After taking a stance on female body rights in her last single, Toronto-based artist Puma June returns with another poignant track "Love Comes & Goes." The reflective ballad sees her looking deep into the complexities of women's health and the struggles people rarely speak of. Bolstered by solemn keys that evoke bittersweet emotions, Puma June transmutes her real-life experience into wax as she ruminates on how the female body changes and the domino effects of being trapped in a responsive body. Lines like "Showing love is power when it's over/Never gave me any kind of closure/I'm someone you'll never meet/ worsens when you're older but love comes and goes," underscore the fleeting nature of youth, the helplessness that some might feel over time but ultimately it's about acceptance and making the best out of it no matter the cards you're dealt.
The accompanying music video explores the song from a different perspective, as director Arden Grier uses it to celebrate the 100th birthday of their grandmother “Nonna” Bernita Smith. Nonna turned 100 on International Women’s Day and has been an activist and singer throughout her lifetime. The video shifts the lyrics' meaning to self-love/joy in aging and pushes against the rhetoric that women’s value depletes as we age. The ultimate lesson here is although bodies and abilities change, one's true worth remains fixed.
“Love Comes & Goes” draws from Puma June’s own experience, inspired by a phone call from her doctor that left her grappling with the possibility of never having children.
“Love Comes & Goes,” serves as the focal point of her debut A Woman That They Want EP, a collection of songs exploring the complexity of self-love, vulnerability, and strength. It represents the journey of finding one’s place in a world that too often tries to shrink women into something less.
Press photos by FOX REVETT.
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