Canadian singer Elisapie has premiered the video for “Isumagijunnaitaungituq,” her cover of Metallica’s 1991 track “The Unforgiven.”
Performed in Inuktitut, the track was produced by Joe Grass, who also plays guitar and banjo. The video was directed by Philippe Léonard.
“As a teenager, I only wanted to hang around the gang of boys in my village,” Elisapie, who hails from Nunavik, QC, said, in a release. “We would all go to my big cousin’s house and smoke weed while listening to Metallica. The band’s music allowed us to delve into the darkness of our broken souls and feel good there. It felt like we were being told it’s OK to be sad.”
Elisapie, currently based in Montreal, recalled interviewing Kirk Hammett when she was 15 for Inuit broadcaster TNI. “There is a high likelihood that this was the worst interview Kirk Hammett ever did with a ‘journalist.’ He must have been so confused to get on the line and find a 15-year-old, overly excited Inuk girl asking questions that made little sense. But in my boys’ eyes, I was the coolest, and that’s what matters.”
“Isumagijunnaitaungituq” is the latest taste of Elisapie’s fourth studio album, Inuktitut (out Sept. 15), on which she covers songs by bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and Queen. She previously released her cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.”
The 46-year-old mother of three was nominated for a JUNO Award in 2019 and shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize thanks to her third solo album The Ballad of the Runaway Girl. She was named Indigenous Artist of the Year at Quebec's Félix Awards in 2020.