Victoria Monét shows a naughtier side in her new video “Freak”, exclusively premiering on Billboard today (May 1), which just happens to be her birthday. The song, written by Monét and produced by Tommy Brown, portrays a woman uninhibited unapologetically.
In the Jaquel Knight-directed video, Monét is seen in a dungeon-like setting flexing her dancing skills as well as driving and even working it up close in the camera for a shot that harkens back to the slo-mo styles of Missy Elliott’s videos. Monet notes the inspiration for the song saying, “Freak is the rise of a Phoenix, a rebirth. A broken girls reinvention of self for the better.”
She reminisces on the effort put into making the video saying, “It’s the hardest I’ve ever worked for a video in every way; from planning, budgeting and asking for favors, to weeks of rehearsals learning how to pole dance with no prior experience , countless hours of dance and workouts, balancing in those damn heels, dealing with confidence and comfortability with being overtly sexy on camera and even the editing process!”
Monét makes sure to shout-out the team that helped put the video together. She adds, “This was a huge moment to grow as an artist and as a person. JaQuel and his team went above and beyond. Everyone involved (glam team, dancers and crew) was an absolute dream to be around on set!! I really hope everyone’s eyes light up when they see what we did.”
Monét first emerged on the music scene with 2014’s “Nightmares and Lullabies”. Her profile rose when she opened for Ariana Grande on her “Dangerous Woman” Tour before releasing her project Life After Love Pt 1. As a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and dancer, she has written for the likes of Chris Brown, Nas, Ariana Grande, and Fifth Harmony.
See if you got what it takes to be a “Freak” below.
Freak was led with creative direction from Jaquel Knight and Dana Takakao. Choreographers for the video were JaQuel Knight, Zach Lattimore, Kiira Harper, and Jasmine Badie. Pole Choreography was by Wendy Lee. Stylist for the shoot was Joey Thao, Makeup was Daniel Chinchilla and Hair Shatonna Watts.