Cinematographer Chris Ripley brought McLamb’s song to life in 35mm
A year ago, Eliza McLamb opened her second album Good Story with “Better Song,” a stripped-back rock track that set the tone for what was to come. As it opens the world of her attachment to memory and rewriting stories, it picks up into an electric shredding that feels like the tailspin it sings of. It wasn’t one of the four leading singles for the album, but it was a powerful start to the story of Good Story, and it has been given a new life this week.
As McLamb shared with Pleaser over email, Chris Ripley first came to her about “Better Song” in May of this year, connected by Ripley’s girlfriend and McLamb’s friend James Francis. When Ripley wanted to ask a “music video question,” McLamb hadn’t imagined he’d make a proposition to direct — and fund — a cinematic visualizer he’d already conjured in his mind.
Ripley, if you’re unfamiliar, has worked on music videos you are familiar with if you’re a fan of modern pop. He’s credited on Harry Styles’ “American Girls,” Olivia Rodrigo’s “the cure,” Charli XCX’s “SS26,” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild,” among many others. He pitched McLamb with an animatic that would, over the next several months, become the feat that they’ve just released.
In the “Better Song” official music video, McLamb portrays four versions of herself: a popstar living in high-contrast B&W, a holistic believer gone cult inductee in sharp tones, a phone-consumed girl bathed in blue light, and a deeply normal life reflecting her real past jobs in warm saturation. It begins by finding her mid-conversation with her band, explaining, “It’s paralysis, where you have so many things you could do so you just do nothing and…nothing happens to you.” Imagining all the lives we could lead is a feeling plenty of us know, but this project puts into a striking clarity.
Each timeline is defined starkly through visuals and styling — with coloring done by Dante Pasquinelli and styling by Sunny Kern. Ripley describes in an Instagram post shared with Kodak, “Color here was an essential storytelling tool so it was crucial to use a medium that would give us the ability to push the image incredibly far without it breaking.” The result of this combination, plus the added and playful imagery of a dice denoting the numbered timeline, is an image so vivid that the long week of shooting poured into it is entirely tangible.
As McLamb’s followers will know, the “Better Song” video was made with favors, friends and a committed secrecy through it all. It became known as “Secret Eliza Project” on her social media, leaving fans wondering why 20 girls were recruited to wear blue dresses or attend a concert that wasn’t really a concert. It was a reveal well worth the wait, and embodies the kind of storyteller McLamb is. Ripley’s idea that couldn’t be shaken matches the music in artistry and has the unmistakable touch of people who care deeply that their work comes to life right, not just in a way that gets views or happens quickly.
Though the storylines span New York locations from a cabin in the woods to a high-rise office in the city, they all converge in the end, as McLamb’s many selves wander into a creek. The popstar ditches her high production for an off-the-grid farm; Getting away from the screen brings light back to McLamb’s eyes and helps open the door to the real world; She flees from the cult, first calling for help, then runs into the woods; And finally, pulls over after an expensive car fix to find a respite. No matter which path she had followed, she winds up in the same place.
Ripley’s interpretation of “Better Song” and the many hands involved in its making aptly suits the heart of Good Story. It’s the kind of project any set of fans would be thrilled to have uncovered, but having her earnest telling of its conception, makes it even more special for McLamb’s dedicated listeners. It represents a moment of achievement for her work, one that “Better Song” is entirely deserving of.
