Written by Mia Tallulah
If you are a fan of hard-hitting music on a windy drive or dreaming up imaginary arguments in your bedroom, Paris Paloma’s new single ‘Stem the Flow’ is a much needed addition for your feminist heartbreak playlist. The song, released ahead of her upcoming second album ‘The Fatal Flaw’, is reminiscent of her more popular track ‘Labour’, setting up her album as an angsty, powerful feminist collection of music, yet with an even more intimate edge.
Contrary to her previous release,‘Stem the Flow’ is not a loud, immediate explosion of anger. Rather, the track captures the essence of a rising of a storm, opening with a quieter sense of defeat before growing into something much more desperate and powerful. Paloma’s voice moves between tones of soft confession and deep frustration, with the effect of a diary entry that has finally been read aloud.
The lyrics explore the building frustration that somebody is unable to love them the way you need them too, primarily depicting a failed relationship. As the song unravels, the anger widens from frustration at a romantic relationship to perhaps a lack of paternal love and care, depicting a pattern. The lyrics “I wasn’t born an angry child, but I became an angry man” are particularly heart-shredding in the way they comment on anger being learned rather than being naturally ingrained into her DNA. The use of “man” is particularly interesting coming from a female artist, as it directs the line from general frustration to particular fear of developing a similar anger to a specific individual, inferring that she has inherited a pattern from a male figure in her life.
‘Stem the Flow’ makes it clear that Paloma is not interested in romanticising heartbreak, but rather capturing the raw, messy, humane turmoil that accompanies a failed relationship. It provides a glimpse of the intimate, emotional themes that will likely be explored in ‘Fatal Flaw’ when it is released in September.
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