Canadian folk songstress, Victoria Staff, draws on the labors of love, loss, and her background surrounding mental health in her therapeutic new video single, “Records and Honesty.”
The burgeoning indie songwriter draws from her own sometimes painful experiences, and her newest release explores the ‘will they/won’t they’ relationship catalyst through a journey of all too common self-healing.
The video features the songstress in her apartment grappling with the all too familiar question “what could’ve been?” after a final walk home with a special someone, with the two amicably agreeing to go their own ways.
But is this what she really wants? Was this the right decision? Should she race back to him and ask him to stay?
Lounging by a pile of records and novels, surrounded by the words from writers that have come before her, Staff throws herself into her art, journaling her way through heartache.
As the video progresses, Staff trades a glass of red wine and contemplation for a guitar. Her artistic influence soon takes over as her pain pools into passion, slowly transforming a painful circumstance into a source of pride.
Soothing yet somber with poignant lyricism, “Records and Honesty” approaches life’s next chapter and healing in a holistic fashion that carries into an atmosphere of hope after hurt.
“The song is basically about shooting your shot,” explains Staff. “This song was everything I wanted to say if I ever had the guts to tell him.”
The first song being released from Staff’s upcoming EP, “Records and Honesty” is a defining moment for Staff as a songwriter, and her video adds an extra element to her emerging artistic catalogue.
“It’s funny when you get to keep a song and leave the boy behind. This song used to make me cry because I was so infatuated with this person, and this reminded me of him, but now it makes me so happy because I’m so proud of it.”
After getting her degree in Behavioral Neuroscience, Staff is now utilizing her passion for people by creating cathartic music for listeners to “find therapy in her music, the way she did in creating it.”
With years of experience songwriting and playing shows in Vancouver and beyond, Staff’s golden-hued voice carries the weight of her grievances evocatively. “Records and Honesty” is a comfort blanket, enveloping the listener from the opening chord to its final moments of vulnerability, and the video displays this most effectively.
