I think my goal is to thrive on my own and help those I care about thrive. Greya's new single 'Thrive" talks about when that feeling is derived from toxic and more manipulative means of just attention.
Greya makes a statement about toxic relationship cycles in her anthemic pop track "Thrive". Her voice is incredible and "Thrive" is a solid song that belongs in everyone's playlist. The way she talks about her emotions in this one sided relationship in which there is this sense of love bombing or flighty affection to continue stringing her along really exposes this relationship for what it is.
Now, Greya has released the video for “Thrive,” which was brilliantly shot by up-and-coming director, Hannah Hall.
“The song itself is fairly straightforward, so we really wanted the video to capture the feelings and emotions that come with a toxic relationship,” shares Greya.
“You see me alone outside a gas station, going through a kind of mourning. This is then contrasted with an ideal relationship, which we personified at the beach. Hannah and I got this video together within three days of deciding to collaborate. It was a bit of Hail Mary, timing wise, and both of us were a little blown away by how well it all came together.”
“Shooting the video for ‘Thrive’ definitely brought Greya and I closer together,” shares Hall.
“She is an immense talent. And the video came as a great artistic opportunity and challenge. Start to finish, through pre-production and final edit, we spent three days on the project. It was improvisational and emotional. Greya has undeniable chemistry with the camera; she has a way of performing with such honesty and sincerity, almost begging you to feel the things her character is feeling. It was a phenomenal experience getting to make a little bit of magic with her.”
A Philadelphia native, Greya began singing in earnest at age nine, picked up the guitar at 10, and started writing by 11.
“From the time I can remember, I thought, I’m going to be a singer,” Greya says. “I was so confident and into it. It wasn’t a matter of if. It was when. Both Greya and her twin sister were born deaf, and while both girls regained hearing at about two-months-old, Greya’s appreciation and pursuit of sound can’t help but be shaped in part by the realization that for her, it almost didn’t exist at all. “I think about it sometimes––if my hearing hadn’t developed, I wouldn’t be able to do everything I do now,” she says. “I feel very lucky. Everything I love to do is centered around listening.”
As an independent artist, Greya’s first release “He,” which she wrote with Grammy-winning producer Shannon Sanders (John Legend) and recorded at Sanders’ Nashville studio, quickly rose to over 400K streams and over four million TikTok views. Last summer’s aforementioned “All Hell Breaks Loose” highlighted Greya’s ability to blend elements of EDM, big melodies and vintage pop, while kicking us upside the head with her powerhouse vocals. Earmilk called “All Hell Breaks Loose” a “single that like erupting magma is hot and brilliant, smoldering long after its initial blast.” Watch the official music video, directed by in demand photographer / visual artist Malike Sidibe (recent work featured in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Washington Post) HERE.
Previously, Greya’s early demos opened doors to collaborations with heavy hitters like Sacha Skarbek (Adele, Lana Del Ray), Jasper Leak (Sia), and Flo Reuter (Sigrid). In the fall of 2018, Greya set up shop in a farm studio just outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, and recorded a standout round of original pop songs that led to shows at SXSW, the Cannes Film Festival, and other highlight performances.
“I want every song people hear of mine to provoke a physical reaction in their body, proclaims Greya. “Whether it’s tapping or pressure building in their chest or wanting to cry or punch something.
MORE INFORMATION ON VIDEO: The director Hannah and I got this video together within three days of deciding to collaborate. It was kind of a Hail Mary timing wise, and both of us were a little blown away by how well it all came together. She’s 20 years old and insanely talented. She directed, shot, and edited the entire thing in a matter of days. The set was three girls under 25, Tony, who plays the love interest, and Hannah’s assistant. I’d never been on a set of people all basically my age, and it was one of my best experiences so far. We drove to an abandoned gas station in east Nashville for one of the scenes and froze our asses off the entire time. My two roommates came with to help with lighting and it was just so fun, we passed around a bottle of whiskey to stay warm and laughed the entire time. The whole thing felt like I was just hanging out with my friends, and I’m definitely going to try and make every shoot going forward feel like that.
FROM HANNAH: The video for “Thrive” by Greya came as a great artistic opportunity and challenge. Start to finish, through pre-production and final edit, we spent 3 days on the project. It was improvisational and cold and emotional and brought us close to the song and close together. It was primarily just us three women on either side of the camera charged with making a piece visually representative of a song about longing and frustration within romanticizing modern relationship dynamics. The use of the color red felt appropriate as red is often the color of love and anger and in some cultures worn to funerals, and in all of these, red is also a color often associated with courage which I have taken to mean bravery through vulnerability. The use of isolated locations such as Percy Priest Lake and an abandoned store front in East Nashville, TN and wide angle shots are representative of our protagonist taking on the world alone. She looking for a man who seems to come to her only in memory, and I think as many of us have suffered heartbreak, the feeling of being so small and looking over your shoulder for someone you long for feels familiar. After suffering heartbreak the world tends to hold a greater weight to it and it feels automatically bigger and stranger than before. The performance of Tony Woodland, who plays the ex-boyfriend, was pulled into both the shorefront and bedroom sequences to showcase the nostalgia in people being associated with places and those places calling back the memory of people, even if they do not physically exist in them anymore. Greya has undeniable chemistry with the camera; she has a way of performing with such honesty and sincerity, almost begging you to feel the things her character is feeling. Tenfold a phenomenal experience getting to kick around at a lake and drink and share stories and make a little bit of magic!
