Paris Paloma is building a community of feminine solidarity

thoughts on Cacophony by Paris Paloma, The Cacophony Tour and feminist community building <3

note: I wrote this at the end of last year but never got around to posting it, hence the concert being so long ago. I hope you like it <3

I first discovered Paris Paloma when a close friend played me labour in the car, driving through a forest. Paris Paloma is a British singer-songwriter from Ashbourne, Derbyshire. The song labour gained attention last year on TikTok and is about women’s unpaid emotional and physical labour in heterosexual relationships. It’s currently going viral again after the US Election, in light of women’s rights such as abortion rights being under attack in Donald Trump's presidency. Since labour, Paris’ career has taken off and she is often described as the voice of women across generations.

Her debut album, Cacophony, is a folk-pop masterpiece that showcases how capable she is as a songwriter and artist. What sets Paris Paloma apart from other musicians is that she creates her own art, for example, she has drawn cover art for Cacophony. Paris Paloma studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths University in London, and her music is largely influenced by literature, fiction, and mythology, which she uses to tell stories from her personal life.

Becoming a voice for the feminist movement

Paris Palomas' songs explore themes of girlhood, growing up, and her role as a woman in relationships. She’s great at capturing small mundane interactions in a way which feels inherently feminist to document, like in this verse in labour where she explains weaponised incompetence through a dinner scene. The power is in the details:

“Apologies from my tongue, and never yours

Busy lapping from flowing cup and stabbing with your fork

I know you're a smart man (I know you're a smart man), and weaponise

The false incompetence, it's dominance under a guise”

In an interview for the podcast Name 3 Songs Paris states that her music, primarily labour, is often described as a song about womanhood, whilst Paris would argue it’s about patriarchy and exploitation. Paris writes to tell stories from her life. Cacophony is about finding her voice as a young woman with patriarchy as the antagonist. Unfortunately, to be a woman is to constantly be fighting against the patriarchy and the two are inevitably tied together. Paris is a woman and a feminist and all of her music is always written from that lens, but she is also simply writing about her experience as a person and has kind of accidentally become a voice for the feminist movement. This is a result of millions of women, as well as other oppressed groups such as the queer community, feeling seen by her storytelling, which is endlessly powerful.

Paris Paloma at Lille Vega, Copenhagen <3

Building community

It’s no secret that music made by women and queer people has dominated the charts in 2024. The biggest artists being Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, Chappell Roan and of course Taylor Swift. Paris Paloma is a much smaller artist, and not exactly following in their footsteps, but building her own creative community of girls and queers that like fairies, witchy things, reading, Hozier and frolicking in nature. Trends that have all been huge on Pinterest, that Paris uses in her marketing.

Building community has always been massively important for artists. Recently, we've witnessed The Eras Tour have great success with ideas such as friendship bracelets, dressing up as your favourite era and more becoming an integrated part of the fan experience. This is a sign that someone is building a strong foundation, which in Paris' case is much smaller than Taylor Swift's universe, but solid and built on solidarity between women.

parispaloma

A post shared by @parispaloma

The Cacophony Tour is stacked with community-building activities. Before the start of the tour, she posted a Cacophony Tour Guide on Instagram. This included a book box where fans were encouraged to swap books. If you swap a book you get a special bookmark with Paris art, as well as a stamp on your book. She also encouraged fans to bring fairy notes — small folded pieces of paper with messages, song lyrics, drawings, stickers and pins. In addition, there is a dress code, where you can dress in your best fairycore or Paris Paloma-inspired outfit. Paris also hosts a Discord server where fans can find each other and go together. as well as share videos from the show, outfit inspiration and inspiration for fairy notes.

parispaloma

A post shared by @parispaloma

The Cacophony Tour Experience

I had the pleasure of seeing Paris Paloma at Lille Vega in Copenhagen on September 15th, 2024. I prepared fairy notes and a book. The activities served as an icebreaker for fans to talk to each other. From other fans, I received: a note of someone’s favourite songs, hopeful messages, stickers, a bookmark with Robert Pattinson edited into a forest with fairies, pins and notes with lyrics and drawings from Paris’s songs. It was exciting to see what everyone had come up with as Paris has a community full of creatives who really put thought into their fairy notes.

When Paris came on stage, she said the words “I’m a bit ill today so you guys will have to be extra loud” and proceeded to sing some of the most beautiful vocals I’ve ever heard. Her voice has a determination in it and she pronounces every with intention. The acoustics filled the small room full of girls who had tears streaming down their faces, shocked by the beauty of her voice and her story and likely how they related it to their own lives.

When Paris played knitting song she explained that the song is about how all her relationships with women are interlinked. knitting song details an afternoon spent on the couch knitting with a friend. In the song she is reminded of when her grandmother taught her to knit. Paris spoke about how she sees her grandmother in her friends and her sister and highlighted how grateful she is for her relationships with other women. Something which I do not think get’s explored in art enough.

After the show in Paris, a video of Paris Paloma dancing with fans after the show in a so-called fairy circle - holding hands and running around in a circle, gained attention on social media. This inspired fans in Copenhagen to do the same. A communal dance was a perfect way to end the night before we all left the fairyland and returned to our normal lives.

parispaloma

A post shared by @parispaloma

Since the European tour Paris Paloma has toured the United Kingdom. This March, she is embarking on the North American leg of The Cacophony Tour. Don’t miss out on a chance to hear one of the greatest performers in music right now, and be a part of her incredible community.

Artists like Paris Paloma who write eloquently about her experience as a woman are more important than ever in this violent patriarchal political climate, whether you are in the States or elsewhere. Finding a community of people who bring a sense of hope, openness and solidarity can make it all feel lighter, even for just one night or one song.

If you liked this and would like to read more from me, please subscribe to indie pop diaries. I also want to say a warm welcome to all the new people who have joined since I released the article about my thesis on shame in lesbian music. I have been working on indie pop diaries for over a year so it is absolutely incredible to finally get people who interact with my writing. I don’t take it for granted and I promise there is much more to come <3

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