Flaming Lips Head On Erykah Badu Exploding Over Graphic Nude Clip, “[She] Does Crazy Videos All The Time”

Written By S. Samuel

The Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne recently came forward to address disses fired his way from soulful performer Erykah Badu over the controversial nudity-based "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" music video.

Erykah Badu
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According to Coyne, he may shelve the graphic video for good and start off fresh.

“At the moment, I’m talking with [Dresden Dolls singer] Amanda Palmer about remaking the video and having Amanda sing it and just be in the video,” Coyne said while onboard the O Music Awards bus. “There’s some of it I can’t speak about, because I sort of feel like there’s a sacred obligation anytime artists decide to go into a room together. But she’s about controversy. When [Erykah] said she didn’t want it out, we took it down,” Coyne pointed out, noting that fans continued reposting it after the fact. “You can control it to a certain extent, and we tried to, but I think the more the Twitter war raged, the more people wanted to make sure the video was posted. (MTV)

He also said Badu likely received heat from her own fans over the nude portrayal of her sister in the clip.

Coyne said Badu “does crazy videos all the time” and implied that she was more likely responding to criticism from her own fans. “The Flaming Lips audience is this wonderful, loving audience that knows a lot about music and is very open to stuff. So the Flaming Lips audience, like me, loves Erykah Badu. And there’s a segment of the Erykah Badu audience that I don’t think like the Flaming Lips at all or doesn’t even know we exist. And so when they see her doing this thing with us — and Erykah pointed this out: There’s a segment of her audience that has … ” he trailed off, trying to find the words. “She doesn’t know which way to play it.” (MTV)

Earlier this month, Badu made a public Facebook post going at Coyne’s head.

“You showed me a concept of beautiful tasteful imagery( by way of vid text messages) . I trusted that. I was mistaken. Then u release an unedited, unapproved version within the next few days. That all spells 1 thing , Self Serving . When asked what the concept meant after u explained it , u replied ,”it doesn’t mean anything , I just want to make a great video that everyone is going to watch. ” I understood , because as an artist we all desire that. But we don’t all do it at another artist’s expense . I attempted to resolve this respectfully by having conversations with u after the release but that too proved to be a poor excuse for art. From jump, You begged me to sit in a tub of that other sh*t and I said naw. I refused to sit in any liquid that was not water. But Out of RESPECT for you and the artist you ‘appear’ to be, I Didn’t wanna kill your concept , wanted u to at least get it out of your head . After all, u spent your dough on studio , trip to Dallas etc.. Sooo, I invited Nayrok , my lil sis and artist, who is much more liberal ,to be subject of those other disturbing (to me ) scenes . I told u from jump that I believed your concept to be disturbing. But would give your edit a chance. You then said u would take my shots ( in clear water/ fully covered parts -seemed harmless enough) and Nayrok’s part ( which I was not present for but saw the photos and a sample scene of cornstarch dripping ) and edit them together along with cosmic, green screen images ( which no one saw) then would show me the edit. . Instead, U disrespected me by releasing pics and rough vid on the internet without my approval. (Contract breech ) That is equivalent to putting out a security camera’s images of me changing in the fitting room. [sic]” (Facebook)

The Flaming Lips’ controversial visual raised eyebrows after it landed online in early June.

Here’s the video for the Flaming Lips and Erykah Badu’s cover of the standard “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, which appears on the collab-heavy release The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends. The clip was directed by George Salisbury, and as Wayne Coyne hint-Tweeted (and Erykah Badu Tweet-clarified) earlier this week, it features a very, very naked Nayrok Badu, Erykah’s sister, covered in glitter, blood, and what looks like (and hopefully is not) semen. After being released on vinyl for Record Store Day, The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends will see release digitally and on CD on June 26 via Warner Bros. (Pitchfork)

Check out discussion on the controversial video below:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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