Multimedia artist and songwriter Isa Reyes reveals the captivating new single and video for ‘Santiago’ taken from the upcoming debut EP titled BELS. For the accompanying ‘Santiago’ music video, Isa Reyes has collaborated with Lebanese filmmaker Sandy Ismail (Anna Wise, Duendita, Selah) to bring the song and its theme of youth and time further to life. Shot in the California Desert, the visuals represent Isa travelling on a journey to find her “destiny” just like Santiago did in The Alchemist, with Isa’s time capsule representing the memories throughout her life and journey that she wants to savour. Juxtaposing her journey in the desert against her current journey as an artist, Isa injects the ‘Santiago’ video with a certain level of magical surrealism and mysticism that listeners can expect on the rest of her BELS EP.
Speaking about the inspiration behind ‘Santiago’, Isa Reyes says, “‘Santiago’ started with me playing some semblance of a bass line on my mom’s guitar. I added melody and as I went along, I knew I wanted to tell a story with a level of mysticism. Like many do in high school, I read ‘The Alchemist’ and wanted to use the narrative of ‘following your path’ to explore my own in this song. ‘Santiago’ is about listening to your intuition and the signs of the universe in whatever form they present to you. ‘Santiago’ is an homage to my journey and a reminder to me that despite growing up fast, I still have time to embrace my youth and forge my own path, in darker moments, I must remind myself there is so much to live for”.
Despite being a quiet kid, Isa Reyes grew up enmeshed into the New York City music landscape, as well as her parents’ classic record collection, and she began composing music at 13, intertwining her poetry with self-taught ukulele arrangements. Fostered by her multicultural household and surrounded by music from Sam Cooke to Nora Jones, Isa began creating her own music at 15 and eventually joining musical collective MICHELLE, where she cultivated her own unique sound further. Now 22, the NYC native is making genre-defying music to make people feel less alone in the world, and to inspire others to look beyond their circumstance and create within it.
Santiago is out now: http://hyperurl.co/5fgruz
