Premiere: Paper Lady’s “EVE” Music Video Transports Us to a World of Witchy Wonder and a New Creation Myth

Q&AMusic

Jul 18

☆ BY Astrid Ortega ☆

IN THE WHIMSICAL WORLD OF PAPER LADY — composed of Alli Raina, Rowan Martin, Alex Castile, Will Davila, and Kenzo Divic, the band lets us take a little peek into the emanation of their music with their music video for their new single, “EVE.” Highlighting their quaint and curious elements, the “EVE” music video takes us through the story of creation with the band's own twist — Adam eats the apple.

Inspired by films such as Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), Midsommar (2019), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) and Daisies (1966), the video is ethereal and authentic as through it we explore Paper Lady’s Garden of Eden and the feelings of Eve.

The visuals for “EVE” also represent the tight community of creatives in the greater Boston area. Musicians such as Christian Pace and Brady Dallas Jones of Champagne Charlie & the Wah Wahs are featured while also letting us catch the works of recent Emerson film graduates Josh Carone and Jenny Thach.

Read below to learn more about Paper Lady’s year so far, the process behind the video, and what kind of world the band is creating with their music.

LUNA: First off, how has the year been so far for you guys?

RAINA: This year has been amazing and challenging in the best ways. I feel like I’ve grown a lot musically, largely due to playing with these guys. I’ve gotten to meet so many new people and have experiences I would’ve never known I'd get the opportunity to have.

MARTIN: This year has been great! We released our single “EVE,” which I’m so incredibly proud of! I graduated college and am more active in music than I’ve ever been.

CASTILE: This past year has been incredible so far with studying music abroad in Valencia, Spain from January to May, then traveling around Europe with family and friends from May to mid-July. This experience has caused me to meet a lot of new people and view life in a more significant and special way.

DAVILA: This year so far has been filled with growth, creativity, and new friends. I’m grateful for that and hopeful for more of the same in the future.

DIVIC: My year has been a challenging one. Trying to get through school with the pressures of being creative and doing something new is very difficult. That being said, I feel we’ve all grown a lot this past year, and I’ve been learning to focus more on being creative as a tool for self-discovery and love.

LUNA: The “EVE” video is so beautiful — it’s an intriguing little story to watch, and the aesthetic feels like Paper Lady at its core. How did the idea of the video even come about?

RAINA: Thank you! I think as soon as we were putting final touches on the song I started getting this idea for the visual. I knew I wanted there to be a lot of shots of me running through different landscapes and some sort of fantastical meeting of friends thrown in. I knew I wanted it to feel like a fever dream. I had a meeting with Josh and Jenny and explained my vision for the song and they really brought it to the next level. They added in a lot of little elements that helped turn my vision into a story.

LUNA: What did the creative process look like? What roles were being played?

RAINA: Like I said, I had originally come up with the idea for the video and then Josh and Jenny helped develop it a lot. I reached out to some of our friends for the picnic scene and it was very much me telling them to get dressed up, that we were having a picnic, and that there would be a lot of fruit, cake, and wine. I told everyone to come in “witchy and ethereal attire.” And they definitely delivered! Josh and Jenny picked locations based off what I told them I wanted and directed all of us perfectly. My exact role in the video was Eve.

MARTIN: The ideas for the video were mainly hashed out between Alli and SXNK. Alli of course played Eve and our friend Brady of Champagne Charlie played Adam. I’m not entirely sure what the title of my role was, maybe Little Elf Mandolin Boy? I had an idea of my character being a rough-around-the-edges man of action. Sort of a rebel without a cause kinda guy, but I’m not sure everyone else really saw my vision.

LUNA: It’s so sweet and fun to see friends and band members in it, which must have led to some fun on set. Can you share a favorite moment/memory from filming?

RAINA: Oh, my favorite part was definitely when we were getting shots of everyone dying from the poisonous pie. It was really hard for everyone to keep a straight face. Christian “died” and fell face-first into the cake. Unfortunately, that shot didn’t fit correctly into the video so it’s not in there. I have the footage of the shot, though, and am definitely trying to use it for promo or something.

