"You Are Right" is a rocker from the Quebec-based trio Absolight, comprised of lead singer/guitarist Olivier Ricard, his twin brother Carl on bass, and drummer Antony Jomphe. They were previously known as In Foes. Oliver told Songfacts the meaning behind the lyrics:
"The first thing that came to mind for 'You Are Right' happened to be the first line of the song: 'There's a couple in this town.' I had a mental image of them and I could see them wearing white shirts and black shades. In my mind, they formed a stoic duo, difficult to approach. From then on, I asked myself: 'Who are they? What's their deal? When I got to the chorus, I realized I was writing about people in my life. People with very rigid opinions. People who perhaps lack empathy, who find it very hard to take other people's points of view into account. I think we've all had people in our lives with whom it's difficult to talk because of their lack of openness or their inability to consider a point of view different from their own. The lyrics of the chorus suggest that sometimes the right thing to do is to let these people go. They also allude to the fact that the danger of wanting to be right at all costs is to find yourself alone. 'You Are Right' is a slightly ironic way of letting go, like the realization that sometimes, no matter what we say or do, these people won't change their mind.
The song reflects my rather pessimistic view of current human interactions in terms of dialogue and I think that the line Everybody's obsessed with being right speaks to that. What I mean by this is that sometimes people have such an excessive ego that they're unable to let go and want to convince at all costs. Some try to impose their opinion on others, sometimes aggressively. They are incapable of questioning themselves and admitting the flaws in their reasoning, if any. I believe that sometimes it's important to put your ego aside and accept that two people simply have a different opinion and that it can work that way. This makes for a healthy debate and avoids the potential breakdown of a relationship.
I hope people can relate to the lyrics of this song on a personal level. Human relationships really interest me because they're complex and universal. I like to keep things a little ambiguous. In my opinion, this allows for a wider range of interpretations and makes it easier for people to project themselves or their own experiences into the song."
The music video is a pretty intense performance setup directed by Thomas Thompson. Olivier Ricard explains:
"The making of the video coincided with the beginning of the visual explorations I was making with video mapping. I really liked these bright geometric shapes, which I felt offered a very interesting visual potential behind a performer. The background provides backlighting that cuts through the musician's silhouette, creating a sense of mystery. After a few tests in the white cube, I couldn't figure out how to shoot the whole thing, so we called in a very talented young videographer, Thomas Thompson, who has a very dynamic and slick style. He came up with the idea of adding smoke to the room to make the atmosphere denser and the light more diffused to give the video a kind of edgy look. It was very important for us to convey the band's energy during a live performance. So we performed the song over and over again, allowing Thomas to experiment with different lenses, different movements, compositions, etc., in order to get the most out of it. At one point he even used a self-balance electric scooter. It was pretty crazy to watch him roll around us as we played the song.
In terms of its visual and camera work, the video is kind of experimental, but it definitively has the intensity and the energy we want to convey as a band.
Listening to version 1 of the video, it seemed to us that there were shots missing where we could clearly make out our faces. So we did some reshoot in a completely different light to remedy the situation. This is where the portrait shots came in.
