Nahko has released “Dragonfly” as the lead single off his debut solo album, My Name is Bear, and now PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the acoustic ballad’s music video—which features a star turn from Paris Jackson.
The evocative clip depicts a beautiful carefree day in the sun for Jackson, except for one twist: it’s shot completely in reverse. The effect is a dreamy, lazy afternoon on bikes and at the beach.
“I consider this video an art performance and knew right away I wanted to do something in reverse,” Nahko tells PEOPLE. “I’ve studied videos of similar context and found them absolutely brilliant in coloring and intriguing in storytelling.”
The singer/songwriter, formerly of world music collective Nahko and Medicine for the People, says he first crossed paths with the King of Pop’s daughter on social media. “She reached out to me via Twitter a little over a year ago. She let me know that she would be coming to my show in LA. We met after the show and had a quick chat and loosely stayed in touch through the year. We ended up running into each other at a few indigenous resistance gatherings and really connected.”
Though he initially planned to appear in the video himself, Nahko ultimately decided to ask Jackson to take the lead role. “She immediately jumped on board. I wanted to capture her natural beauty and focus on what I thought would be a perfect song to explain a transformational time that fit both her and I.”
Nahko says he wrote the song, brimming with sophisticated lyrical imagery, when he was just 18. He had just left home for the very first time, following his first love across the country.
My Name Is Bear is out Oct. 20.