It’s not every day you see a cowgirl dressed to the nines singing about gun-laws and mental health issues. Jen Awad is bringing tough conversations to the forefront with her latest video ‘Bad People.’ It begs the question, what does it mean to be bad? Are people inherently good? With powerful vocals and Western glitz, Jen Awad offers food for thought in the form of catchy blues-rock and infectious sass.

Set outdoors on a ranch, ‘Bad People’ sports the most vibrant colors with a 50s era aesthetic. Jen wears remarkable, custom-made designs by Alessandro Francalanci and gives us as much charisma as she does on stage. Directed by Liz Nistico, the video follows Jen as she’s first held hostage by “bad people” and then somehow escapes. When her captors try and kidnap a young girl, Jen saves the day by scaring them off with their own weapons and eventually taking them captive. Silent film inspired captions punctuate different scenes with questions like “Just because [Jen] did something good, does that make her good?”

At the end of the video, Jen and her team show a slide with a list of questions they hope will spark ideas on how to treat gun violence in the US more appropriately. For example, education on mental illness, and how to surround these conversations with enough empathy that people never feel invisible; at some point in our lives, we’ve all felt unworthy. From Jen: “This music video is focused on gun violence in the US, as well as our inability to appropriately deal with mental illnesses. We hope to reform thinking amongst individuals in the US with the following Socratic messages:

If someone does something wrong, are they bad? Should they be exiled
What actions can be taken to reform a person if they do “bad” things?
How can education be used to cast a net of wider acceptance and thus reduce self-inflicted shame, violence and guilt? What educational reform can exist alongside true reform in the US?
Do you “run from evil”? Or face it head on? Are you in denial of the dark side of existence?
What can you on an individual level to create a space of non-judgment, love and acceptance around you?”

What can you do to spread empathy and connection? Keep up with Jen Awad on Instagram and dance it all away with her at The Levitt Pavilion on July 11th.