We’re ABSOLUTELY Engulfed in This Singers Inner Paracosm
Wikipedia states “A paracosm is a detailed imaginary world thought generally to originate in childhood. The creator of a paracosm has a complex and deeply felt relationship with this subjective universe, which may incorporate real-world or imaginary characters and conventions. Commonly having its own geography, history, and language, it is an experience that is often developed during childhood. It may continue over many months or even years, lasting into adulthood”
Immediately, it makes me think of the music video for ‘Brick by Boring Brick’ by Paramore or the absolutely heart wrenchingly traumatising children’s film ‘Bridge to Terabithia’ (if you know you know and i’m sorry that you know.)
Absolutely is British singer-songwriter who I got the chance to photograph as she was supporting her sister Raye. She will shortly be heading off on tour with Renee Rapp. She also happens to have given her newest album, released 20th of February, the name ‘Paracosm.’
Photo by Me at Co-op live 18th February 2026
I have to say I am ABSOLUTELY obsessed with this concept. She has used this album to create a story and a world that we can all connect to through the listening experience, music videos and even promo material - with the album trailer being an animation of a storybook that shows snippets of each song with its own cartoon motif (animated by @Bernard.Nevil.) I could go on a 30 minute appraisal about even the font she uses for advertising. Immediately it captures that y2k childlike feeling but for the people who are a bit different. It reminds me of Ruby Gloom if anyone remembers it (If you do then you’re very cool.)
The point I’m making is that Absolutely has tapped into the Paracosms of her mind to speak to her inner child and let her write her music for her. It’s artistic, honest and extremely special. As the sister of the extremely famous singer, Raye, it’s easy to try and compare the two but Absolutely needs to stand on her own with her own message. It’s hard enough to be an upcoming singer songwriter dealing with the pressures of the industry without further comparisons and pressures. Absolutely does a great job of standing on her own two feet as an artist in her own right.
She currently has 2 music videos out for her new album - ‘Goodbye glitter’ and ‘I just don’t know you yet.’
Let’s dive into the world of Absolutely and hear what story she has to tell.
Chapter One: Natural Disaster
The song begins with a disjointed piano melody like a broken carousel. The album trailer shows a character running through a desert area where a tornado is swirling around. Her soft and sweet voice whispers, dripping vulnerable sadness where she is begging someone to stay with her. Around halfway through the song she says ‘seasons have to change’ and the song completely changes into a thundering beat like she is flying away in the tornado - it has villain origin energy making me wonder if it is a reference to the wizard of oz and wicked?
Chapter 2: Nowhere To Hide
The album trailer for this song shows rolling hills with a winding path that ends with a tall castle. There are no trees in the distance but are shown in the foreground - as if the character is at the end of a forest and about to step into a clearing - restating the point that there is Nowhere To Hide. The song talks about being trapped in her own thoughts but details her ripping down the walls of her mind and feeling the release and fear of having nowhere to hide. “What would I become if freedom begun?” is the perfect line to encapsulate this song - knowing she’s about to face freedom but scared about the unknown of what that means. There’s a particular 3-part beat that repeats throughout the song that I think they use a lot in films when the main characters, newly empowered is walking into battle.
Chapter 3: Painting By Numbers
The animation for this song shows a waving sea in the rain, however the raindrops are multicoloured. The song then starts with the lyrics “one number at a time colour the sky.” As a creative writing student you could call me somewhat of a metaphor fangirl so I love this concept but I would’ve liked it to go further than about a romantic relationship. The song is about how lucky you feel in a relationship that you get the chance to explore the mystery of your relationship part by part - like a paint by numbers. Don’t get me wrong, I love what absolutely has done - I think it’s sweet and romantic. I, personally would have delved deeper into that metaphor because its so beautiful - made it about life and the ever uncovering of what’s around the corner, made a reference to hardships being like accidentally painting outside the lines and how layers of paint (time) can cover up the mistakes but they usually still show. AH there’s so much you could do with this. I give my praise to Absolutely for coming up with it in the first place - especially alongside this concept about the world of your inner child. I think she’s also done a good job of not making the writing feel childish. It’s modern, and doesn’t try to sound gimmicky, she sticks to her authentic style and self whilst talking about her youth in a nuanced way. It’s less like she’s attempting to go back and BE a child and more like she’s connecting the innocent and free aspects of her childhood to the life she’s living now.
Chapter 4: Helium
Helium shows a night sky with bird silhouettes flying around as a character (I think a teddy bear) floats up into the air holding a red balloon. This song again has themes of freedom and release with a connected fear of the unknown. She sings about holding onto a balloon and letting it take you where it needs to go - “God only knows where you will go.” I believe it’s referencing surrendering to god and allowing him to choose your life path. The song changes vibes three times from an angelic ballad to r&b to even end with a smooth saxophone solo (a very beautiful saxophone solo I might add.)
