After
by Moby

Album: Destroyed (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Moby sings here (with the help of a vocoder) about messed-up relationships that have stopped working. He said: "What I really wanted to do with this song is have a middle section that goes on way too long and I hope I have achieved that. The song starts quiet and strange and then gets propulsive and energetic. And then about half way through the song it sort of stops for about a minute and a half and then it all comes back in. Whether anyone will notice this or care I don't know."
  • Flatbush, Brooklyn native Inyang Bassey supplies the backing vocals. She was two years into a day job producing concerts for the renowned Carnegie Hall when Moby invited her to tour with him.
  • This is the fourth single from Destroyed, Moby's 10th studio album. None of the singles from the album charted in the US or UK.
  • The album is Moby's second release via his own indie label, Little Idiot.
  • Aspiring filmmakers competed for the chance to create the Moby music video for the "Hello, Future" video contest organized by Saatchi & Saatchi and Vimeo. The winning entry for "After" was from Alberto Gomez, a 23-year-old director from Mexico. He explained the concept: "It's the story of a young princess who becomes an orphan and is charged with the responsibility and duty of being queen. At first she's scared, sad, and destroyed by her own thoughts, but in the end she blossoms into a beautiful and powerful queen."

    Another video by Austrian director Antonin Pevny was also selected. His version features a group of children attempting to escape a nuclear power plant while the monitors in the control room display Moby's performance. It was shot at a real nuclear facility that was built near Vienna in the 1970s. The same location was used in the 2013 French-Austrian film Grand Central.

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