My Chérie Shares Cinematic ‘Box of Pencils’ Music Video
The track and music video explores queerness, religion and traditional values.
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As she prepares for her upcoming showcase at this year’s WOMADelaide, dream-pop creative My Chérie has shared the cinematic visuals to her song ‘Box of Pencils’.
Taken from last year’s Life’s Short & Life is Long EP, ‘Box of Pencils’ is a Kate Bush-like exploration of My Chérie’s complex relationship growing up in a Christian household and her lived experience as a queer woman, which is reflected in the Bryce Kraehenbuehl-directed music video.
The production brought together an exceptional Adelaide-based team, with cinematography by Johanis and costume design by Lucinda, alongside specialists in lighting, location scouting, makeup, and production support.
Described as “a cinematic meditation on identity, cultural pressure and the journey toward living an authentic life,” the visual narrative captures My Chérie living through different time periods as she struggles to be herself.
“The initial concept for Box of Pencils came mainly through the lyrics and essence of Cherie's music,” explains Kraehenbuehl. “I was quite moved by the feeling the song elicited and wanted a clip that reflected a kind of melancholic feeling about a life that we may feel forced to live. I wanted to create a clip that presented one person's soul living through different times and spaces, never really being able to be themselves and forced to live out a life that is not their own.”
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Speaking about the clip, My Chérie says, “‘Box of Pencils’ was the most vulnerable song I'd written and one I almost didn't release. Building a visual world around it felt daunting, but it also felt important. While there's often pressure to invest in the most commercially obvious track, we were more interested in telling a story and creating something with emotional weight.”
Highlighting the cultural pressures many women experience, My Chérie adds, “During the church scene, I felt myself embodying the emotions and experiences of women from earlier generations, as well as women today, who didn't have the same rights or voice, and connecting with that on a spiritual level.”
On working with My Chérie as an actress, Kraehenbuehl says that it was both a challenging and rewarding experience. “The feelings that the experience elicited in Cherie were extremely strong as they mirrored similar feelings she has had through her life. In this way I hope that Cherie felt supported by myself as a director as well as the crew to be vulnerable and work these feelings into the clip.”
Listen to My Chérie’s EP Life is Short and Life is Long here.
