Tami Neilson's shares music video for 'Devil In A Dress'
/Tami Neilson has just dropped a smokin’ hot video to accompany her new single ‘Devil In A Dress', choreographed by and featuring famed Kiwi dance duo, The ONeill Twins.
‘Devil In A Dress’ comes from Neilson’s recently released album SASSAFRASS!, which has received critical acclaim from the likes of Rolling Stone, Pop Matters and American Songwriter.
It also paves the way for the Auckland-based singer’s upcoming New Zealand Tour. The seven-date tour begins on July 26 in Nelson and makes its way across both islands before ending in Auckland on August 4. See all dates and venues below.
Directed by Anna Duckworth and produced by Morgan Leigh Stewart, the video for ‘Devil In A Dress’ is a stylish and sassy nod to the strong feminist sentiment that runs throughout SASSAFRASS!
The video is choreographed and features The ONeill Twins - Brooke and Starce, who have worked with the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Missy Elliot and Ciara, and whose unique style of hip-hop and street styles of dance have earned them fans around the world.
The song and video takes its inspiration from the TV series, ‘The Fall’.
“There was a particular scene,” explains Neilson, “where a constable wants to use the word ‘innocent’ to describe the killer’s victim in a press release. Gillian Anderson’s character, DSI Stella Gibson responds: ‘Let’s not refer to them as innocent… what if he kills a prostitute next or a woman walking home drunk, late at night, in a short skirt? Will they be in some way less innocent, therefore less deserving? Culpable? The media loves to divide women into virgins and vamps, angels or whores. Let's not encourage them.”
Neilson was struck by her words. “It made me ponder on how women are often portrayed in these one-dimensional ways. Even women of power throughout history are painted as one or the other. Cleopatra - the vixen, Joan of Arc- the saint, Queen Elisabeth - pure and righteous. The list goes on.”
“The reality of the complexities of women are rarely portrayed. This song was my tongue-in-cheek way of challenging that.”
The Oneill Twins also feature in the video for the first single from the album, ‘Stay Outta My Business’ and Neilson says she was delighted to work with them again on ‘Devil In A Dress’.
“They were the perfect fit to portray the two stereotypes - they are visually, seemingly, the ‘same woman’ in these different roles.”
“I love that they choreographed it so they move as one in the chorus, symbolising that they are both one-dimensional fantasies, albeit opposing ones. When it came time for my performance, immediately before the first take, director Anna Duckworth surprised me when she suggested I play the role of the over-the-top shopping network character. I channeled my best Joy Mangano and suddenly it sizzled with sarcasm, which was exactly what the song embodies.”
