Paris Paloma - labour [Official Video]

New album "Cacophony" out now:

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Lyrics (click/tap CC to see subtitles):
Why are you hanging on
So tight
To the rope that I’m hanging from
Off this island
This was an escape plan
Carefully timed it
So let me go
And dive into the waves below

Who tends the orchards?
Who fixes up the gables
Emotional torture
From the head of your high table
Who fetches the water
From the rocky mountain spring
And walk back down again
To feel your words and their sharp sting
And I’m getting fucking tired

The capillaries in my eyes are bursting
If our love died, would that be the worst thing?
For somebody I thought was my saviour
You sure make me do a whole lot of labour
The calloused skin on my hands is cracking
If our love ends, would that be a bad thing?
And the silence haunts our bed chamber
You make me do too much labour

Apologies from my tongue
Never yours
Busy lapping from flowing cup
And stabbing with your fork
I know you’re a smart man
And weaponise
The false incompetence
It’s dominance under guise

If we had a daughter
I’d watch and could not save her
The emotional torture
From the head of your high table
She’d do what you taught her
She’d meet the same cruel fate
So now I’ve gotta run
So I can undo this mistake
At least I’ve gotta try

The capillaries in my eyes are bursting
If our love died, would that be the worst thing?
For somebody I thought was my saviour
You sure make me do a whole lot of labour
The calloused skin on my hands is cracking
If our love ends, would that be a bad thing?
And the silence haunts our bed chamber
You make me do too much labour

All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid
Nymph then virgin, nurse then a servant
Just an appendage, live to attend him
So that he never lifts a finger
24/7 baby machine
So he can live out his picket fence dreams
It’s not an act of love if you make her
You make me do too much labour

Credits:
Director: Adam Othman
Producer: Giulia Lopes
Director of Photography: Theo Brinch
1st AC: Rafal Rakoczy
Gaffer: Will Jessel
BTS: Jamal Thomas
Art Director: Paris Paloma
Art Assistant: Morgan Bull

Actors
Paris Paloma
Henry Hayward

#parispaloma

[SlightlyDisturbed]

"It's not an act of love if you make her."

Fucking hits home.

[aubryellaotero]

The part about having a daughter and being afraid that she’ll meet the same fate is a true terror that keeps me up at night

[tanyadarling]

I love that we don't see her face at the start, like how many women have lived and continue to live as faceless, nameless entities, whose work is never acknowledged as theirs - I love this song for so beautifully expressing both power and grief

[casper]

"If I had a daughter, I'd watch but could not save her" is such a dreadful yet often truthful sentence

[Seafoamee]

The symbolism of her lighting her candle and watching it burn down while his is unlit and barely touched is perfect

[Bryna..]

the rage that builds up through the song is devastating but so beautiful. this song invokes so many emotions. the line about the daughter breaks my heart and Im not even a mom

[karanhdream]

The pomegranate symbolism is powerful. This fruit represent fertility, marriage and desire but it can also represent death and feminine independence.

[MelXBow]

"Not all men" but every women relate to at least one lyric in this song.

[audreydahlman]

I absolutely love the symbolism in her choosing to eat a pomegranate. Pomegranates are used in so many ways in different religions and myths, but in every single one it is a symbol of womanhood, rebirth, or something of the sort. It’s such a powerful choice to use that as she eats in rebellion.

[ahe]

this is absolutely a love letter to women throughout history. as historian rosalind miles points out: part of the reason men were at the forefront of so much innovation throughout history isn’t just because of lack of education for women, but because they were free to do more with their time as women were carrying most domestic and emotional labour in the home.

[kiararodriguez]

The background vocals being children at the end enrages me and breaks my heart. This is a masterpiece. Every little detail is perfect

[rini]

the line "therpist, mother, maid, nymph then a virgin, nurse then a servant" stuck out to me a lot, women are expected to be perfect and be everything in one, couldnt have said it better

[hee-hoo]

“I know you’re a smart man, and weaponize false incompetence. It’s dominance under a guise” THAT FUCKING LINE AND THE SUBSEQUENT LINES HIT HARD. This whole song is so beautiful and heartbreaking yet at the end so strong

[nikolettperedi]

The feeling I get from this song is so ancient and so deep, I feel like all the rage from thousands of years of oppression to the women of all history is united into this song and it's incredibly powerful

[taylorbalon]

This song unleashed something very scary and emotional inside me. It’s like suddenly I’m feeling all the grief, suffering and anger of every women since the dawn of time.

[quaryn]

Every time I hear "the capillaries in my eyes are bursting" I remember my friend Freyja, whose ex-husband strangled her to death. Rest in power, bright star.

[airheadmikito]

What struck me about this song is that EVERY woman knows of another woman being treated like this or has gone through it herself. No sister is untouched. And there's a deep, deep fury about that. Even if not personally, throughout history, women know.

[lachlainegordon]

When she grabbed the pomegranate to signify her enjoying the fruits of her own labour was just and pomegranates have long been a symbol of womanhood bc they represent periods. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

[soullessnstereo]

The fact the marriage candle beside him has NEVER been lit and her's has burnt down. Every little detail is feminine perfection.

[kiterafrey]

Even if the man you choose isn't like this, EVERY woman feels this song to their core. If not our lovers - our fathers, our society, our religion...all crashing in on us.