MARTIN: The video shoot was so so fun! I remember Alli and I got this cake but forgot to bring any silverware so we all had to eat this creamy, jelly-filled cake with our hands. I remember being a little grossed out at the thought of doing it, and then I looked over to our friend Qad who had stuffed her face full of cake and flowers and was questioning why she wasn’t being filmed.

LUNA: The music video is cinematic, from the set to the outfits to the acting — especially that shot in the beginning! Why is exploring the visual side of your music important to you?

RAINA: Thank you! When we make music we are attempting to convey specific emotion, and I think that’s helped along a lot by adding a visual element. It’s all about getting the message across, and I think giving everyone a little look into the world that is created in our heads when we play is huge!

MARTIN: I always felt that the music put a picture in my head when listening to or playing it. Additionally, Alli always has some sort of visual in mind when describing the vibes of songs we’re working on. I think it’s important for us to share with viewers/listeners what we’re picturing when we play our music.

LUNA: How would you say the theme of “EVE” plays into the music video?

RAINA: This song is supposed to be Eve giving the metaphorical finger to Adam. So having Adam be the one to pick and eat the apple at the beginning of the video is symbolic of how it could’ve just as easily been his fault that they were expelled from the garden. Him dying from the apple and the whole pie-at-the-picnic situation was just us having fun with it. Aside from that, I think all of the changing landscapes with no other people in sight was a nod to the original story of creation, where Adam and Eve were the only two existing people.

LUNA: Sonically, your music is a playful glimpse of bittersweetness — what would you say inspires that essence in your music? Is there anything else you hope to explore and experiment in your music?

RAINA: I think that most of our music is just a raw depiction of emotion. There are so many nuances within human emotion. I think personally when I feel something, there are always so many layers to it, and we try our best to explore and convey every bit of that. I’d like to play with some more improvisational elements during our live sets. I'd love to just do some random shit that feels good when going from song to song.

MARTIN: It’s hard to say what inspires the essence in our music other than how we’re feeling. Most of our songs are written and arranged through us playing together and really just working on what feels right to us. I think the emotion in our music comes from how we felt while writing it. As for future exploration, I’d love to venture everywhere we can musically! We all love experimenting, and I hope we’ll keep that spirit alive and become an ever-changing body of music.

CASTILE: I believe the aspects that make our music bittersweet is that we play beautiful and delicate sounds and other times we get more intense, which shows that we can’t be fucked with. I believe we would like to experiment more with having some songs that take the listener on a psychedelic journey.

DAVILA: When we play music together, it feels like we are traveling through each other’s minds. Alli has written some beautiful songs that she was kind enough to plant in our brains. I’m looking forward to expanding our consciousnesses until we become one singular Paper Lady.

LUNA: How would you best describe the world of Paper Lady?

RAINA: There are five moons that are always full, bountiful forests of birch trees, an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia, and a cat that always seems to have all of the answers.

MARTIN: Elves, wizards, magic, and Kenzo.

CASTILE: Freaky folks that play freak-folk.

DAVILA: Chill with a side of fun and a hint of wild.

DIVIC: The world of Paper Lady is a scary and sorrowful cloud with glimpses of optimism and romance.

LUNA: What else should we expect from Paper Lady this year? Any upcoming projects or announcements you’d like to share, but also just anything that you’ll be up to!

RAINA: Tour! Singles! An EP! Moon worship! All of us falling in love with each other on stage over and over and over again. Our next single, “Winter Comes,” is out July 29 — I'm particularly excited about that.

MARTIN: Lots of shows and new music! We have a tour coming up in August and are playing the Bird Song Festival in early September.

CASTILE: We are going on a mini tour in August and will also be recording during it. So get ready ;)

DAVILA: We are playing shows and recording songs and it’s all gonna be awesome.

DIVIC: You can expect a lot of tears, screaming, and unconditional love. On top of that, we are entering a partnership with local visual duo Digital Awareness to delve even further into the Paper Lady dimension for our live shows.

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We couldn’t be more stoked to have Suriel Hess as our new headliner for our upcoming LA show 🤩 🫶 Not gonna lie, us & Notorious Noise kinda went OFF with this line up & you’re not gonna wanna miss it - ticket link in bio 🎫