Kristen Rae Bowden is a singer-songwriter with deep musical roots, hailing from Boone, North Carolina.

Growing up in a family of musicians, Kristen developed a keen ear for harmony at an early age and taught herself to play piano before expanding her skills to include classical flute and earning a BFA in acting and musical theater from Elon University.

Since releasing her debut album in 2019, she has become known for her storytelling and music that blends folk influences with pop and Americana. Her music reflects a balance between vulnerability and strength, turning personal experiences into cathartic, universally relatable songs.

Her latest single, “Skateboard,” captures the exhilarating rush of young love, likening its emotional highs to the thrill of skateboarding.

With lyrics inspired by her own memories and co-written with Joe Lawlor (Dave Matthews Band), Kristen continues to create music that resonates deeply with listeners. In this interview, Kristen shares the story behind the music video to “Skateboard,” offering insights into her creative process and the visual storytelling that brings the song to life.

Watch the music video here:

1. Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

“Skateboard” is a song about the breathless exhilaration of young love in the newfound freedom of college. 

When I was 18 there was a time when I was still with my high school boyfriend, in a long-distance relationship as he’d gone to a different school. He was a skateboarder. (I definitely was not!) We would visit each other on weekends. It was early September, the weather was still very hot in that “dog days of summer” stagnant way, and I remember waiting until late at night for him to arrive, with heavy anticipation. When he did, we’d go out skateboarding together around the lamp-lit streets and brick paths of the campus, enjoying the cooling breeze of movement as the heat radiated off the pavement, still hot from the sun of the day. We’d stop at various parties, sometimes a home-made half pipe in a parking lot, and drink beer or a PJ concoction out of red solo cups. (I could only pretend to skateboard after I’d lost some of my inhibitions.) We were in love and on our own for the very first time. That feeling of freedom and youthful elation is what inspired the lyrics for this song.

Even though this specific experience of mine is what inspired the lyrics, the song is really about the semi-universal experience of that feeling… the rollercoaster high of young love. Skateboarding is a great metaphor for that thrill.

So I chose to visualize the song with all sorts of different young couples, and skateboarders catching air.

My hope is that all sorts of folks can see something in the visuals that resonates with their own experience of being young and unsupervised and in love.

2. What was the inspiration behind this new video (visuals, storyline, etc.)?

Instead of telling a narrative story with this video, I wanted the visuals to impart a feeling of euphoria and exhilaration. What could be more exhilarating than flying through the air (or falling in love for the first time)?

Also, this is a lyric video, so I had the opportunity to use different text styles and animation as a visual expression of what I’m singing. 

The verse lyrics, “If you knew me once / then you know me still / Would you still recognize me?” are quiet and intimate, and sung from the present day as I’m looking back and remembering. I chose a cursive script and gave it a glow effect, as if I’m writing an imaginary letter to all my former lovers.

In contrast, the chorus vocal is soaring and expansive: “Feeling so high / when you’re driving all night / to my front door.” This is me living in the memory of that euphoria, so I chose an expansive outline font and made it transparent, so the skateboarders could fly through the lyrics, and the viewers’ eyes can take it all in at once.

Animating the chorus lyrics was really fun… I love how they give you a sense of the rhythmic patterns.

3. What was the process of making the video?

I made this video myself on my iPad. First I chose stock footage and licensed it… which is really fun, making a giant folder of footage that might work to tell the story and capture the vibe, and then going lyric by lyric deciding what works best. This song really lent itself to that… I basically ended up with a folder of badass skateboarding footage! 

Then I used an app called Videoleap to combine and edit… it’s really geared more towards vertical TikTok videos and such, but I found that I could use it to do everything I was picturing in my head. I enjoy using the touch screen of my ipad for a lot of it, as opposed to a mouse. When I animated the lyrics I was literally dragging them with my fingers to wherever I wanted them to go. Something about this makes the process more fun and engaging to me.

When you don’t have the budget to do a big original video production, these are great options for expressing yourself and using your own creativity to expand on your art as an independent musician. I’m so grateful to all the artists out there who captured this footage and made it available to license! And the editing tools these days have almost no learning curve… anybody can get creative with them.

Cheers to that!

Connect with Kristen Rae Bowden:

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