Keelan Mak Takes Us Behind the Scenes Of His ‘Brave Face’ EP

November 1, 2022

Naarm/Melbourne based alt-pop artist Keelan Mak released his second EP, Brave Face, on Friday, 28th October. The five-song collection is Mak’s first body of work since signing with [PIAS] Australia, the label that’s home to Taylah Carroll, Jesswar and Horror My Friend.

The EP includes the singles ‘Forever Ago’, ‘Boy Oh Boy’ and ‘Brave Face’. Mak shared music videos for the latter two singles, directed by Alex Greaves, styled by Isabella Ibrahim and with hair and make-up done by Yasmin Moussalli.

Keelan Mak – ‘Boy Oh Boy’

Mak has described the Brave Face EP as the “first body of work that’s completely me.” Here, Keelan Mak offers a visual diary of the ‘Brave Face’ and ‘Boy Oh Boy’ music video shoots.

Sydney hotel room

I had been flying back and forth for a month doing rehearsals and meetings leading up to the music videos. My stylist Bella and I were hunkered down in this hotel for a few days and running around Sydney doing last-minute shopping for the music videos. Here you can see me getting pretty before we went out for dinner. Very boring stuff.

Stanwell Tops lookout

‘Brave Face’ was a long morning. We had shot the ‘Boy Oh Boy’ video the day before and had barely got any sleep. We had to get up at 4:30am to make sunrise. We shot it at Stanwell Tops lookout. I spent the morning running through thick coastal bush in the rain. It was a tough slog but we got through it and it kind of perfectly represented the concept of ‘Brave Face’.

Pictured is me in a tree. I found a time capsule wedged into one of the hollowed out branches, which I thought was extremely cute. We also counted 10 leeches by the end of the day.

On set for ‘Boy Oh Boy’

We hired out this old-timey concert hall in Thirroul, a coastal town south of Sydney. This shot perfectly represents my love for Bella, my stylist. She’s basically waiting in the wings at all times ready to dress me in something or adjust my looks because I’m too busy moving and messing them up.

Alex Greaves and Yasmin Moussalli

We rented a beach house for the week. This photo was taken one night when we went down to the water. Alex and Yasmin as well as myself and Bella all grew up in Brisbane and now live in different cities doing our own thing. It was a really cute moment for everyone to be together doing something great. We made an absolute dream team.