Cyrus Langhorne
Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West‘s new “Fade” music video intentionally has a strong x-rated factor to it. The visual’s director has stepped forward to reveal what inspired the uber NSFW music video.
According to 24-year-old director Eli Russell Linnetz, he used an adult website and iconic movie Flashdance for the must-watch “Fade” visuals.
““Flashdance” is just so iconic that it’s hard to move away from that, but the Ohio Players’ album covers were our starting point. Some people picked up on the Grace Jones boxing images by Jean-Paul Goude. I pulled a lot of references from ’70s and ’80s porn, just on Pornhub. That was less about the imagery and more about the texture of the skin, the oiliness. There’s John Carpenter films, “The Fly.” There’s also things like “Dancing With the Stars,” the Olympics and the N.B.A. championship. I brought on Guillermo Navarro, who shot “Jackie Brown,” as the cinematographer. Renelou Padora did the styling, and then Tino [Schaedler] did the art direction. He’s done everything from “Harry Potter” movies to Daft Punk videos. It all seems fragmented, and then it’s all boiled down to this one image because Kanye is so good about overseeing the people involved.” (New York Times)
A few days ago, G.O.O.D. Music’s Teyana Taylor talked about landing in the jaw-dropping music video.
“I was literally shaking because Kanye is very secretive when it comes to projects that he’s very interested in. We hadn’t even seen the video before last night. So when I heard that the video was going to be premiering at the VMAs, I was like “Oh my god, it’s tonight! Do I look good? Do I look great? Is he going to change his mind and not premiere it?” At that point I had already told all of my family, but even when he went onstage and I saw him, I thought he might just wind up doing something completely different because you just never know with Kanye.” (Vogue)
Teyana also said she felt her music career would enjoy a boost from the visual’s viral reception.
“I was shaking. I was on Twitter and Instagram, but my phone was shaking because my hand was shaking. I was so nervous because it was really a do-or-die moment. I’ve worked so hard and I didn’t know that that moment was going to be that huge because I didn’t have time to mentally prepare. But it was dope that I was able to really sit back and really take in the whole moment. It’s emotional because I’ve been in the industry for so long and I’ve never understood why certain things weren’t happening. And now I feel like my story, everything that I’ve been through, makes this moment so much more special. Though it took so long for this to happen, I don’t feel like it could’ve happened at a better time.” (Vogue)
Taylor went to social media Monday (August 29) to promote her visual.
Good morning and thank you all so much for all the love…😩😩😘😘😘😘💗 #FADE
— TEYANA M.J. SHUMPERT (@TEYANATAYLOR) August 29, 2016
Thank you Kelllzzzzzz 😍😘😘😘 https://t.co/v7wcIj8tZc
— TEYANA M.J. SHUMPERT (@TEYANATAYLOR) August 29, 2016
