Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin Shoots Music Video at Mansion
/By Carina Livoti
clivoti@longislandergroup.com
Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin’s latest music video features the Vanderbilt Mansion, courtyard, and antique cars. (Photo /Vital Agibalow)
Singer-songwriter Consuelo Vanderbilt Costin connected with her family’s history in her latest music video, shot at the Vanderbilt Mansion.
Costin’s husband, Rafael Feldman, who produced the video, said his wife knew she wanted to do something big from the moment they started talking about the video.
“She wanted to do something that was really kind of epic and something that really connected to her roots back in New York. She approached the museum and they were really receptive to it; it just kind of grew from there,” he said.
Costin, who is a seventh-generation descendent of Long Island railroad and shipping entrepreneur Cornelius Vanderbilt, said she had her first experience with the museum three years ago during a photo shoot for Prestige Magazine. When it came time to work on the video for her song, “Lose My Mind,” she knew where she wanted to shoot.
“When I had actually gone to the museum and scouted the location and talked to the people and they knew my family so well and took such pride in the preservation, I felt like I was home,” Costin said.
“Lose My Mind,” tells the story of an arranged marriage, according to Costin. She and Feldman said they researched Vanderbilt women of the past, the arranged marriages they faced and the potential heartache that came with them.
“The storyline [for the video] really came from that, from seeing the property and delving into the history,” Feldman said.
The video is set in the early 1950s with flashbacks to the 1930s and tells the story of a Vanderbilt-like woman, engaged to be married to a man she does not love. In it she reunites with a childhood love, a chauffeur. The video makes use not only of the property, but also of period vehicles, like the 1928 Lincoln Town Car preserved at the museum.
“I had such a strong vision for the song…the whole point of the song is about that unrequited love and you want it so badly and you never quite get it. There’s definitely a resemblance to what the Vanderbilt women went through,” Costin said.
Consuelo chats with the crew during the filming. (Photo/Rafael Feldman)
Museum Director Lance Reinheimer said that the Vanderbilt’s staff worked to make the shoot look like spring, shoveling snow and piles away to give the illusion that winter was over.
“We felt a special connection; it was great to have a direct family connection here at the museum,” he said.
Costin said spending time at the museum and mansion made her feel like she was “going back to a moment in time.”
“I felt like I’d never been more connected to my family, understanding them a little bit more,” she said.
“It’s been a really great adventure where she’s getting back to her roots,” Feldman said.
Costin’s 2014 single, “Body Needs,” broke the Billboard Dance Chart’s Top 5 and her first dance single, “Naked,” spent 16 weeks on the Billboard charts, topping out at No. 12. Costin earned Billboard’s No. 2 Breakout Artist award for “Feel So Alive,” the follow up single to “Naked.” Her new album is set to be released on June 26.
