Foxes ‘Love Not Loving You’ By The Mill’s Rauri Cantelo
‘Love Not Loving You’ is bold, buoyant, and transports you to the light at the end of the tunnel – the power to press play again after pressing pause. It is the beacon of strength, independence and empowerment she felt when reconnecting with herself, and describes it as “This song is about finally falling in love with myself, about not depending on anyone else for my own happiness, And being able to stand on my own two feet. I hope the message in this song can inspire others to do the same.”
The official video is inherently and unapologetically feminist. Inspired by her own hiatus and journey to self-love and empowerment, Louisa wanted to celebrate the women before her – using classical paintings where traditionally the women were simply the muse, and unleashing their power as beautiful, creative, women, and not just the product of the man behind the painting. The video was directed by The Mills Rauri Cantelo, though with the current lockdown in the UK, Louisa was forced to go completely DIY and shoot the video at home, by herself on her phone, with just her mum and her dog in the room and the rest of the team watching on video call.
The Mill’s Director Rauri Cantelo states ’After receiving the track from Louisa and listening on repeat, I began noticing various family members bopping to it around the house and humming the chorus over and over again, revealing to me that despite having deeper more serious tones about past relationships and dark moments in Lou’s life, there was a really strong echo of affirmation, personal development and self care in the lyrics, in short – this track was ultimately a very positive one. One that needed to be accompanied by brightly coloured, fun and somewhat ‘catchy’ visuals that tastefully and respectfully co-existed alongside the underlying message beneath the track.
As many creatives have found out during this time, working with very limited ‘ingredients’ due to the lockdown restrictions in the UK at the time really allowed us to push to the very edges of what we would be able to achieve in Louisa’s apartment, exploring projection and lighting techniques to ‘bring the outside in’, and to utilise every inch of her space.
Establishing a clear set of tests and design guidelines with Jo Guthrie (designer) meant we were able to show proof of concept very early on, it also meant we were able to outline the the ‘do’s and don’ts’ for our collage elements, as we were looking to enhance Louisa’s message not cover it up!’.