Chapter 5: Simple Things
Simple things is a woman running through a forest. I wonder if this is a prequel to chapter 2? This slow, acoustic song still has that distinct Absolutely echo-reverb and vocal tones. Its definitely got the prettiest inclinations with its lilts and riffs - I would say her voice suits this style particularly. Its lyrics are also particularly poetic. I wonder if this is the connecting song to all the easter eggs and motifs. For instance there’s a line that says “there’s so many simple things that I don’t understand, like how the ocean waves are always reaching for the sand.” Do you guys think this might be a reference to the ocean waves animation in chapter 3? There’s also a line '“Like how a bird can know the sky and still it wants to land.” and there were birds present in the animation for Chapter 4 - helium. “If nothings logical, it’s like it should be fictional” is a bit like breaking the fourth wall of the story she’s creating. How she’s making sense of her world by creating another.
Chapter 6: No Audience
The trailer shows a wide shot of a theatre, the curtains opening to a glittering void. No audience is a much more dramatic and operatic song - the beginning even has a cinematic sound to it. We’re going back to this main theme from ‘Nowhere to hide’ of this character. She’s trying to navigate the idea of letting go and no longer having to perform for an audience. There’s also a really fabulous carousel like motif throughout which is likely a reference to that fantastic cover art.
Chapter 7: Prototype
The industrial cogs are turning in the background as a red haired character hangs one handed off the clock hands. Prototype immediately has a completely different vibe with electronic beats and a much more party tone to it. Its lyrics, while lacking a particular story like the rest of the album, are still filled with metaphor. I think what’s so amusingly fantastic about this song is the fact that it’s supposed to be such a simple ‘7 rings’ like radio hit but she still manages to fill it with vulnerability.
Chapter 8: No Furniture
In No Furniture, this red-haired character is running though an endless set of doors - each one that opens, another door opens behind it. The song is talking about a romantic partner who makes her feel so safe and warm that she feels like home even without furniture. I find it hard to decipher whether this is a love song or not. When I read the lyrics, depending on HOW you read them, they could feel like a beautiful love confession or a horrifying diary entry on a toxic relationship. Likely, it’s about this main character who is trying to escape the previously mentioned confinements of their head is asking a love interest to help them fill out the lack of ‘furniture.’ I assume this is why she’s running through the plethora of rooms in the cartoon - she’s running from the emptiness.
Chapter 9: Elevator
Elevator shows an egg timer but instead of sand, it uses buttons. Perhaps Coroline? Elevator confirms the very points I made in no furniture and carries on the household metaphors. “I want you to try and fight the ceiling so the sky is where I go” (reference to chapter 4?) she’s talking about holding onto this romantic partner as much as she can but admits she’s been running from her feelings “I want you to fight the feelings I’ve been running from.” Again I'm not sure how I feel about what it means. I really can’t really tell whether it’s a love song or if it’s simply a story of a character trying to find their peace in the wrong place.
Chapter 10: Trojan Horse
This shows a field through a window (stain glass church window) as the sun rises and sets in quick time. This song is so unbelievably vulnerable. She’s truly pouring out her heart and explaining all the feelings in her head and her heart. I genuinely promise I didn’t listen to this song before writing the last sentence of the previous chapter because one of the lyrics is “And I thought you'd bring me peace instead But you left me conflicted” and “I can't let you f**k up my life twice.” What I love is that this song finishes the story of the aforementioned man. Trojan horse has a run time of 1:42minutes and is the shortest song on the album. I think it shows how the love interest was the smallest part of the album, which is really about freedom, expression and absolutely’s own journey with herself.
Chapter 11: Paracosm
It shows the silhouette of a woman as her hair blows in the wind. We’ve made it to the castle. “Like I’m in a castle, lost in the halls […] Maybe it’s not a bad thing after all.” This song is about accepting the good and bad parts of yourself and despite feeling lost and confused, realising it’s all just part of your story.
Chapter 12: I Just Don’t Know You Yet
The character is falling into a void. This is actually my favourite song on the album, the chorus is euphoric and powerful and the piano backing is iconic. The song is about feeling that the perfect person/soulmate is out there but you haven’t met them. Absolutely, after having the revelations of the album about accepting herself and becoming free, feels like she’s ready to start learning how to love again. She laments how she feels that she’s lost the part of herself that knows how to love because of people before. In terms of this story, she’s talking about how the love interest was too all-encompassing that she fell for illusions. The main character falling into a void is so beautiful in the context of this story because she’s finally stopped running.
