoes and pants. Mandra is, of course, mentally disturbed. However, mentally disturbed people are very creative and sometimes, weird creativity is understood wrong, as mental deviation. Her crazy person force jacket is the plastic wrapping.

handsup
nurseshoes2
pants


Scenario #2:
A giving birth room. Hints: cradle, cradle toys, rocking chairs.

Mandragora is – now – wearing what seems to be a fake skin. Think of a serpent losing its skin. At the beginning of the video we can see this fake skin appearing to be breaking and Mandra trying to remove it. She kinda succeeds in the pointer nail area, as she manages to scratch on the piano. To me, she is what it is supposed to be born or RE-BORN. The cradle is still empty, so she is still in the process.

plasticskin1
scratch

LE: After having read Alraune by Hans Heinz Ewers, I have actually understood that the room in B is the room in which Alma Raune, Alraune’s mother, has been kept captive by Brinken, Frank Braun and Manasse (the three men portrayed in B in my opinion) so that they can use her for Brinken’s experiment. That is to be artificially inseminated with the semen of a hanged man and to give birth to Alraune (MO). Having this in mind, the woman in B is is The Mother. Alma Raune, a prostitute. And she’s waiting to give birth.

The video is constructed in a cyclical way. We are being introduced inside the story by a goat’s bleat (okok, cat) and we’re take out of it by the same bleat. Also, we are being given a specific time to witness (the sandals).

sandals
angrykitty
angrykitty2
sandals2

LE: The sandals also imply the time the men have to wait until Alraune is born. Nine months.

Re-occurring motifs:

6

6 buttons:
6buttonspiano

6 kitties, which may actually be just one, because in the last images, we’re being presented more, however, the cradle toy moves naturally, so it could just be a deja-vu effect. Whoa, Matrix kitty!

mirror

manrockingchairmirror
craddleroom+mirrorview

Speaking of cradles, take a look at the cradle toy. There must be something there. It looks like some letters or signs to me.

craddletoy1
craddletoy2
craddletoy3

LE: The signs above the cradle in B are letters in elder futhark, an old runic alphabet.

futark

The X means ‘gift’, The O means ‘the God Ing’, the P (right after X, clockwise) means ‘joy’ and the last letter (close to C or G -as I see it, after O, clockwise) means ‘luck’. Translation: the newborn (god ing) receives the gifts of joy and luck (whatever, something like that, you get the idea)
I could never make the exact of these signs. For example, my P could also be an ‘n’ (second row, second sign), which means ‘need’. Translation of the signs would be ‘god ing needs the gift of luck’. That sign could also resemble and ‘r’ (first row, fifth sign) which means ‘riding’. Translation: god ing rides the gift of luck.
Ing (Yngvi) is a name of the god Freyr, perhaps intended as Freyr’s true name while Frey ‘Lord’ is his common title. In the Ynglinga saga and in Gesta Danorum, Frey is euhemerized as a king of Sweden’ (wiki)
King of Sweden needs (receives?) the gift of luck. May the king receive the gift of luck.

Here are print screens to support everything I’ve said up to now and to help you see things you haven’t noticed:

Balsa wood tied with hair.

dandelion

LE: We were given the meaning of the balsa wood tied with hair right after the infamous MTV James package. Also, after having read Hans Heinz Ewers’ Alraune, I have discovered the hair strands have meanings which are way closer to the concept iamami has been built on.

Kitty in cradle. I am telling you, the kitty is the baby and she’s just learning to ‘talk’ her own language. For now, she’s just bleating, haha!

kittyoncraddle

Wall fan. I couldn’t make too much of this, apart from it being of Chinese origin, thus maybe a hint of the I Ching theory. Ooooor… we could think of fan as an admirer, DISCIPLE (tag which is often encountered in the first videos).

wallfan
roomview

Other Mandra face and teeth views

teeth1
teeth2
teeth3
teeth4
mandraface

PS: Jonna Lee + bandmembers + director of iamamiwhoami videos = LOVE

Here’s something interesting. And something else. 1:07 and on
Oh, and this picture from her Twitter. It must have been like hell, aye? Also thiiiiis


1:07 and on:

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER!!!

