A Window Into Erykah Badu’s New Video

The singer-songwriting’s video was inspired by Matt and Kim’s 2009 video for “Lessons Learned,” which features the dance punk duo peeling off their clothes down to their birthday suits as they walk through New York’s Times Square. After being chased by a police offer, “Lessons Learned” ends with Kim (wearing only knee socks) being run over by a bus.

“Window Seat” takes place in downtown Dallas as Badu walks down Elm Street, throwing her coat, hoodie, T-shirt, pants and finally black underwear and bra to the ground. Shortly after throwing off every item of clothing, the singer falls to the ground, dead, near the same spot Kennedy was assassinated.

Blue letters, rather than blood, trickle out from underneath Badu’s head, spelling out the word “groupthink.”

A voiceover by Badu reads the following statement:

“They who play it safe, are quick to assassinate what they do not understand. They move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. They feel most comfortable in groups, less guilt to swallow. They are us. This is what we have become, afraid to respect the individual. A single person within a circumstance can move one to change, to love herself, to evolve.”

On Sunday Badu explained a few of her thoughts on the video through her Twitter account, writing “Funny thing is, the physical nudity is nothing. Lol. I [have] been naked all along in my words, actions and deeds. That’s the real vulnerable place.”

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Badu says she thought Matt and Kim’s video “was the bravest most liberating thing I’ve ever seen two people do. And I wanted to dedicate this contagious act of liberation and freedom to them. I hoped it would become something contagious that people would want to do in some way or another.”

The singer says that yes, she was indeed naked, tweeting that there were “no camera tricks.” She and her crew shot the video “in straight guerilla cam” and they only had one shot to get it right before police noticed a naked woman walking down the street.

Frank Librio, the spokesman for City Hall has made a statement about the video, explaining that Dallas isn’t a fan of guerilla filming.

“All commercial film/video or photo shoot projects must be permitted through the City of Dallas Office of Special Events / Film Coordinators,” Librio said, according to the Dallas Morning News. “The production company that produced this video never contacted the City to seek the proper permits. This is known as ‘guerilla filming’ where production companies circumvent the proper permitting procedures and usually shoot these scenes in one take knowing that if they are discovered they would face arrest and/or penalties.”

Badu said that she assassinated herself in her new “Window Seat” video as a way of beating her critics to the punch.

“The grassy knoll was the most monumental place in Dallas  I could think of. I tied it in a way that compared that assassination to the character assassination one would go through after showing his or her self completely. That’s exactly the action that I wanted to display,” she said. “I decided to assassinate myself as a gesture. Because it was going to happen anyway. The video is a prediction of what is happening now.”

Badu explains that “groupthink,” a term coined in 1952, is “the recognition of a state of being for humans.

“It’s human nature for a person to be afraid to express his or her self in fear of being ostracized by the group or general consensus. A lot of times people are judged unfairly because of that. I think about the Salem witch trials; I think about the assassination of Christ, I think about the character assassination of artists and celebrities on blog sites. I think about all of these things as groupthink.”

Badu’s new album, New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), hits stores today.

Click here for Erykah Badu’s Web site.

Click here for her Twitter account.

Click here and here for the Dallas Morning News articles.