Melody Maker's video for Greentea Peng explores an issue that was facing Londoners before the trauma of Covid-19: the disruption to local communities caused by redevelopment and gentrification.

The film shows Greentea Peng making her way out of a flat at The Aylesbury Estate just before the remaining block on the South London estate is demolished. The film is accompanied by a self penned letter from Greentea Peng, an outcry on the state of London.

GREENTEA PENG:

This song is an expression of a feeling of discontent towards the powers that be, a microcosm for what is happening all over the world.

“Ghost Town, is the utter dire straits of our city and the conditions in which our people are being forced to live in. Not just physically but the effects it has on us mentally and spiritually too.

"The complete lack of respect for the environment and the people who make London what it is at its actual heart, in the actual ends, that bring the actual character to this place. Not just the tourist attractions but the streets, the public spaces that bring this place to life. It’s about my feeling of the lack of colour both literally and metaphorically, it’s about the feeling of being in such a big wild city but not being able to actually live in it.

"I have mates working two or three jobs and they’re still just about covering their rent. It’s about how difficult it is being a young person in this country, with no prospect of owning a yard, or even having a kid because, why would you? This song is an expression of a feeling of discontent towards the powers that be, it’s a microcosm for what is happening all over the world. The priority of money and wealth over the people, and the repercussions of that. From kids killing kids on the streets for iPhones, to disabled people being forced into work, to the mums having to work extra night shifts so they can afford their kids’ train fares to school.

"It’s about teachers having to use food banks, it’s about turning our schools into academies with under-trained and under-qualified teachers and it’s about the miss education and the lies. Ultimately it’s an observation of the failure of the government. They are failing the young, they are failing the old they are failing the working man. You only need to open your eyes to see the disproportion and the struggle.

"Ghost Town is my ballad to London and its people, to all the people to remind them of their place and its magic.”