Jon Darc's Exclusive Interview Unleashing "Addicted to Attention"

Jon, “Addicted to Attention” splits the screen between a glam diva and a bullied boy — do you see these two as opposites, or two sides of your own story?

Thank you for this beautiful intro. For a long time, I thought of these figures as opposites — But releasing this track made me realize they’re not opposites at all - They’re lovers in denial. The diva feeds off stares — the boy flinches from them. But both were born from the same wound: the hunger to be seen and the terror of what that visibility might cost. I found my power in the contradiction. One side saves the other. When I was a kid, I was really shy. My parents moved a lot, so it was difficult to make friends. I had a horrible time at school and never felt that I belonged. To prevent further isolation, my mother sent me to drama school, hoping I’d learn to "perform" socially. Maybe she prevented me from causing a rampage in my school… ;) 

That shy boy didn’t vanish, but he learned to put on heels, fix his shame with makeup, and steps into the spotlight with a smile.

The video has a visceral, almost ritualistic tension. What was the hardest part of bringing those personas to life on camera? 

Honestly, slipping into those roles felt natural. What was hard was confronting the emotions they stirred up. These personas — the diva, the misfit — they’re not costumes. They’re emotional memories. They live in my muscles, my posture, my breath. But I believe that turning discomfort into performance is one of my strengths. If it doesn’t leave a bruise or heals one, it’s not worth filming.

You mentioned the need to be noticed, loved, to matter. Was this song catharsis — or confrontation?

It was both. The confrontation really hit when I saw the footage.
I was around 12 the first time I saw myself acting on camera. It felt awkward, like watching someone reveal something they didn’t mean to. Seeing myself crouched in Rebar’s dress, whispering “I am a creature / I got needs,” brought that feeling back. I realized the persona I put on when I step on the stage isn’t a mask — it’s my need to be seen. You grow up thinking you’re independent. But then you realize how much you still depend on the gaze of others to feel real. That hit hard.

The catharsis came on the phone with a friend. I suddenly understood: this wasn’t about fictional characters. It was about me — my stage persona, and the bullied kid still inside it. That realization was painful. And strangely beautiful.

How much of Addicted to Attention is drawn from personal memory versus artistic metaphor? 

A lot more of it is personal than I’d like to admit. The part about the school shooting obviously isn’t literal, but a part of the feeling behind it seems familiar. As a teenager, I had a lot of violent thoughts. Mostly toward myself. I felt invisible, angry, weak, and trapped. Writing the song, I believe that the character of the rampaging kid was an unconscious metaphor, giving my inner child’s pain a voice that was finally not directed at itself. Giving it a chance to step out of the silence. So yes, it’s a metaphor. But it’s not fiction.

The aesthetics—fetish, fashion, schoolroom trauma—feel deeply intentional. How do you decide what visuals belong to a sound?

For me, sound and image are strongly connected. The visual world usually builds itself while I’m still writing. With Addicted to Attention, I initially imagined it as a school setting, with two characters: the prom queen and the outcast. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt that would be too literal. Playing both roles myself made the tension more internal, more psychological. It’s not about two people. It’s about one person split in two. I had the dresses made specifically for the EP. The “influencer’s“ nude tulle fantasy created by Rebar Aziz captures the bodily, erotic side of attention, the “outcast” leather piece by Markus Pecht the harsher, colder side of it, is tied to fetish and shame. That contrast mirrors the sound of the track, but also the conflict inside me. The box I created as stage design symbolizes the mask of the “influencer” persona and its destruction, the merger between the two opposing worlds.

You’ve described your performances as “staged fantasies” and “confrontations.” What are you confronting with MORAST?

First and foremost: myself. My past, my trauma, my own darkness. MORAST is about facing the depressive thoughts that grow like mold and turning them into something fertile. You know the lotus flower metaphor? It only blooms in murky water. That’s what this EP is. A struggle through mud toward bloom.

There’s a fine line between performance and vulnerability. Where do you feel safest: in sound, in visuals, or in movement?

I feel “safe” in all of them. Although I would say, I don’t use them necessarily to feel safe... I use them to risk something. Voice, dance and visual are my safe spaces, but performance to me is a place where sweat, emotion, noise and silence are all part of the vocabulary of a ritual. True safety comes from allowing myself to be vulnerable in front of others. That’s when performance becomes power.

“Addicted to Attention” is only the first piece of MORAST. What kind of emotional terrain are we heading into with the EP?

MORAST wanders between extremes — desire, shame, beauty, violence. Tracks like heroin(e) and ily(y) unpack toxic love and self-destruction. Others like porcelain, alien porn, and ambrosia dive into fetish, sex work and Berlin nightlife. There’s no moral here. Just a deep dive into the swamp. It’s messy. It’s intimate. And it’s all mine.

You’ve cited Arca, FKA Twigs, and Dorian Electra as inspirations — where do you feel your own voice breaks from theirs?

Let me put it like this: If Arca is Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell, FKA Twigs is Tsireya from Avatar, Dorian Electra is Harley Quinn from The Batman, then I’m the Alien. From Alien.

Last one: When someone finishes watching the video — what do you hope lingers?

A hunger, a thirst, a craving for more.

Art Director: @mariopalufi, @jon_darc
Talent: @jon_darc
Photographer and Editor: @mariopalufi
3Dfx and Editor: @itarpas
Photo Assistant: @klementine.waves
Producer: @fafalya
Set Design: @pertti.tv
Stylist: @chyaralaux
MUA: @dulfiona
Location: @studio.db.berlin

BLACK SET - Lake

Headpiece: AMYLU
Gloves: AMYLU
Skirt: stylist’s own
Earring: stylist’s own
Thong: stylist’s own

WHITE SET I - White Balloon

Dress: Rebar Aziz
Corset: Pablo Sermar
Jockstrap: Tart Twins

WHITE SET II - Black Balloon

Nosepiece: Charlie Minston
Dress: AMYLU
Corset: Pablo Sermar
Shoes: Pleasers