Samia – 21

A music video for New York-based artist Samia, made in Los Angeles on a minimal budget in 2018. The song sits at the intersection of self-doubt and self-acceptance — the particular discomfort of a milestone birthday that’s supposed to mean something, and the gap between where you are and where you thought you’d be.

The approach was deliberately undramatic. No narrative arc, no visual metaphors pushed too hard. Instead, a single day in an apartment — Samia moving through it, killing time, writing, listening, existing in the way you do when you’re alone with your own thoughts and not quite sure what to do with them. The camera stays close and observational, treating the space and the performance as things worth watching rather than dressing for a bigger idea.

The centrepiece of the film is the wall sequence — a stream of consciousness written directly onto the surface, lyrics and fragments accumulating until the frame is full of words. It’s the kind of set decoration that only works if the performance around it earns it, and Samia’s final turn to lean against it — surrounded by everything she’s put down — lands because the rest of the film has been patient enough to let you settle into her world first.

Shot in a real apartment with a small crew, the limitations shaped the aesthetic in the right direction. Nothing polished that shouldn’t be. also uncontrollable and fun.

Director: Adam Kelly
DP: Jordan van der Weyden
Producer: Laura Wasser
A Hyper House Production