The Artist Explains: Carla Stark - 'Wallpaper'
Singer-songwriter Carla Stark and director Sitanshu Datta speak to us about the fresh and empowering music video for ‘Wallpaper’, which is an anthem that aims to encourage those who feel invisible to embrace their power.
Where was the video for 'Wallpaper' filmed?
Carla Stark
It was filmed in Mumbai, India. When I’m not in Belgium, India is my second home and while I was there for another project, I asked my great friend Sitanshu Datta if he felt like shooting a music video. This whole thing started with a group of friends sitting on a couch in my living room in India throwing ideas around thinking “Oh yes, that’d be awesome!”.
How does the video connect with the song?
Carla Stark
The funny thing about this video/song combination is that for once, the idea of the video came before I wrote the lyrics. I had this beat that I wanted to sing to and we started discussing the video and the lyrics came after. But, as always when I’m writing, the lyrics finally took a direction of their own and we made sure the concept of the video we had in mind would match it. Overall I think it works because this song is about telling people who feel invisible or transparent that they actually have power, and Sitanshu managed to make it look very empowering. We also wanted a very visual video, full of pop colours, but a little psychedelic like some of the sounds in the beats tend to indicate, and again, Sitanshu did a great job at that.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you could share with us?
Carla Stark
There’s too many to be all told ! First, when you see the video looking like that, you can’t imagine that we shot this during the monsoon season in Mumbai, and that it was POURING outside ! We thought “thank god we don’t have to record any sound” as we could hear the rain so badly inside the studio ! But then mostly it was fun how so many things we’ve used in the video are stuff that popped into our head on the day of the shoot. All the shots of me lying in the leaves on the ground came from my boyfriend Mohit saying “we only used the leaves once… Don’t you think we can do something else with it?”, and although it doesn’t look the same, the faux fur that’s covering me is actually the same coat I am wearing in the beginning. All of this turned out to be some of our favourite shots ! But I think the most fun moment was the denim jacket falling off my shoulder during one shot and me continuing to dance without realising it until Sitanshu (who was looking at the shot in the camera and noticed we saw things we were not supposed to see) yelled “Cut! Cut! Cut fast!”.
Can you tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used?
Sitanshu Datta - Director
We had such a clear brief in mind, we wanted to show this girl alone and so the choice of having an all white studio, with a plain white background was evident to us, it would represent some kind of void, something somehow loners are associated with. And with the white background, we had plenty of room to play. The idea was to have a strong contrast between what she seems to be surrounded with (all white plain) and what she truly has inside of her, hence the contrasting patterns appearing in her body for which we used a green swimsuit as a green screen to incorporate the images. And as the song goes on, the idea is what she is inside becomes contagious and somehow all the space is affected and goes wild with colours, patterns and a lot of kaleidoscopes. She feels stronger than ever when she sings that invisibility is her superpower ! The abstract imagery and avant garde visuals are there to support the ethos of the song and that’s what we wanted to bring out.
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
Carla Stark
I think what we’ve been trying to say is that when you’re the kind of person who feels invisible, you shouldn’t take it as something bad, but instead try to see it as a gift. People often use the word “wallpaper” to describe people who don’t matter, who you don’t even notice are in the room, we wanted to change this perception and make “wallpaper” somehow sexy and empowered. When you’re a shy person or an introvert, there’s this notion that you should put yourself more out there, that you’re not doing everything right, but the thing is, being super social or confident in public doesn’t necessarily make you comfortable with yourself. If you look at it, in the video, I am very at ease with my movements and I am empowered, but I’m alone, I’m in my comfort zone, and there’s nothing wrong with being the kind of person who likes to shine for themselves and on their own. Even though the lyrics are directed at somebody else and kind of put this power of being invisible to good use to spy on someone you can’t trust, the video is more personal.
Interview by Karla Harris