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Music

Behind the Lens: Sky Ferreira Is Not Racist

Discussing Sky Ferreira's video for "I Blame Myself" with director Grant Singer.

Back in September, while Sky was on the way to a Basilica Soundscape Music Festival, her and her boyfriend, Zachary Cole Smith of DIIV, were arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, including heroin and ecstasy. The arrest caused a big stir and lost the starlet some of her bigger sponsors (Sky Ferriera is also a highly sought after model). However, Sky has been smart in putting the issue behind her. When her album Night Time My Time came out in October, all of her attention was on promoting the album and touring, despite many interviewers persistence to get her to discuss the arrest.

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In Sky's most recent video for the album, "I Blame Myself," she finally addresses the matter. In an over the top, fictional account, Sky is arrested for gang activity and then strips in the police station. When it came out last week few people paid attention to that and instead focused in on the color of the actors in the video. People claimed that she was using black actors as props and one commenter on Sky's Facebook page went as far as writing, "These actors BECAUSE of their skin color are automatically reduced to the neighborhood setting you shot this video in."

Rather than making bold claims on someone's Facebook page, I decided to talk to the director behind the video, Grant Singer. We discussed the casting process, Sky's multiracial family, and the constant criticizing of my new favorite pop star.

Noisey: What went behind the decision to shoot in such a historic place like Compton?

Grant Singer: It wasn't like we set out to shoot the video in Compton. I was getting gas with Brook Linder, the editor of the video, and we saw this abandoned lot across the street. We thought it was a really amazing location, better than any place we had scouted. It wasn't like, "Oh let's shoot the video in Compton." In the treatment it doesn't say Compton, California, it says a bleak environment.

And as far as picking the actors, how did you go about that?

We auditioned tons of people, all different types. We originally had six dancers and the guys in the video were the four best. They were simply the strongest dancers.

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I should say they also had a look. They had to look like they existed in this environment which is important to the authenticity of the video. If I had cast someone who looked like Seth Rogan as a dancer it may not have looked as believable. Every medium whether it be film, TV, music videos, or commercials, you cast based on what the part is.

This video seems a little over the top, in a playful way. Was that your intention?

To me the video is very playful. I want to put this racist issue to bed. In my opinion I find it hard to understand why people are upset that Sky would have black people in her video. To me it's more disturbing to have white artists only have whites in their videos or black artists only have blacks in their videos. That’s segregation.

When you go to the area we shot the video in there are no white people. That's just a fact. The intention was to make something that was authentic. The opening looks like it's "The Wire" or it's some sort of gritty documentary on the street or whatever. Then you reveal that this person is Sky Ferriera and as the video progresses it gets more and more playful. She breaks free from her chains in the interrogation room and strips for the police - I mean, come on, it's fantasy. This video could not be more playful than it already is.

Yeah, these guys go from this thug persona to dancing like Michael Jackson.

Right. It's fun. This is a music video, we're not on Bill Maher.

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You know Sky comes from a multiracial background. When we were making this video nobody even thought about it.

So the backlash came as a complete surprise?

I think this has more to do with Sky than it does any specific issue. If Gesaffelstein made this video, which he did, no one gave him shit for depicting that same atmosphere, environment, or setting. But if Sky does it everybody comes down on her.

Right, I really enjoy the song and there's a lyric in there that says, "I'm just a face without a choice. A choice you'd never like to guess what I think above the shoulders." It seems as if the response to the video almost authenticates the song.
Oh yeah, one hundred percent. Really what the video references, you know, her arrest, 9 months ago, or however long ago it was with Cole, I think the intention of the video was to put all the controversy surrounding the arrest to bed. Art imitating life, do you know what I mean? Let's sort of reference it, put it to bed, and it will be over. So it's personal, but it's also in an exaggerated setting to make light of the situation. That really is the soul of the video, to put that issue to rest so she can move on her with her life.

So while trying to put one controversy to bed she unintentionally starts a whole new one.

I didn't even think about it like that but it's fitting for her. Cole [Zachary Cole Smith] and I talked about it yesterday and it seems like it never ends with her. Everyone is always on her case. I'm sure it's for a lot of other pop stars as well, but specifically I notice it with her.

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Do you think people like Sky and Miley Cyrus are going always get shit if they don't package their music in a "white" bubble-gum way?

It goes back to Madonna when she had a Black Jesus in the, "Like A Prayer Video." She's one of the most groundbreaking, if not the most groundbreaking pop star ever, and I think that stuff like this has always been around. There wasn't Twitter for everyone’s opinion to be heard. I think that this has been around for a very long time and you just sort of have to roll with the punches. It's not new.

The most important thing is that it illicited a reaction and evoked something in people. That's a good thing. You don't want to make something that's a piece of white bread and is nothing. Then what's the point of making it? Music videos are so rampant and forgettable sometimes. I think the intention was to make something that was cool, fun, and hopefully powerful in some ways.

Brian Padilla has the greatest Twitter handle of all time - @NYCBros

For more interviews with music video directors, check our Behind the Lens series.