27 October 2022 - 0 Comments

After sharing her latest single, the poignant Cherry Tree last month, the rising singer-songwriter alayna has today released the accompanying video.

A beautifully filmed and elegant video, it captures the song’s underlining theme. Directed by artists Ophelia af m Jones and Ryder Jones, the duo is responsible for Lorde’s internet-breaking Solar Power album cover, as well as her visual rollout and merchandise artwork. Recently, they shot BENEE’s Lychee album cover and have worked with many of the leading fashion labels and magazines in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

“We wanted to capture an intimate portrait of alayna, to see her unravelling and unfurling into this new chapter of her music,” the pair explained. “The song has a quiet strength that we wanted to pair with grand landscapes and small subtle gestures to draw the viewer into her world.”

“For the Cherry Tree video, we wanted to create a thoughtful, dreamlike scene that showcased powerful femininity and independence,”alayna further added. “Capturing the feeling of truly letting go and standing alone, staring out to sea and imagining what is next for me which is still vast and unknown. The untying of the braids was to finally unravel myself from my past experiences and love, and bask in the quiet, personal acceptance of self and my place in the world. The quiet moments of solitude feel subtle but are enormous in their meaning.”

Cherry Tree is the first single from alayna’s upcoming planned album and it marks a new era for New Zealander. The previous singles saw her transition from R&B to singer-songwriter, and the new song is a glorious statement of her transformation. Inspiration was taken from the cherry blossom trees in Auckland, alayna infuses her soothing soulful voice in this dreamy, calming track that tells the story of a fragile relationship.

“We started talking about a relationship and this kind of beautiful show that blossom trees put on before they fall and restart the cycle again. We leaned into the idea of letting go of a relationship and being able to take my power back, but asking for the ending to be soft,”Alayna said on the initial idea of the song. “Being the first single for my album it's like letting go of the old, my old season and last projects, particularly the relationship that consumed the Tender and So.. EP with love and acceptance, stepping forward into the unknown or what's next.”

Photo Credit: Undine Markus

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