Dora Paphides
Singer-songwriter Eaves Wilder fires back at a manipulative ex on "I Stole Your Jumper," her cathartic and delightfully petty new single. Taking an item of clothing may not be the boldest act of revenge but Wilder makes it clear in her scuzzy indie-pop tune that she'd have gone further if she had the courage. "I know that patience is a virtue but then I think of all the ways I want to hurt you," she sings over chugging guitars as she imagines spitting and screaming at the partner who wronged her. Alas, politeness gets in the way and she laments that, insead, "I just take it out on myself."
The song is Wilder's first on her new label Secretly Canadian with the London teenager joining a roster that includes Skullcrusher and Faye Webster. It comes with a Thelma & Louise-style video directed by Eaves and her older sister Dora. The jumper, a yellow smiley face sweater, becomes a substitute for the ex and is duly dragged through the mud as Eaves purges herself of the bad times.
“’I Stole Your Jumper’ is a song I wrote during lockdown, a time when I was ready to give up on music," Eaves tells The FADER via email. "An experience I had with a boy had given me writer's block for over a year and I was suffering quietly, being the ‘bigger person’ as women are often expected to do. The songs I was writing were from the narrative of a victim and they were boring, so I decided to write from a bitter and childish perspective instead. Living out my revenge through my lyrics brought me so much joy, and freed me of my writer's block."
Check out the "I Stole Your Jumper" video below.