On top of loving our hometown heroes, sometimes here at AP, we get to meet some super cool touring artists, and love to shout out their work. Montreal’s Maryze, an R&B singer, who toured through the Boston area for the first time back in May when she played the Lilypad in Inman Square, has been a new fav of ours in 2019. This week, she premiered a new video for her song “B.O.Y.” It serves as a follow-up to “Soft,” making it the second track from Maryze’s EP Like Moons to get the visual treatment. 

Whether singing in English or French, Maryze has proven to be adept at writing sensitive R&B ballads that speak to self-acceptance and overcoming trauma. The singer isn’t shy about speaking up about the messages behind her songs, either. “B.O.Y.” stands for “because of you,” and it’s about Maryze empowering herself to overcome toxic patterns, both internal and external. “I wrote it at a scary time when I had become very self-destructive while combating depression and anxiety following sexual assault.” 

Maryze found a great collaborator in director Malaika Astorga, a Mexican-Canadian artist who – along with a photography team of Claire Loewen and Hailey Crossman – lent the video its ethereal visual aesthetic. “Working with Malaika was a dream – it felt like she could read my mind and perfectly understood the symbolism I wanted to portray in the video.” To summon the witchiest vibe possible for the shoot, the singer and director pulled inspiration from their respective ancestral backgrounds: Malaika’s Oaxacan lineage of healers and Maryze’s of Celtic witchcraft. The video hinges on the creation of a ritual circle of protection with personal items, a visual metaphor the team came up with to show the transformation of pain to power. 

Check out the video for “B.O.Y.” below.