The music video follows the idea of “the red string theory” which is the idea that two lovers destined to be together are connected by a red string. Fun fact: this originated in Chinese mythology and has lots of connected folklore stories where a character gets told they are connected with someone via red string, rejects the idea then still eventually ends up marrying them through coincidence. It’s a tale about fate and destiny - Absolutely is shown holding the red string and feeling that someone is on the other end. In the music video she is seen ripping open a wall to see herself walking down a dark void - it then shows the endless doors with faceless men guarding them - there is an unopened door at the end. It’s a very beautifully made music video I’d definitely suggest you watch it. It shows her in various stages waiting and looking for her destiny.
Chapter 13: Goodbye Glitter
A broken sewing kit with the red haired character sat on one of the buttons. This and “I just don’t know you yet” are the only songs from this album out with music videos. I love this as the last song - it brings all of the songs together - you see the characters journey - being frightened of accepting herself and scared of what will happen when she lets down her walls. This song is her finally doing it. In the music video, She is stood wearing a dress that resembles the top of a carousel on top of a table - the dress tips down of the table like a tablecloth where it holds various table foods and cutlery. She is also surrounded by floating objects. The camera then pans around her like a carousel.
The red string shows up a lot in this music video - a red ball of yarn is one of the items hanging in the air and there are snippets of red string dotted around the table. The music video ends with her disappearing but the objects still hang in the air. The it shows that the red yarn that dangles down actually does end about halfway above the table. I wonder if this is her saying she has cut ties with the idea of destiny and has decided to focus on herself?
THE END?
Okay, so I’ve talked about all the hints and easter eggs in the album, reoccurring themes and motifs that show up. There’s a lot of metaphors about weather and describing her mind as a building with walls and furniture. There’s also a motif in the book animation and in “Goodbye Glitter” about stardust. “I found some stardust and it's better than anything I’ve ever known.” In the trailer for “No audience” the curtains of a theatre open to show stardust. There is also stardust floating around the book for the entire trailer - the amount changes based on the song and there is none for the last two songs “I just don’t know you yet” and “goodbye glitter.” Finally, there is a lot of references to buttons, which show up in Chapter 1, 5, 7 and 8 as page decorations and in 9 and 13 as part of the story on the page.
So the main character is on a journey through the pages of the book - the main journey is accepting herself and letting down her walls but she also goes on a journey with love. She believed that a partner could be how she heals but eventually realises that she can bring her own walls down and fill her mind with furniture by herself. Absolutely kind of does a ‘Pulp fiction’ I think - the timeline of the story is definitely non-linear.
This is my theory: The book opens in the trailer to see a character running through the book and past the whirlwind in ‘Natural disaster.’ - I think this is the middle of the story - when her and the love interest end. Chapter two then shows us a shot of where the character is running to (The end of a forest with a path to a palace)- which is why the song is about finally being free of societies walls and coming back into yourself and the song in chapter 6, (which shows the character running THROUGH said forest) is about dealing with having to constantly show up for an audience.
This is my theory:
I think it starts with Chapter 12 “I just don’t know you yet” then Chapter 3, 5, 8, 9, 1 and 10 are about meeting the love interest, putting her faith and ideas into him and begging him to stay with her. Then she gets to Chapter 6 which is sort of her rock bottom - realising that she’s been hiding herself and putting on a mask and wishing she can let go. Finally, she gets to the edge of the forest and sees the castle in front of her in Chapter 2 “Nowhere to hide” she still has a bit to go before she gets there but its in front of of her. In chapter 11, “Paracosm” she gets to the castle and realises that she still feels small and scared but that’s okay - its going to feel like that whether she’s in a home or a castle so its time to go in Chapter 13 “goodbye glitter” where she says goodbye to the castle and the journey. Finally it ends with Chapter 4, “Helium” where she’s floating up and out of the book.
Let me know in the comments if you agree with this and what your theories are.
I’d usually end my album reviews by describing how the album feels to listen to but I think Absolutely did a great job of this in her promo material so instead I'm going to quote the artist by mouth:
“The creation of this album, was made the through the lens of childlike wonder. Exploring with boundless imagination and removing the limits of logic and structure. I allowed myself to play with music again just like I did as a child first discovering the gift of music and the wonder it created in my little world growing up. I wanted to create an immersive world with this album, that you can feel transported away into. Somewhere you can put your headphones in, close your eyes and the world around you becomes anything you imagine it to be.
I hope this album can spark that wonder in you just like it did in me.”
Happy listening folks, try and get a physical copy of the album if you can, the pre-order is here. You can also see absolutely supporting Renee Rapp on her upcoming tour.