See Jake Clemons Take on Domestic Violence in Haunting ‘Janine’ Video
Just a few months ago Jake Clemons wrapped up an epic world tour with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, but he’s already back out there supporting his solo LP Fear and Love, which features the haunting single “Janine.” Here, Clemons premieres a new video for the track that spotlights the horrors of domestic violence. “Speaking about domestic abuse has to stop being taboo,” Clemons says. “By allowing fear and discomfort to be reasons these conversations don’t take place creates a haven for this dangerous reality to propagate.”
He’s also launching The Janine Project, an online resource to help women battling domestic violence. It will direct women to shelters around the world and instruct them how to get out of abusive relationships. “As a human living in a masculine driven society and as a man; a man with a mother, a sister, a female partner and a daughter, I have an obligation to promote the value of gender equality, to stand against women being seen as lesser and actively pursue a better, safer environment for us all to live in,” he said in a statement. “The video for ‘Janine’ and the Janine Project were created to encourage a conversation that will hopefully lead victims to a safe place of survivorship and abusers to seek help as well and stop hurting others.”
Clemons is spending the new few months on the road playing solo shows in support of Fear and Love, a concept record about his divorce and struggle to piece his life back together in the aftermath. “I didn’t understand how much the fears I inherited affected the way I was living my life and the way I approached relationships and the way I approached love,” he told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “Reconciling and recovering from those things was a really big thing for me over the past few years. So this is a very personal record.”