Female bodybuilding is a phenomenon poised between sport and pageantry, born out of circus strongwomen and 19th-century Vaudeville acts. A fiesta of Herculean bodies fills the music video for Desert Sound Colony’s “I Get Fixed,” as New York director Callie Barlow unmasks the quotidian rituals of its pumped star: 20-year veteran bodybuilder Colette Nelson.

Though the beauty tropes of bodybuilding jar with those of the fashion industry, they both have a tendency to revel in ideals and extremes. Well versed in the beauty standards of her sport, Nelson moonlights as a makeup artist and spray-tanner for gym-obsessed ingénues. 

Callie on Collette's world of weightlifting

Bodybuilders find comfort in routine. And need that sort of structure. There’s an addiction to feeling productive and I think it works well with their psychology. Colette gets up at five every morning, and she often sleeps in her exercise clothes so that it’s easier to get up and go.

There’s definitely a beauty component to the bodybuilding industry. She uses this laser machine on her face every night that’s featured in the video to keep her skin young and tight.

There are parallels with modeling: you have someone pushing their body in a certain way, and they are aware of their body all the time. There are definitely health risks, and some women take it too seriously. Colette is a good role model because she pushes a more healthy, well rounded lifestyle. But it’s all about beauty, it’s all about the image. 

Desert Sound Colony “The Way I Began” EP is out now on Scissor & Thread