nilufer yanya like i say i runaway
Molly Daniel

Nilüfer Yanya plays a hesitant bride in new video for “Like I Say (I runaway)”

It’s been two years since Nilüfer Yanya shared her stunning second album, PAINLESS, but today she’s returned with a fuzzy new single, “Like I Say (I runaway),” which comes with a music video directed by her sister Molly Daniel.

In the visual, Yanya stars as a runaway bride who flees into the woods in search of something greater — time. Overtop a thick, distorted guitar line that wouldn’t sound out of place on a ’90s college radio station, she comes to realize how precious the seconds are. “It’s about how you choose to spend your time,” Yanya says of the song. “Time is like a currency, every moment. You’re never going to get it back. It’s quite an overwhelming thing to realize.”

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“Like I Say (I runaway)” was also written in collaboration with her longtime creative partner Wilma Archer (Sudan Archives, MF DOOM), who had a heavy influence on both PAINLESS and Miss Universe. “I’m really honored, basically, that we have that crazy friendship, and it got to that place where we could make so much music,” Yanya told us in 2022, reflecting upon their partnership.

See the Daniel-directed video for “Like I Say (I runaway)” below.

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