Talking Heads – Psycho Killer (2025)
Saoirse Ronan is tense and nervous in the Talking Heads video ‘Psycho Killer’ directed by Mike Mills.
When Talking Heads released a new video for Psycho Killer in 2025, I didn’t expect it to hit me like this. The song’s always been there — in parties, playlists, back rooms — but the video, starring Saoirse Ronan, gave it a new feeling: like time was moving and I wasn’t paying attention. It reminded me that Byrne wasn’t writing horror — he was writing anxiety. A kind of nervous poetry. Watching her go through the motions felt way too familiar.
I’ve always been a Mike Mills fan, and Saoirse Ronan is exactly the kind of actor who gets his emotional rhythm. The fact that this video dropped nearly 50 years after Psycho Killer was written just proves how timeless Talking Heads really are. And if you caught that subtle Heads nod in 20th Century Women… yeah, chef’s kiss.
Some Fun Facts About Psycho Killer:
David Byrne originally wrote Psycho Killer as a songwriting experiment before Talking Heads formed. Read more
Although released near the Son of Sam murders, the song is unrelated to those events. Read more
Bassist Tina Weymouth wrote and performed the French lyrics to evoke a split-personality effect. Read more
Byrne has said the lyrics come from personal feelings of tension and nervousness — not literal violence. Read more
Byrne didn’t build a serial-killer fantasy — he built the soundtrack of nervous, real-time inner life. Ronan’s longing glances feel like the visual echo of lyrics such as “I’m tense and nervous and I can’t relax.
Watch the video bellow and let me know what you think in the comments.
Talkin Heads - ‘Psycho Killer’ video starring Saoirse Ronan.
