AViVA - MELANCHOLY

What this video is

Released August 2021 during ongoing COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, MELANCHOLY marked AViVA's Capitol Records debut and arrival on a major label after years of independent streaming success surpassing three billion combined streams. The video's imagery — institutional confinement (hospital beds, school desks), domestic decay, and reflective isolation — resonated acutely within a global cultural moment defined by…

Why it matters

MELANCHOLY is a defining artifact of early-2020s electro-emo pop, demonstrating how the genre merged minimalist electronic production with confessional alt-rock lyricism and punk visual aesthetics for a streaming-native, TikTok-era audience. Its rapid-cut visual grammar and symbolic set-piece…

The director

AViVA is a Sydney-born multidisciplinary artist and author who first emerged in 2017 with the single 'GRRRLS' and has since surpassed three billion combined streams. Jeffeton James is a long-time creative collaborator of AViVA, co-directing multiple visual…