When we first introduced Seersha via the premiere of her haunting debut single, “Wasteland,” we learned the Atlanta songwriter had recently returned home after a stint in Nashville composing country songs for other artists. Despite its lucrative possibilities, she found the work to be far too mechanical, impersonal, and, frankly, corporate for her to continue, so she turned her back on Music City and started embracing the intimacy and freedom her new solo work provided her.
With her second single, “Paper,” Seersha continues to explore a melancholy world carved out by brooding synths, brittle snares, and crisp hi-hats. A pulsing bassline adds a touch of ominous tension, setting the stage for a stark, atmospheric track that explores issues of corrupted values, materialism, and self-worth. “Little pieces of paper, you are all I need,” she croons over the soaring chorus before tumbling into the subverted nursery rhyme couplets of the song’s mercurial bridge. It’s a bit of a gambit to appropriate a children’s prayer and not have it sound contrived, but Seersha’s breathless delivery helps coat the passage in a murky haze that suits the track’s subject.
“That children’s prayer just fit so well for me as I was thinking about the pursuit of money as a religion in our culture,” Seersha explains via email. “When it comes down to it, corporations are people—I mean literally, a corporation is treated by the law as a person. So the song is meant to be personal—can we each look in the mirror and honestly answer ‘who do I serve’ and feel good about that answer? What happens when people start to value ‘little pieces of paper’ more than lives (their own, the lives of others…)?”
Created by Seersha herself, the accompanying video utilizes a steady procession of flashing corporate logos and found footage to paint a picture of a debased culture that kneels before money and corporate interests above all else. Any sense of subtlety is lost amidst the cartoonish imagery of nefarious CEOs and the intermingled shots of cash, Congress, and Wall Street, but who has time for niceties when you’re battling for your soul?
Seersha’s self-titled debut is out May 12.
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