Somme’s Debut Video Is Not Your Typical LGBTQ Love Story

Unrequited love is a fact of life. It trips us up, leaving us to question our emotional well-being, worthiness, and lovability. For rising L.A. artist Somme, it's the genesis of a stellar debut song and video.

"Long Time" is, according to Somme, about "a relationship that ultimately went nowhere." It exists in that troublesome middle ground between holding on to the love you have in your head and coming to terms with the fact that this love is not how you imagine it to be. In Somme's case, that love involved a girl from her past and the realization that this girl couldn't answer all Somme's big life questions—only Somme herself could do that. 

Photographer and director Lindsey Byrnes tells us she "really wanted to visually express the advice that I have heard over and over: love yourself and eventually, you will be able to share love with someone else." Through lush nature shots and choreography performed by the one and only Sam Akins, Byrnes and Somme bring to life a story about learning to let go of a bad relationship and instead embrace the love you feel for yourself. "It became clear that I wasn't singing about that relationship anymore," Somme says, thinking back to her initial frustration with the experience that inspired the song. "I was singing about myself." 

Byrnes pulled together a solid team of queer-identifying people to bring "Long Time" to life. "[Bia Jurema] really nailed the visuals," Byrnes says of the video's director of photography and editor. "I wanted to make a video that was empowering and gender-fluid," she adds. "I want the audience to understand that she is him, he is her, they are her, him are they, and they are them, but if they don’t, that’s okay, too." And, most importantly, the greatest love story isn't the one you have with another; it's the one you have with yourself. After all, you're the one you're stuck with for a lifetime. Can we get an amen?