Earlier this year, we were treated to the grunge-pop revelry that is Zëta Ræ’s latest single, INFATUATED.
Pairing a free-spirited approach to genre with an evocative portrait of an inescapable crush, the feverish hyper-pop cut recalls the work of Charli XCX or Olivia Rodrigo, somewhat contradictory artists that give you a sense of just how eclectic Ræ’s palette is.
“Playing around, not knowing what I’m doing, and being silly all help me grow and stay excited,” Ræ later told Happy Mag of the impetus behind her diverse sound.
While the singer has clearly mastered her sonic direction, any true pop chameleon is only as great as their visuals, which Ræ delivers in spades with the music video for INFATUATED.
Whether she’s dangling outside of a car’s sunroof or lolling around in crisp bed linens, Ræ showcases a true star quality that only enhances the listening experience for INFATUATED.
Below, the musician stops by Happy for a breakdown of the making of INFATUATED’s visuals, from the team who helped create it to its subversion of typical pop video tropes.
Catch Zëta Ræ’s full music video breakdown, and listen to her new single INFATUATED, below, and scroll down to watch her new visuals in full.
This was my first time taking a stab at making a serious music video and, with a practically nonexistent budget in the world of film, I couldn’t be more proud of my friends and I for what we’ve created.
Lindsey Webb, Nicholas Baños, and I started throwing around ideas in April. We wanted the video to feel like a daydream, capturing the feeling of laying in bed and fantasising about the person you’re falling in love with.
The song feels very anti-pop, so we wanted to lean into the campiness of typical pop video tropes while subverting them at the same time. To me, the video feels nostalgic and modern, expected and unexpected, serious and silly.
I learned so much through this process and have to give a special shoutout to Anastasia Elliot, a fellow Nashville artist who produced the video.
She was so gracious and patient with Lindsey and I through our learning curves and so much of the professionalism in this video was possible because of her. We had such a blast on set.
Every person in the video is someone very special to me and we got to ride go karts, play in an arcade, hang off of moving cars, and dance together in public.
Like making music, how you feel making the video is the feeling that translates, so having fun and making this with people I love was a crucial part.
Lindsey Webb and Jack Nahigian shot everything and they absolutely killed it. It’s such a cool experience to see your ideas come to fruition and I am so lucky to have such fun, talented, and creative friends around me to do that with.
