Okay, this is probably the creepiest thing I’ve watched in a long time.
Taylor Swift and Kanye West have had a very strange relationship over the last few years, starting out in 2009 with Kanye’s infamous microphone grab at the MTV Music Video Awards when Taylor was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video. Since then, there have been apologies and side eye and snippy comments here and there, but all in all it appeared the two had an uncomfortable truce going on. That, however, is probably officially over after the release of Kanye’s latest music video.
The video, which some are calling art (yeah, okay), is for his song Famous. The song, which has Mr. Kardashian singing about having sex with Taylor Swift and exclaiming that he made her famous, is strange enough as it is, but the video is really, really out there and more than a little disturbing.
Inspired by the 2008 painting “Sleep” by artist Vincent DesiderioIn, the video features Kanye and his wife Kim Kardashian surrounded by naked celebrities including Taylor, former president George W. Bush, Rihanna, Bill Cosby, among others.
As you watch the video, you honestly can’t tell if the people on the bed are real or what is happening. It isn’t until they start breathing and moving that you realize that they’re not just some sort of weird picture or sculpture. It’s hard to wrap your head around (or at least it was for me). I’ve read in various places that the celebrities are made of wax and I’ve read that they are actually look-a-likes made up to look like the celebrities. As far as I know, Kanye hasn’t spilled the secrets behind the making of the video so who knows how the heck it was done. I’ll tell you one thing, however, the waxy, fake looking celebrities and the strange 70s porn-esque camera work is disturbing AF.
Which was probably the goal in the first place.
So far, Taylor hasn’t commented publicly on the video (or at least I haven’t heard anything yet), but if anything deserves Taylor’s lawyers and PR team going into full mama bear mode, this is probably it. Of course, what’s a little T&A between friends, amirite?
If you really want to be creeped out and watch the video, you can check it out on Tidal. You can also watch what is probably a pirated copy here. Be warned. When I say the celebrities are naked, I mean they’re naked as jaybirds.
[rps]
