Allie X Is An Ephemeral Plaything In Her “Paper Love” Music Video

Mike Nied | August 9, 2017 6:28 pm
The Drop: Allie X & Starley
Your guide to New Music Friday featuring pop divas Allie X and Starley.

Allie X is a porcelain doll without any control in the music video for her COLLXTION II lead single, “Paper Love.” The enchanting pop production debuted earlier this year and features a haunting whistle and eerie synths as the Canadian songstress sings of a toxic romance. “Oh, I know that boy’s gonna rip me up, ’cause he ain’t that nice, he won’t do right. He’ll leave a nasty cut,” she sings about the man who holds her heart in his hands. Though she recognized the danger of loving him, she sings of being in too deep and afraid of being left broken by the relationship.

In the Renata Raksha-directed video, a family’s daily life is interrupted by the arrival of a pristine doll that is Allie X. The young daughter is entranced and plays with her new toy as the rest of the family goes about their daily routine of playing catch and dancing around their basement in cowboy hats (as most families do). As the video progresses, the daughter’s explorations become more demented and other family members join in as they cut her hair and draw over her with lipstick. Allie sits through the mistreatment placidly, giving up all self control in order to meet their cruel whims. Eventually they get tired off the beaten down doll, placing her in plastic and tossing her aside to continue on with their lives.

The “Catch” singer revealed in a press release that the video was meant to portray “a kind of transformation as well as a paralysis” similar to what would be experienced in a one-sided relationship. “Becoming a doll who is gradually defaced was a perfect representation,” she explained before going on to relate the experience to being a woman. “I sometimes feel as a woman that becoming a doll-like creature is a way to become more likable and beloved…I often feel the pressure to hide my fieriness or unattractiveness to achieve this image. The video in part is a reminder to myself that acting this way is unsustainable and can be very damaging.”

Allie’s work is usually a little unsettling to take in, and the “Paper Love” visual is more of the same in that sense. Watching the family defiling her before tossing her aside brings the song’s concept of toxic love to life in an unexpected way, and the process is utterly captivating. Per usual, the dark-pop hitmaker is delivering something that you can’t tear your eyes away from and backing it up with some of the tightest pop productions. Check out the surreal video up top.

Watch my heart turn to pulp. PAPER LOVE MUSIC VIDEO OUT NOW 📝 💔 LINK IN BIO

A post shared by ALLIE X (@alliex) on

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