Opinions to support Jonna Lee or video analysis:

voxdoom:

The men have pulled her up out of the ground using the dogs and captured her and are using her like a hallucinogenic drug. The timer is how long they can listen to her song without dying. She’s being made to perform for an audience. This bears a similarity with the mandrake root, I’m sure you all know about the mandragora screaming myth so I won’t go into that, this video refers to the mandragora’s hallucinogenic properties. The link is to the child beauty pagaent because it’s the same thing, little girls being made to perform for an audience.

- Best explanation I’ve heard today :)

decoding iamamiwhoami

43

Category : Experience this!, Interesting Facts

REFERENCES:

- A Closer Look To iamamiwhoami’s b Video
- iamamiwhoami’s o video
- u-1
- u-2
- n from Nature/Natural
- T – back in the kingdom we were Kings and Queens
- And this is Y all that’s left is Hope
- Iamamiwhoami – The Book Of Changes – Hexagram Theory

- Identity in iamamiwhoami
- An Archetypal and Mythological Approach to iamamiwhoami
- iamamiwhoami official youtube channel
- hellaine’s pertinent opinion upon the videos. Mostly symbolist, but very useful to the decoding of the entire concept. Includes explanations upon the Mandragora Officinarum myth and how it is present in the videos.
- MTV’s allegedly package from imaamiwhoami and their clues
- wertstahl’s audiogram side of the story – interesting even though I’d like to think no one would get THAT busy into coding ;)
- Aguilera Online – very good source for rumors and relevant pictures

- Why Vanuatu?
- iamamiwhoami drilling scene as you haven’t seen it before
- iamamiwhoami Roman numbers & letters
- reasons for which we cannot base our guesses on teeth shape or facial features

Jonna Lee in my opinion:
Here’s something interesting. And something else. 1:07 and on
Oh, and this picture from her Twitter. It must have been like hell, aye? Also thiiiiis

NAMES of videos:

Each video is named using numbers. Some numbers can be converted to letters and create words, others, we cannot assume what they really mean, nor do we know how to use them.

Prelude 699130082.451322-5.4.21.3.1.20.9.15.14.1.12 = Prelude 699130082.451322-E.D.U.C.A.T.I.O.N.A.L.

9.1.13.669321018 = I.A.M.669321018

9.20.19.13.5.723378 = I.T.S.M.E.723378

13.1.14.4.18.1.7.15.18.1.1110 = M.A.N.D.R.A.G.O.R.A.1110

15.6.6.9.3.9.14.1.18.21.13.56155 = O.F.F.I.C.I.N.A.R.U.M.56155

23.5.12.3.15.13.5-8.15.13.5.3383 = W.E.L.C.O.M.E.-H.O.M.E.3383

It should be known that, in the beginning, the original title of previd 1 was Prelude 699130082.451322. It has suffered changes after a certain individual complained about having footage from one of her videos inside the Prelude (the goat giving birth). She claimed that video was for EDUCATIONAL purposes only and the team cannot use it in their campaign. Thus they added ‘educational’ to the first previd’s title. They also replaced external footage inside four of their prevideos (goat, owl, whale and bee) with the famous animal images, probably to avoid future problems, and they added link towards those original videos, to stick to the meaning of the campaign.

TAGS for each videos :

video 1 = EDUCATIONAL

wood foetus natal moisture machine disciple orifice

video 2 = I AM

foetus lap nourish cortex sap disciple wood

video 3 = ITS ME

foetus amniotic fluid umbilical cord cream gateau disciple wood

video 4 = MANDRAGORA

wood disciple rodent engender spout mount

video 5 = OFFICINARUM

wood lay roe spasm disciple nest virulent

video 6 = WELCOME-HOME

asterisk disciple habitat interment crest wood pulp

LEFTOVER NUMBERS:

Possibilities:

699130082.451322
6+9+9+1+3+0+0+8+2 = 38
4+5+1+3+2+2 = 17
3.8 = c.h
8+3=11 = k
1.7 = a.g
1+7=8 = h

