In early March of 2022, Philly indie singer-songwriter Daphne Ellen released “Internet,” a vulnerable yet heartwarming single about the divide between our real-world personas and what we show our friends on social media. In the time since, she released a terrific EP called Intermission — a short, sweet five-song set in step with the heart-on-sleeve indie pop of Soccer Mommy, Olivia Rodrigo, and Phoebe Bridgers — began gigging around Philly, and now released a new music video for her first big track on its one-year anniversary.
The music video by sophia pasalis is stylized like a vintage digitized VHS, with footage of Daphne Ellen performing at home, surrounded by tarot cards and teddy bears, with layers of footage overlapping to create a dreamlike atmosphere. The lyric “I write songs for you while you sing about someone else on the internet” speaks to those feelings of disconnection that our devices saddle us with, while the songwriter’s gift for imagery shines on “I’m the author’s self-delusion, you’re the attractive bookstore worker shelving it,” and the truth-versus-reality clash comes to a head on the concluding line, reminiscent of Bright Eyes’ “Lua”: “I’ll be reeling in the morning but you won’t know from what I put on the internet.”
Watch below, and explore more on Daphne Ellen’s Bandcamp page.