Generally speaking, D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” video has become that most rarefied of things: a work so singular that it defies reinterpretation or re-appropriation. Or, in other words, you’d have to be crazy to try to re-make it, and not just because of D’s abdominals, either.
Still, Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendon Urie was determined to do just that, with his band’s new “Girls/Girls/Boys” video. He just didn’t think anyone would want to try with him.
“It was a conscious thing; when we were coming up with ideas, I made it a point to say that. Like,’I’ve always wanted to re-create the D’Angelo video, almost spoof it,'” he told MTV News. “And everyone was like ‘Yeah, we’re on board,’ and I was like ‘Really?!?’ Because I’ve always loved that video, I think it’s great.”
Of course, no one ever said remaking a classic would be easy. So, like he does on most of Panic’s new Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! album, Urie decided to get into character for the shoot — “It’s me playing my manic self,” he explained, “my very anxious, apprehensive, tortured self” — and then stripped down. Which is where the weirdness really began.
“Full disclosure, I had my jeans on, but I pulled them down to basically the base of, you know, so you’re getting a hint of almost everything,” he said. “My butt’s hanging out, and they’re panning down [with the camera] and there’s like thirty people in the room just staring at me awkwardly and they’re like ‘Do stuff.’
“Then they greased me up in this coconut oil,” he laughed. “It was something I’ve never done before, it was wild.”
No Comments