Now/It's: A Video Premiere - "Watercolor Fire" by Kelly Eberle

2018 has been an exhausting year. There were ups and downs galore (I understand that it’s the tail end of 2018, but you get the jist) that unified and divided at any given moment. I could go into the various details, but as is the case with many a drug trial (huh?), experiences may vary - some people had a great year, while others, not so much. Besides, that sort of annual “events roundup” is what year-end recap write-ups are for!

Anyway, what I’m getting at is the fact that many a moment in 2018 was marked with a variety of unsavory and unsettling realities, as if almost to serve as the universe saying “This is why you can’t have nice things” (if you believe that’s how the universe operates). And the same is true of the opposite - sometimes there moments where the universe reassures you that everything is great! But alas, we are not here to speculate universal purview and purveying preferences, we’re here to spread hope, through art. Or at least, some for of art analysis.

So, with that it mind, it only seems fitting that for the final Now/It’s premiere of 2018, we share something that’s memorable, celebratory, and wholly positive - the video for Now/It’s alum Kelly Eberle’s “Watercolor Fire.” For those who don’t recall, the single “Watercolor Fire” was the first premiere of Now/It’s’ calendar year (so, full circle moment!).

If you’ll recall from her feature interview way back in January of this year, Eberle alluded to a an extended period of time (seven months, to be exact) on the road with her sister, traversing the continental United States. Shortly after the trip’s conclusion, and Eberle made her way to Nashville, “Watercolor Fire” was born.

Originally piqued by a particularly beguiling stop in the Badlands of South Dakota, the song is equal parts contentment and wistful. As a song only,  “Watercolor Fire” helps express Eberle’s fullest satisfaction with the enviable sibling sojourn, and subsequent decisions (ie: moving to Nashville).

While the song carries more than its fair share of tangible emotional and poignancy, the video adds yet another palpable level of outsider’s perspective on Eberle’s fated journey. To see moments between Kelly and her sister documented offers a highly empathetic (and entertaining) vantage point.

While the video for “Watercolor Fire” might stand as the close to an introductory chapter of Kelly Eberle’s greater journey in life, it serves a general bastion of hope. “Watercolor Fire” is something that might be appear to be retrospective, it is also an enlightened reminder that while there will always be some degree of tumult and trouble in one’s journey, there will also be as much (if not more) hope and joy to come.