How an Overlooked Track Became The Star Prairie Project’s Sci-Fi Redemption Story

When The Star Prairie Project released their 2021 album Surreal, most listeners gravitated toward the obvious standouts: “Hang in There Becca” racked up over a million streams, while “Contemplating Plato” and “The Crying” found steady followings of their own. Nestled in the tracklist was “Hello Darling”—a brooding, shadowy ballad that quietly pulled in around 100,000 plays before slipping into semi-obscurity.

But in 2025, the song’s narrative has flipped. “Hello Darling” is suddenly the star of its own cinematic universe, thanks to an imaginative music video that looks more like an indie short film than a traditional visual.

The clip opens with a crash landing in a quiet backyard. A strange figure emerges—part eerie, part oddly familiar. The alien, played by screenwriter Kazie Kane, becomes an unlikely counterpart in a surreal, slow-burn encounter that fuses suspense, absurdity, and unexpected warmth. Director Rudiger leans into the chaos of handheld shots, nighttime shadows, and Blair Witch–style suspense, only to pivot into moments of firelight intimacy.

Frontman Nolen R. Chew Jr. admits the concept nearly went in a very different direction. “We debated an astronaut love story on a distant planet. But when we stumbled on the perfect alien design, it just made sense. It matched the song’s themes of shadow and light, mystery and recognition.”

The gamble resonated. The video has been selected for the 2025 Tarzana International Film Festival, a surprising turn for a song that once lived in the margins of the band’s catalog.

Chew sees the resurrection of “Hello Darling” as proof that music doesn’t always reveal its staying power right away. “Sometimes a song waits for the right medium, the right cultural moment. For us, this was it.”

What comes next? Chew teases that “The Crying”, a dystopian track about political collapse, may be next in line for a cinematic retelling. If “Hello Darling” is any indication, The Star Prairie Project has found a new way to blur the line between music and film—bringing forgotten tracks back into the spotlight through storytelling as strange as it is human.