CLUMSY GIRL

By Mariam Jibril

Kelsie Kimberlin’s Clumsy Girl does more than present a finely executed pop song. Along with the release of the song on April 17, 2026, the video describes the song’s themes of love and vulnerability while capturing growth and resilience through a poetic story in an environment where the uncertainty of life cannot be ignored. The video was filmed in Kyiv, Ukraine during the ongoing conflict, giving the video and Kimberlin’s performance emotional depth. As the scenes unfold, directed by Pavlo Khomiuk, the two young women in love capture love within the context of a world of chaos and uncertainty. Clumsy Girl captures the emotional state of the city and Kyiv becomes an extension of the emotional state of the characters. The video shows the women at the center of the narrative in a state of emotional resilience to the constant chaos and uncertainty of Kyiv. It defines what love is and what it means when the world suggests there is very little. Written, produced, and directed by Pavlo Khomiuk, Clumsy Girl captures intimacy and uncertainty and is deeply human.

Kimberlin has an important role in the overall success of the visual. Her restrained and calm performance helps build emotion slowly. There is a lot of sensitivity and beautiful, raw emotion in her performance. It resonates beautifully with the song. Rather than using lots of flashy choreography, overly complicated sets, or pop video conventions, the creative direction shows bits and pieces of elements to show the spaces in between frames. Editing helps to build the emotional story and come to the culmination of the video, but does so with an emphasis on the journey and the measured cuts as opposed to conventional editing to build a dramatic payoff within the video. The lighting and polished production design show a lot of attention to detail and thoughtful execution to help remove the distractions and imperfections and showcase the emotional reality. Kimberlin adds a lot of emotional presence, but resists the temptation to be visually glamorous. This serves to highlight her as the performer of the song and the artist committed to the song, rather than a visually glamorous entertainer.

Clumsy Girl is a prime example of how a music video can supplement a song in an emotional way while also paying homage to the song’s boundaries. Clumsy Girl uses Kimberlin’s American-Ukrainian identity and her musicianship regarding social justice to showcase hope while still recognizing hardship. Kimberlin’s participation in all sectors of songwriting, recording, and performance, as well as filmmaking, creates an artistic project and identity that is one unified vision. Khomiuk’s direction takes that vision and creates something cinematic, but emotionally accessible. Finally, Clumsy Girl makes the audience believe that tough situations can still hold tenderness. Clumsy Girl has a visually interesting story, but the most important and interesting thing is that it is built out of a lot of humanity. Clumsy Girl is another example of how visuals related to pop music are constructed, but also how to think about and engage with the world outside the boundaries of a traditional pop music video.