Appleby saunters into 2021 with his first single, “Here With U”. According to his TikTok, the song was just a chorus living on his hard drive for almost a year until it came into fruition after meeting his current partner. The video is saturated with bright oranges and sunny yellows, which goes hand in hand with the energy and emotion of this love song, symbolizing happiness and hope.
The chorus breathes life into the tender and aesthetic video. As he sings about how happy he is to have met his partner and how amazing she is, the video pans across a still life of all the things I assume are what reminds him of his partner or what his partner enjoys. The camera pans slowly across things like pocky sticks, fruits, corn puffs, a yellow power ranger, and even a sunflower.
Appleby appears in the video several times but always on an iphone placed within the items. Essentially he is singing to us (and his partner) through the phone, but the camera never stays focused on the screen for too long. The whole video is like a photoshoot waiting to happen. His partner, who is a photographer, is definitely his muse for the editorial style video, which makes the song more personal. “Here With U” is a joyous love song and the visually pleasing video is a visual representation of what love can inspire.