669321018
6+6+9+3+2+1+0+1+8 = 36
3.6 = c.f
3+6=9 = I

723378
723378 = 30
3 = c

1110
1+1+1+0 = 3
3 = c

56155
5+6+1+5+5 = 22
2.2 = b.b
22 = v
4 = d

3383
3+3+8+3 = 17
1.7 = a.g
17 = q
1+7=8 = h

Personally I tried to go further and reduce everything to:

K.H. – EDUCATIONAL (btw, .kh is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Cambodia check here)
I AM I (possibly I am 1)
IT’S ME C (It’s me, see?)
MANDRAGORA C
OFFICINARUM V
WELCOME HOME AG/Q

…but I totally excluded any other type of project but musical.

Another thing I tried regarding these leftover numbers was to work them from the point of view of the I-Ching, thus The Hexagram Theory.

ANIMALS:

Each video contains a reference towards a certain animal. Read hellaine’s reference for more insight.
Name of the animal – numeric equivalent – name of the linked video

1) Goat = 7.15.1.20 – Goat birth at Fias Co Farm
2) Owl = 15.23.12 – Barred owl amazing vocals
3) Whale = 23.8.1.12.5 – Whale shark
4) Bee = 2.5.5 – Bumble Bees on Sunflower part 1
5) Llama = 12.12.1.13.1 – Spit On By A Llama
6) Monkey = 13.15.14.11.5.25 – Screaming monkeys

I cannot look at these animals in another way except a symbolical one so I totally agree with hellaine’s view as the concept representing the cycle of life of an artistic product: the birth (goat), its re-production (owl making mating sounds), the sustenance (whale feeding), its replication (bee polymerizing – is that the word?), defending it (llama spitting) and finally establishing its market (monkeys establishing their territory).

lemadilema
The animal sounds played one after another, in case anyone finds it relevant.To me, this “- says what?” really puts me off thinking about sounds. It’s actions and meanings I’d be interested in.

OTHER possibly relevant CLUES:

- I strongly suggest someone with the possibility to “play” with the sounds of the videos to try to synchronize them. I have a feeling we’ll have as result a totally different, but innovative sound. UPDATE: I got my hands on a synchronized version, it’s pretty messy. My baaaad :D
- apparently iamamiwhoami email sender username is 0098224788223158 and they they use the account iamamiwhoami@gmail.com to send the videos out. Apparently, major celebrity/music websites have been sent a link towards the first video from that account. See one of the statements here.
- the number 6 is encountered quite often in the videos. 6 – symbolizing creation. The world was created in 6 days. Also, 6 is connected to the 6 cycles of the moon, thus representing femininity.
- possibly relevant clues related to 6: The cells of a beehive honeycomb are 6-sided (hexagonal). Also, insects have 6 legs. Which brings me to the MTV riddle: bee – 6 legs, goat plus llama = 6 legs, owl plus monkey = 6 legs, whale = helloooo, none? haha, the result is HOLY CRAP! Nah, 6 is actually the number of order. It’s a perfect number.
- there is a possibility that no other video is uploaded, because we already have 6 videos and 6 animals. The Prelude video does contain an animal. However, when there’s a preludes, it is supposed to have an Epilogue, right? A textual pattern (any for of art is actually a text, a discourse). So I’m guessing the Epilogue is the reveal.
- “wood” and “disciple” are tags that repeat themselves in all videos
- it’s no use taking her nose as a reference, because it is clearly they used nose molds to modify its shape. I went through the videos frame by frame and it is visible.

LYRICS:

There’s a verbal message in almost every video. Unfortunately, like images , these messages are distorted, so we’re trying our best to make the most of them.

- vid #3: “Here, in this place, feels like home, flying in space. Like hell. Like hell. Like.” or “Lying in here, it’s like ….” or “________ It’s not much left in this place. Like hell…..”
- vid #5, something close to: now do you know my name – you’ll see that your death has come”
- Vid #6 “Thought I felt a spark, thought I saw a flame“. Video ends in “Why?”

