For Dev Hynes’ self directed latest Blood Orange music video from last year’s Negro Swan, he brings out the big guns. In the allegorical clip, which Hynes directed, he recruits the song’s featured artists Diddy and Tei Shi, while also adding A$AP Rocky, Empress Of, Tyler, the Creator, Alton Mason, and Dominique to the mix. Together, they appear in a series of poetic scenes that juxtapose surreal elements and gritty slice-of-life shots. Additionally, there are poetic choreographed scenes by Emma Portner.
Even within the first few frames, Hynes brings you into a disconnected array of striking scenes. It starts with model Alton Mason dancing against a bright red backdrop in a flowing white button-down shirt and painted-on white pants, after which Hynes flaunts some Blood Orange merch (a small sheer shirt with “Blood Orange” printed all over it) as Colombian-Canadian singer-songwriter Tei Shi, who provides vocals for the track, dances on a street corner in a ruched baby blue sweatsuit and oxblood-colored boots. There are shots of Empress Of head-banging her ombré curls in an all-over patent leather outfit, and last but not least, Diddy raps in the studio, flanked by a sharply dressed Tyler, the Creator and A$AP Rocky, who looks like he’s ready to go hunting in an orange T-shirt and a camo-printed vest. It does not have – or need – any sort of cohesive narrative, but with so many beautiful shots scattered throughout, it’s proof that Hynes is a burgeoning auteur in his own right.
