London-based singer-songwriter and producer ELUNIA makes music that she describes as “alternative, ethereal, indie pop.” She makes music that synthesizes our senses into sonic experiences, using her production sense to think of music in terms of visuals and vice versa. After a lifetime of collecting artistic skills, ELUNIA is experimenting again and redefining how she fits into music. We sat down with her to talk about her song “Strobe Lights” and the short film “Strokes” to understand her evolution as an artist and her priorities today.
“Strobe Lights” is a song that almost didn’t make it to our playlists. She wrote the chorus in 2023, but never finished it. Luckily, a 2025 film project became the perfect incentive for finishing the song and reviving ELUNIA’s music process. (ELUNIA didn’t start making music recently. Her debut single, “Borderlines,” was released in 2021.) She moved from New Hampshire to London to focus on her film career. Now, she’s shifting again—though she’s far from leaving film behind—reinvigorating her musical process by blending her two passions.
ELUNIA’s relationship with music is as blended as her current style. Taking ballet since she was 3 years old, ELUNIA developed her understanding of movement and musicality well before she knew anything about music or video production. She also learned every instrument she could, playing clarinet in band and taking piano lessons. “I tried to learn every instrument under the sun,” she told us. “Even if I wasn’t that good at them, I was just very curious, trying different instruments.” At 10 years old, she started to learn music production and make her own “little films.” This unstructured exploration was where she says she fell in love with being creative. “It wasn’t about a lesson. It was more about creating something that was coming from a meaningful place.”
This free creativity is the ultimate visual in “Strokes.” While the film technically takes place on a city street, the heart of the story is in our main character’s (played by Margherita “Margi” Barbieri) head, where her feelings take the form of a freestyle dance, multicolored paint strokes covering her skin. ELUNIA shared that Margi improvised these scenes. “We were playing music in the background, but she wasn’t necessarily moving to the music,” she said. “It was more about what she was feeling, and the paint scene represents a safe space that you can go to in your mind to release that anxiety or whatever it is that you’re feeling. So, she was kind of putting herself in a very vulnerable place to be able to just express movements in that free way.”
ELUNIA met Margi in a dance class, and the director of the film, Brenda Huerta RodrÃguez, is a frequent collaborator of ELUNIA’s. Together, they came up with the concept for “Strokes,” but when it came time to set the shots to music, ELUNIA knew they needed something unique. Initially, they planned to reach out to composers to create a piano piece for “Strokes,” but while looking for songs to set the video to, ELUNIA remembered she had “Strobe Lights” sitting in her drafts. Only a chorus at the time, she knew it had the raw, vulnerable sound she was looking for.
“Strokes” is a glimpse into what it means to find peace and clarity under pressure, and “Strobe Lights” is the soundtrack for these “small bursts” of vibrancy when you feel societal or emotional pressure. Whether, like Margi in the film, you’re walking down the street, feeling the weight of your responsibilities, or you’re struggling to fit a set mold—a pressure ELUNIA shared she often faces—there is always a space to be yourself. She hopes anyone who watches “Strokes” or hears “Strobe Lights” sees that they (and anyone else) aren’t destined to conform to one kind of “normal.”
ELUNIA is often stunned by the unique ways people relate to her songs. She was surprised to find that so many people related to her first song, “Borderlines.” She felt it was very specific to her experience, but people found ways to connect it to their own struggles that she never expected. She was fascinated by the song’s flexibility. She was similarly “floored” to hear “Strobe Lights” on Amazing Radio (heavily complimented by the DJ!). She’s gotten a lot of feedback on “Strobe Lights” as an example of her evolution as an artist. “Strobe Lights” was her first completely self-produced song, so she is really proud to hear comments about the production.
Margi cried when she saw the final “Strokes” video. Brenda was happy with the results, too. With “Strobe Lights” over the video, “Strokes” became a fully realized collaboration of their feelings, one they carefully built as a team. ELUNIA is proud of the ways they were able to distribute their creative decisions about the concept, choreography, shots, and post-production. “Brenda can be very specific about what she wants when a film is like her baby. Since we work together a lot, we’ll decide beforehand whose ‘baby’ it is. But she knew that, with this one, it was my ‘baby’, so she was very supportive of my creative decisions.”
As a film, “Strokes” feels very intentional. ELUNIA credits this to her day-to-day work on commercial video projects. Unlike many artists, she loves the structure and pacing of the advertising space. “I’ve honestly always been really passionate about it, especially the style for post-production,” she said. “I’ve never wanted to edit narrative films. I find it less interesting because you can do so much with commercials with the pacing and dynamics and the musicality. Obviously, it’s a totally different kind of art to editing narrative, but I find it way more fun.”
“Strobe Lights” brings into the latest phase of ELUNIA’s work, one she’s hoping to continue to blend with film. Her focus right now is fairly experimental. “Mainly, I want to push the boundaries a bit more. I think I used to create something that fit into quite a narrow space, but now I’m making things that are a bit more bold. I just made a track that was also for a film that has really hardcore drums, and I’ve never done that before.” She shared that she’s working on another dance film that she hopes to pair with that draft. “…I think [I’m] just pushing the boundaries on what the edges of my music can be. But more specifically, career-wise, I want to start producing for other artists more…I’m not really setting any limits.”
With a new year of possibilities ahead, we’re excited to see where ELUNIA’s experiments (and collaborations!) take her next.
