Video: Dahrio Wonder: "I Surrender"

Many of us have been the other (wo)man before and had to deal with the frustration that comes from loving someone who loves some one else more. Often times we rationalize our convictions and convince ourselves that they love us more but are tied to that person by circumstance. Sometimes this is the case. Oftentimes it is not.  In "I Surrender" Dahrio Wonder expresses this tug of war between perception and reality and tries to unravel his addiction to a woman who simultaneously fills and drains him. It's an exhausting endeavor to be sure.

The song is aided tremendously by an amazing video by Ella Camellia of LOUDreams. Her work glows with warm hues and emotional depth that tells Dahrio's story even when the audio is muted. You can feel the hot and cold nature of his predicament as he alternates between basking in her affection and standing in lonely shadows. The whole video he finds solace in their intimate moments, while staving off a glowing room at the end of a dark hallway–his subconscious. It's nagging presence will eventually force him to stand face-to-face with what he already knows–that she is married to and in love with someone else. There is little worse then opening yourself up, only to find that you've fallen in love with a charade–that you are just her escape from him.

Director Ella Camellia was drawn to the project because it allowed her to explore the complexities of a simple concept like love in a very real way.  Wonder and actors Noemi Gonzalez and Erol Dolen translated her vision perfectly, exploring love and art simultaneously. "I was inspired to make the love interest an artist because I think that that the role of the artist is romantic." explains Camellia.  "Artists are free, uninhibited, and easily forgiven."  

Ella Camellia is a budding film maker from the Bay Area who is currently finishing up her degree in Film and Television at UCLA. An Oakland girl and world traveler, Camellia is a passionate and educated director and producer invested in making her mark in an art form with a shortage of women. Her producing prowess earned her a trip to the Cannes Film Festival in 2010 and has made her an important asset of LOUDreams, a creative collective founded in 2008. Check out her amazing work on Dahrio Wonder's "I Surrender" video, and be on the look out for her next project with Oakland duo Los Rakas. 

Also, find the mp3 of "I Surrender" on the December 2010 edition of 38thnotes's The Bay Abridged mixtape.