Artists lost the ability to perform to a live audience for more than a year, meaning that many had to get creative. Concerts performed over zoom or live streamed on social media became increasingly common, with our living rooms becoming the venue. YouTube musician Naomi SV was no stranger to creativity when it came to reaching audiences online. The Canadian harpist performs many of her enchanting covers in the woods, against a stunning backdrop of draping leaves and cobbled pathways, occasionally accompanied by the melody of twittering birds.
“A deer turned my harp session into a Disney movie”, uploaded on 23rd July 2020, opens with a fairytale like scene of Naomi beginning her cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence”, when, unbeknownst to her, she is joined by her only audience member. It is a doe, who is curious to find out what is making this new and mysterious sound. She wags her tail as she creeps closer.
As a matter of fact, tail wagging in deer indicate that the animal is ease, and it would not be out of the question to assume that the music is responsible for her relaxed state.
This calm feeling does not last, however, as all of a sudden, the deer turns and darts in the opposite direction. It is this that finally gets Naomi’s attention, and she abruptly stops playing and turns to investigate. It is unclear whether she caught a glimpse of the deer running off or if she only became aware of the identity of her secret audience until she watched the footage back.
The video has more than 11 million views, and Naomi herself has over 175,000 subscribers, however, the artist posts most of her content on Instagram, where it becomes apparent that music is not her only talent. Naomi also creates music inspired illustrations, which are made using watercolour, acrylic, and ink. She also carefully plans and stages her videos and self-portraits so that they are visually stunning works of art themselves.
Naomi is truly an artist in every sense of the word, which humans and non-humans alike can all agree on. If you want to see more, check out Naomi’s Instagram.