( Hayden’s Version) Tommy’s Party - Peach Pit
Project Backstory:
Everyone has a song you have to skip on your playlist because of the memories it brings back. Think about your own music archive, what song brings out hidden emotions and summertime memories? What song makes you feel confident and comfortable to let loose and dance? These are questions I started to ask myself and others reflecting on our personal connections to music.
Whatever it may be, my goal of this project is to discover stories underneath songs that are connected to the listener. A focus on discovering people’s personal connection to music. Collaborating with the model to find what emotions, visuals and stories are evoked by their song of choice.
Next chapter in this series let me introduce you to Hayden. We started this collaboration thinking about the song Tommy’s Party by Peach Pit.
UPDATE: 2022 !!!!
The band who wrote the song "Tommy's Party" Peach Pit responded to this art project. Truly meant a lot to hear back from the band and have them read this article about the inspiration the song had on making this photo series.
Why did you pick this song for the photoshoot?
Hayden: I picked the song Tommy’s party by Peach Pit because it gives an honest and nostalgic feeling. The song Tommy’s party reminds me of spending a lot of time with a past girlfriend’s friend group and the impact it had on my life. This is one of those songs I have to skip when it comes on because it brings back memories. This song blends together a lot of those memories of parties, new people and friends and repetitiveness of the lyrics embody that. When I hear this song I picture all of our old get togethers and parts where the instrumental makes me think of the fast forward of life. I picture a party scene bathroom covered in debris of confetti. For this shoot we added balloons and streamers and confetti to give the nostalgia of the party and champagne to loosen the mood. The end of the song picks up and crashes into a single guitar pluck. This ending of the song described how I felt during that relationship, the slowest of lows and crash of the high.
What lyrics of the song do you connect with and why?
Hayden: I connect with the line “I never caught her name but she was fucked up too…”. This line reminds me of making friends and being introduced to people and never taking the chance to get to know them more. I feel like I missed out on connections and romanticized what it would have been like if we were friends. Another line I connect with is, “You barely spoke a word to me besides that slurred hello…”. This line of the song reminds me of the impact of meeting new people in my life. I think about how many times that I was introduced to someone and never caught their name or attempted to get to know them. However the song relates to the one time in my life I actually tried to catch someone's name and tried to pursue a new friendship and lead to so many twists and turns in my life. Playing the game “among us” at a friend get together is where I was able to expand my social circle during the pandemic. My friends would invite new people and we would get drunk and play. This game had a domino effect which caused a catalyst of unimaginable events in my life. This event led to me dating a girl and meeting influential people who changed my perspectives.
Thinking about the song and love.. What is love to you?
Hayden: Love should be as easy as breathing and you should feel everything when you're with them and nothing without them. Love should also feel miserable at the same time. You should find peace from verbal disputes with your partner. At the end of the day you still love them and fight for the unit. I think love and hate are partnered and they take time and work on both sides.
What is something you would tell your younger self?
Hayden: Distract yourself with more positive and productive things. I would say this to my younger self because I struggle with escapism. In the past I would chase girls and chase drinks to escape. I would give advice to my younger self to choose activities that are more productive and healthy. Similar to the song I feel like it describes an escape of a lost love and party scene with friends.
The location was inspired by a late night after party. Hayden emphasized that “we picked the bathroom as the location because it was related to the song disappearing from the party. Although it seemed like such a weird location it fit the aesthetic of an after party escape and it reminds me of retreating to temporarily silence from a party”. We added props such as streamers, a bathtub full of balloons, confetti and plenty of champagne.
Hayden had full control over the outfit and I gave him support to express his personal style through the shoot. Hayden described his style saying,” whenever you go out I feel most confident in a pop of color so I chose a red patterned dress shirt. Black is my favorite color and fashion staple so I choose black pants. The pearl necklace was my favorite part of the outfit to add a little bit of flair. The overall outfit gave off a 70’s modern vibe to fit the mood of the shoot.”
Overall the shoot came together to paint a picture of the nostalgia of a party scene and past relationships. This song puts into words that haze of lost love and drunk reflections and conversations. Making us overthink of what was and what could be.
********Behind the Scenes****
