Pop music is rife with songs about love lost, love found, and even paparazzi, but one topic that tunes don't usually take on is biodiversity. That鈥檚 something that Ashlynn Manning and Emily Doubilet, the duo who make up the group , are hoping to change with Bio-Pop: biodiversity focused entertainment, music, and videos.
鈥淲ith the pop aesthetic we wanted to do something more nutritional, not hit people over the head with a message that you must do this or that, but help to make a connection with nature with an internalized and personal source of that feeling you get when you hear your favorite song,鈥 says Emily Doubilet, the daughter of renown underwater photographers and .
Their first video, , was filmed on an island off the coast of Honduras, where they spent months living in a nature preserve. (Read more about hummingbirds .) Doubilet found the atmosphere inspiring. 鈥淭he imagery is one thing that Ashlynn and I talked about for a long time,鈥 she says. They came up with a term for that, too: nature bling. 鈥淲hat about the gold that sparkles on the beach? That鈥檚 some major bling. Or the beauty of nature, you can鈥檛 top that, it鈥檚 seriously blinging,鈥 she says. That magnificence is what they want to highlight.
As a child, Doubilet had the chance to travel all over the world with her parents, so she quickly developed an appreciation for the environment. When she wasn鈥檛 in some exotic locale like Palau, she was in New York City, where she also discovered her love of performing. 鈥淔rom dancing to theater鈥攁ll performing arts鈥攖hey just made me feel so happy, and so did floating out in the ocean,鈥 she says.
Suspicious Package allows her and Manning, who feels just as passionately about the environment, says Doubilet, to 鈥渃ombine my environmental ethic with my performance aesthetic, the things that make me feel alive.鈥
The group, while working with visual director Bad Brilliance, is completing seven more videos that feature animals like bees, elephants, and birds of prey. Doubilet wanted to make sure that in addition to working with exotic fauna in remote oases that they also incorporated wildlife that someone could encounter in a park or a garden: 鈥淚t鈥檚 really about being able to stop and notice the beauty around you wherever you are.鈥