GUESSES:

Jonna Lee and MGMT or her bandmates – I mean didn’t you guys see the 7th video? Here’s her myspace. This promotion campaign was so good we ddn’t mention Jonna’s name ONCE up to the 7th! MGMT are from Brooklyn, a direct connection to the link in video 7. I suspect it’s Jonna, bandmates and the third person is the video director.
Aguileraproof 1 – pretty good snapshot imo proof 2 – why & why not; proof 3
Alison Goldfrapp – on the lips of many, especially that the initials of her name are AG, but… and…
Lykke Liproof 1 – quite good as well
The Golden Filterproof 1, proof 2 – quite overwhelming. Opinion also sustained by nickbates here.
Animal Collective - proof 1 – I think the house in the background picture looks familiar.
Amy Lee (Evanescence)proof 1 meh
Fever Ray – one of the guesses that’s on everybody’s lips. Karin Dreijer Andersson’s work really fits the profile of the viral videos. Check some interesting pictures and video of her here.
Mariqueen Maandig, Trent Reznor from NIN – arguments on ‘ItsObviouslyTReznor’s channel. Argumentation is pretty good, except for the maandig part, i strongly doubt it’s her. But it does look like Reznor’s work, he’s weird like that and music wise… check for yourself. UPDATE: Trent Reznor has just denied being involved in this project on his twitter: After 2,000,000 Google alerts I finally checked out iamamiwhoami. I have nothing to do with this.
Alessandro Cortini - (worked with NIN) – this piece is somewhat similar to Prelude.
Sarah Mclachlan – I thought about Sarah while I was listening to the 6th video. That voice in the video reminded me of Sarah in Delerium’s Silence. Of course, we have to take into account the fact that both video and audio have been distorted in the virals so…
Little Bootsproof 1 I think it’s a lil’ bit stretched.
Aphex Twin - read here about it, but I don’t think he’s as deep.

Should anyone have another suggestion/proof, post it in a comment. Bear in mind comments with links are moderated, so don’t get scared if they don’t go through immediately. I am checking.

ON THE FORCED SIDE:

- people really are trying to push things into BIONIC:

B=Bovidae (goat)
I=Intutula (owl)
O=Odontocenti (whale)
N=Nymphomyiidae (bee)
I= no one knows but I bet everyone’s after a word starting with I, haha
C=Catarrhines (monkeeeeey)

- this one is a lil bit lolly. Oke… It’s badass lolly:

First 2 animals – take the first letter of first and last letter of second… G. L.
3rd+ 4th – take 3rd letter of each… A. M.
5th = 6th – take first and last again… L. Y.

GLAMLY, CA is gonna invent a new “bootylicious” (MsLightdragon)

- Umplugged70’s opinion, reducing everything to the motif of the aphrodisiac:

I dont know if this cracks the code, but the only connection I can see between the mandrake plant and all of the different clues is this they can all be used as aphrodisiacs.

  • - The best-known of all aphrodisiacs of the ancient world was the MANDRAKE or mandragora plant.
    - OWL meat can be eaten as a natural aphrodisiac.
    - In Jamaican culture, GOAT soup is known to be an aphrodisiac.
    - LLAMA SPIT is highly treasured as a powerful aphrodisiac.
    - WHALE SHARKS are considered as a delicacy and an aphrodisiac.
    - To the ancients, BEE HONEY had an aphrodisiac reputation.
    - MONKEY BRAINS are popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac.

PRINT SCREENS I FOUND RELEVANT FOR FUTURE ANALYSIS:

The carpenter bee thing. Fluid coming out of the trunk.
carpenter-bee-iam
Various teeth views
gnawteeth1
gnawteeth
1
2
3
Man’s face can be distinguished in the tree trunk. To me, it looks like he’s working on a synth.
4
Y (why)
Ybranch
6
6trees
6strawberries
6crosses
6cakes
6ag
Other features:
features1
features2
features3
An Aguilera-ish profile, but also Sarah McLahlan.
features4

A modified iamami. Could be useful to some. Maybe you recognize your cousin and let us know *wink* Whoa that looks like Karin!

whoami2

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