Swedish pop singer/songwriter Paula Jivén has unveiled the music video for her latest single, “Breaking Up With A Friend”. The track is taken from her debut EP The Duality In Me, out this May via Universal Music Sweden. The video for the single, which speaks to Paula’s falling out with her best friend and the subsequent heartache that followed, displays remnants of her childhood. The clip incorporates snapshots of iconic animated series from the early to mid-2000s that she grew up watching including Phineas and Ferb and Danny Phantom as well as video games she played like Bolibompa’s Drakens Värld.
“The video is set in the archipelago of my hometown, where I spent all my summers growing up,” Paula shares. “It’s crowded with references to mini-me like the TV cut-outs and is me trying to emphasize the song’s connection to the ending of my childhood. The video is directed by my friend SJD, and the recording actually spans across several months in both Gothenburg and Paris. The goofy editing is meant to visualize the song’s production, and the skeleton in the boat, well that’s the ex-friend!”
Speaking on the track, she continues, “‘Breaking Up With A Friend’ is one of the best writing experiences I’ve ever had, and I think you can hear that. The listen is quite a ride from beginning to end with a, dare I say, remarkable production from my bestie Åke Olofsson, with tempo changes, language switches, and this narrative of a dissolving friendship in the background.” Paula adds, “I think it might’ve taken two or three days to finish, something that rarely happens to me. On the surface, the lyrics mirror the title with a clear plot and tearing emotions. But what I don’t say is how, with that friendship, my childhood also came to an end.”