CHESUQI

The Blue - CHESUQI: Song & Music Video Review

Vevna Forrow

“The Blue” is hands down one of the best music videos I have seen in quite some time, a short, flawless film, which was released back in January of 2026 by an artist Ches Wintie, who goes by CHESUQI out of the United Kingdom. I came across CHESUQI’s work on Instagram (IG) one night and ended up reading some of the comments out on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, and looking at the reel shares to learn more about the music releases. Something that CHESUQI does is pin comments within her reels from multiple others who automatically assumed it was AI, and she shows behind-the-scenes clips of some of her extensive editing steps and filming process. CHESUQI emphasizes #NOAI, which is nice to see.

Once again, I think it’s really important to do behind-the-scenes shares, as I mentioned in another review—showcasing some sort of breakdown of the work behind both the song’s development and music video as an artist, how it was made from scratch. It is hard for the human eye to distinguish what’s AI and not as it continues to advance.

Also, due to the surge of AI everywhere, I think a lot of people forget that traditional visual effects (VFX) artists, green screen techniques, etc., have existed for quite some time. If you do some research online, special effects took off in the “late 19th century and early 20th century,” and we see it in a lot of the films and movies we have grown to love today, without any use of AI. I know some films are starting to add in their beginning or end credits, whether or not AI was used in a film’s creation, too. I encourage you to read further about the history of VFX, as it’s quite fascinating. Not only this, but I highly recommend you also watch “As We Enter The Unreal,” below by CHESUQI, which has top-notch zero-gravity visual effects work, and some of the other videos tied to “The Plush” song as well. I love traditional human-made art and stop-motion animation. In a clip on IG, I had seen her falling back on a small ladder, another with a metal fan, and she shows her process, how a bit—removing or isolating out elements from her room with other things like the Keylight feature or “keying” effect.

From her comment section, I saw that CHESUQI took the time to learn the Adobe Suite in college, either through university or while studying, so she appears to be completely self-taught, and you can tell she enjoys experimenting in her videos. CHESUQI demonstrates that you can do a lot on your own without AI. Yes, it may take longer, but it’s worth it—that process of creating, discovery, trial-and-error, and growth is undoubtedly valuable.

We not only see the superb quality of her special effects, directing, and editing work in “The Blue” but also see her fam partake in the music video, which is super fun to see. I recall seeing somewhere that it took her at least three months to make the music video.

I don’t like to say artists sound alike nor compare them; most absolutely have a unique style. However, while listening to CHESUQI, I will admit, like others, I was thinking about Grimes, James K, After, and Vitesse X, artists whose music evokes 2000 nostalgia.

The single cover art is CHESUQI surrounded by laptops and circular stones, it appears. Coming from a tech support background, I enjoy the incorporation of a laptop in her other video too. Some know that blue is also my favorite color, so I listen to a lot of blue-titled songs, and many blue things in nature are breathtaking, such as the sea, the ocean, and the sky. “The Blue” music video genuinely brought a smile to my face, particularly when we see the older couple dancing together towards the end. It feels like a love song, reiterating that life is obviously a wild journey as we all grow older and older, so does our environment due to several factors.

“The Blue” mentions a “sad blue animal” and “blue beast,” you can again interpret a song differently, so I was initially thinking about how some creatures go extinct due to ramped pollution, concrete jungles, shady tech giants, and greedy humans who forget the value of nature around us, not just the blue, but the green (and not dollar bills). I was picturing a whale, mammals, thinking about endangered species—nearly all animals in nature also have partners, families, too. Her YouTube channel also has a clip titled “The Earth Is An Animal,” and I wholeheartedly agree that our planet is a magical beast filled with mind-bending mysteries. CHESUQI had displayed on social media that this song was sort of a love letter or song written for our planet, and if you look at the lyrics in full, you do perhaps see that it certainly could be a dedication piece to our rotating home as well. Our planet has a pulse at its core, a heartbeat in a sense, just like ours, which requires care.

Without the music video, I was at some point and time visualizing clocks tumbling around someone as well, while being beside someone they care a great deal about. It’s a song that reminds us how time affects us all, and that “gone” feeling or grief can be super heavy when we lose others, it could be an animal, pet, a human, somebody, or something we hold in our hearts for a very long time, possibly forever, and it’s unbelievably hard. The aspect of falling for another “in safety” or seeing two hearts fall can be a beautiful thing, but it can also entail tragedy or sudden heartbreaking loss. Not to be grim, but hearts physically have an expiration date. I was thinking how the song suggests that they’re going to be gone soon, not by choice, it is okay to fall or fall for another in time, and venture into the unknown future together. Aging is part of life, and I think it’s important to take the time to dance through it. Earth itself is billions of years old, aging, and impacted heavily by human activity. If you look back at photos of plots of land from decades ago to now, a lot has changed, and it’s heartbreaking.

CHESUQI also shares with others what studio equipment and software she uses via a Patreon artist support page. It feels like she’s creating a very rad creative world around her work. Most artists have a logo, and hers, as you’ll notice, is a spinning cross with a connected slanted halo on top. In a few of the videos, plus on Instagram, she mentions in her stories that it was something she scribbled in a journal or notebook initially symbolizing a “cycle continuing in perpetuity” or the complex “ebb and flow” turning points of life itself, and the halo is indicative of “seeing from above,” or looking beyond the expected, “a point of transcendence.”

The worm’s-eye view angle of the filming camera, where you see everyone in a circle, the bottom of the shoe, the bitten apple, and the leaping, flying ties, is terrific. The additional details of the sky, birds, and Ches sitting in a grass field between a super elongated stop and a no-parking sign are great abstract touches, too. Aside being a blue Earth love letter, the music video itself made me think of a mid-day or after-work fun lunch break from the corporate world because there’s the bitten apple, cigarettes in hand, suitcases, office attire, and a brief city view shown, etc., at the start.

“The Blue” song’s music video consists of exceptional work; it particularly felt like a mini film you’d come across in theaters, and the song is soothing, giving you a sense of calmness and peace, taking you to an angelic plane. It makes you reflect on your own life and the alternate pathways it could take, or at least that’s what I did when I heard it.

When you listen to a song over and over again, that usually means its got you thinking, your gears turning or that you connected to it in some way or form; it may have brought back memories for you, maybe even made you think about the past, present, or future, or someone who was part of your life and if an artist creates a profound impact upon you, that is not easy to do by any means.

Memorable Lyrics:

"Fall my bright blue heart in safety

Time falls around you lately

Gone soon"

RATING: 5 OUT OF 5

Remember to add “The Blue” to your playlist(s) and take a look at CHESUQI's music out on these channels or your preferred streaming platform, find her @chesuqi on Instagram and elsewhere.