Finneas and Claudia Sulewski on Romantic Clichés and Their Mona Lisa–Inspired New Music Video

There are all of those very charming romantic clichés that seem to fit with that energy—of the two of you running along the beach, or kissing in front of the Eiffel Tower…

Finneas: The song is all autobiographical. Sometimes I make a point to write songs that are not true, but with this one, I was like, I’m just gonna write a song where every detail is something that actually happened, even down to the name of the bar we went to on our first date. I’ve made a lot of videos I’m really proud of up to this point, but they’re often a little more theatrical or in a performance setting, where I’m running around and dancing and wearing interesting clothing. With a song that’s so truthful and intimate, I think that juxtaposition would have felt odd. There was almost nothing more accurate to the song than having Claudia—who is already a kind of documentarian of our lives—do it. I love her eye, and her editing, and of course, I love her. To me, you should collaborate with people if you’re in a position to trust them. And in true trusting fashion, I only made one suggestion, which got ignored.

Sulewski: [Laughs.] Wait, what was it? I don’t remember.

Finneas: I think I said that because it’s about our first date, and there’s footage from not long after we got together, as Claudia films all the time, maybe we could use some of that? But I’m grateful that she didn’t feel like, Oh, I have to take his stupid idea. I feel like I’m always trying to find people that are going to have a better idea than I am, and Claudia definitely does.

How much planning went into the video, and how much of it was spontaneous?

Sulewski: We just winged it, which is a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing in the sense that it gives you flexibility. I think one of the shots that I love most is just the montage of us changing positions in bed. The bed had a frame, so I was able to tie the camera with a bathrobe belt and mount it right above us. So the blessing is having that flexibility, and knowing, alright, a lot of this footage is going to be shaky, a lot of it is going to be on the move, but embracing that sense of chaos. And the curse of it is once you get into your editing hole, you’re like, Is this really the only shot that we got of the Mona Lisa? So you sort of have to sacrifice or settle with what you have, like, This is what I have to work with, so how can I make it the best that it can be?