To Donna Missal, Your Face Is Love
Music

To Donna Missal, Your Face Is Love

Having grown up homeschooled alongside five other siblings, Donna Missal was raised by a family of the musically inclined (her grandmother a songwriter in the '50s and her father a musician in the '80s). Missal's formative years were built on a diet of traditional rock and country music that would go on to form the basis for the artist's enigmatic brand of alt-pop.

Once again teaming up with producer Sega Bodega, Donna Missal is back with her latest single, "(to me) your face is love." Missal's new offering marks the first time the two were able to collaborate in person since the pandemic upended everyone's lives. A needed balm for anyone who's been missing a good dreamy club song, the track's full of crystalline melodies and skittering breaks as Bodega brings a nostalgic rave momentum to the through-line of Missal's sirenic vocals.

"It's a love letter," Missal says of her inspiration. "I was dancing around alone a lot during this time, wanting to be around people. I wanted to make what I could dance to. I was very inspired by the change in environment after so much time stationary — a time of anxiety and longing. When I got back to my flat from the studio that night, I danced around to our demo and felt so excited for the first time in a long time. I want to share that feeling."

The single arrives alongside an equally ethereal music video, where Missal ascends from tossing and turning in her bed to swarms of glowing butterflies and watery dream realms. "Director Rodrigo Inada and I have worked remotely together on some video projects, but this is our most ambitious," Missal continues. "Rodrigo was in Berlin and myself and crew were in LA for shooting. He directed via ear pods through my Director of Photography Drew Bienanann. My bestie Erica Hernández creative directed and shot the cover art on set. Everyone's contributions were so crucial to this coming together. Leah Lalich did the edit so beautifully and I'm really proud to have worked with so many creative people."

Speaking to the fashion seen in the video, Missal adds, '"I'm wearing pieces by the designer/ artist Nusi Quero. I felt so lucky to be in them. The video is like this dream-state interpretation of longing and loving and transcending, and I just love it so much as a visual representation of the song."

Watch the official music video for Donna Missal's "(to me) your face is love," below.

Photography: Erica Hernández