Premiere: Heal Your Inner Child With Maisyn’s “Long Hair” Music Video
THE LOS ANGELES–BASED INDIE-POP SINGER — Jessi Mason, who records and performs under the name Maisyn, has long since demonstrated her commitment to making music “for the girlies.” Her debut 2021 EP, Cool Grl, explores the timeless themes of girlhood and coming of age: body image issues, “performative likability,” watching your ex’s life continue to unfold without you on social media. With somewhat abstractly poetic lyrics that favor Joni Mitchell wrapped in breezy synths and electric guitars, Maisyn has continued proving herself a masterclass in feel-good pop excellence. Her first release of 2023, “Naked,” is a peppy, flirty tune that begs to be sung aloud with friends in the summertime.
Despite all this, Maisyn has managed to top herself yet again with the release of the music video for her latest single, “Long Hair.” The track tells the story of someone finding healing as they regrow their hair following recklessly turning to a drastic chop in the name of reclamation. It highlights some of the best things about Maisyn’s work: her delicious vocal flips, clever narrative arcs, and a perfectly tense build to the chorus’ riotous release.
But if the song itself had me grinning in the month since its release, the music video actually threatened to do permanent damage to my cheek and jaw muscles. Starring Maisyn and Alya Parkhomovskaya as Maisyn’s younger self, this video is a stunning homage to the motifs that populate the singer-songwriter’s work: power, self-determination, and unapologetically big feelings.
The video opens with interspersed shots of Maisyn, singing as herself, and Parkhomovskaya in Maisyn’s childhood kitchen, disparaged as she witnesses an argument between her parents (Effie Spence and William Nicol). When she draws too much attention to herself, they chastise and scold her for her unruly hair.
This opening scene immediately strikes the perfect chord of camp and kitsch, thanks to hair and makeup oversight by Ursula Bowling, who helps portray the mother and father like parents out of a Roald Dahl novel. In this whimsical childhood world, it’s not foolish to believe your problems can be solved over the span of a single pop song.
As the video reaches the song’s first chorus, older and younger Maisyn’s timelines coalesce, with the former sweeping the latter under her protective wing. Together on screen, the two of them together offer the same saccharine rush that seeing a particularly fluffy kitten might. Over lyrics such as, “I wish I could go back and fight for her: the version of me who couldn’t talk back,” the video follows older Maisyn brushing her younger self’s hair and applying her makeup in the comfort of her childhood bedroom, far away from arguing parents.
As the song progresses, so does their boldness. After the mischievous use of a totemic necklace and the clever ensuing physical comedy, our dual heroines are free. In a stunning shot of the two of them running and dancing through glorious sunlit mountains, the beautiful swell of the song’s final triumphant chorus somehow feels like both the best parts of being a kid and the most rewarding aspects of being able to reflect on it as an adult.
With direction from Madi Boll, Maisyn’s “Long Hair” music video keeps a sense of childlike wonder at its forefront without ever feeling immature. The way both Maisyns appear to pop, slide, or bounce into frame at times is reminiscent of a cartoon, and the aforementioned necklace is a clever way to visually tie together different eras of one’s life.
This project emphasizes a point that Maisyn’s music has made clear time and time again: when it comes to creating tight storylines with maximum amounts of emotional payoff, she’s one of the best in the game.
