By now, fans know what they get when they press play on a MAKO Girls video. They’re going to see an exhibition of true camaraderie between the Girls themselves — three young Atlantans who happen to be real-life sisters. They’ll see first-rate fashion from everybody onscreen, especially the three stars, who rock throwback gear and cutting-edge clothing with equal confidence. Most of all, they’re going to see dancing: first-rate dancing, in formation, executed with the sort of precision, synchronization, and exuberance that will never go out of fashion, but which has been all too scarce in contemporary music videos.
Dynamic choreography lit up the clip for “Ready,” the club burner that established MAKO Girls as a force in A-Town Pop and R&B. It was there again in “Leverage,” the undeniable, wildly catchy follow-up. In the video for “AIN’T THINKIN BOUT YOU,” the Girls’s latest single, the young sisters and director Kiki Ely shoot the works with four minutes of athletic, kinetic, immensely rewatchable dancing. They’ve gone back to the Girls’ old high school to make the video, and they’re dancing like they’ve just heard the recess bell.
That’s the only appropriate response to a track like “AIN’T THINKIN BOUT YOU,” a glorious kiss-off propelled by a slinky Atlanta-style beat and a whipped cream-thick bass synthesizer. It’s a showcase for the sisters’ harmonies and insouciance. When they tell their addressee that they’re not wasting a moment worrying about their judgment, the effect is downright liberating. In doing so, they’re carrying on the tradition of another Georgia singing trio: TLC. A-Town has waited a long time for successors to Chili, T-Boz, and Left Eye. Fans of R&B have found the group they’re looking for.
That’s not to say they don’t have an identity all their own. The “AIN’T THINKIN BOUT YOU” video foregrounds their personalities just as much as it shows off their moves. It’s telling that they set the clip in their old school: they want you to know exactly where they come from and how deep their roots go. They’ve remodeled the classroom into MAKO University, and whether they’re sitting at their desks or up in the aisles, they’re never still for long. The MAKO Girls can dance with notebooks in their hands. But they save their best moves for the school basketball court, where they can be as gymnastic and audacious as they’d like. Twice, Ely stops the clip and turns the chorus into something resembling a cheer. They’re proud of what they’ve accomplished already, they’ve got attitude to burn, and they’re going for the win.
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