“You know you’ll get me in your liplock / And I know that I should hate you but you’re too hot.” That’s the seductive hot-pink dagger planted straight into our blackened heart by Ellise, the Iraqi-American dark-pop siren who courts darkness with desire and continues to pull us into her cinematic world. The “Liplock” video is the final video chapter in her attention-grabbing visual series for April EP Bedroom Confessional, and it echoes a late-night spiral of passion, impulse, and autonomy. Perhaps the moon is to blame. “The ‘Liplock’ music video… begins with me burning the remnants of the demons of my past and freeing myself,” Ellise says. “I wanted this video to feel fun, energetic, and like the perfect chaotic ending to this story. It represents how my mind felt when leaving everything I thought I knew behind and starting from scratch again: Scary, but exciting and fresh.” Themes of obsession, heartbreak, and self-reckoning run rampant through the EP, which feel well-aligned to life in this chaotic 2026, so allow Ellise to lure you in to her nocturnal vision below. Who you kiss to it is up to you.
Photo Credit: Sandra Jamaleddine