Today, multi-media recording artist and producer Grimes released the official video for "Venus Fly," from her acclaimed 2016 album Art Angels, with Janelle Monae. The video comes as the latest in a series of incredible, tonally diverse performances from Monae, including major roles in the Oscar-nominated films Moonlight and Hidden Figures, her latest album The Electric Lady, and an inspiring speech with the mothers of the Black Lives Matter movement at the Women's March on Washington. Along with making the music in the video, Grimes also wrote and directed it, making the work completely her own.
Grimes' and Monae's "Venus Fly" personas seem to subvert classic romantic images (think Birth of Venus), fairytale notions of girlhood (think Beauty and the Beast), and men's fashion; with "Venus Fly," Grimes creates a surreal world in which "time [is] suspended" through the use of a Phantom camera, and she and Monae hold flaming samurai swords in chain mail dresses.
Check it out below:
Top Photo: grimesmusic.com
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Olivia Loperfido is an English and psychology major at New York University's College of Arts and Sciences, and the junior editor of NYU's Mercer Street (2017-'18). She enjoys spending time with her dogs and tortoise, watching RuPaul's Drag Race, and contacting her state representatives. Follow her on Instagram here and contact her via email here.
