As Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video and accompanying Satan shoes continues to polarize viewers, the director behind FKA twigs’ “Cellophane” music video talked about the similarities between the two visuals and how he understands that “sharing collaborators is common.”
In a string of tweets shared on Sunday, “Cellophane” director Andrew Thomas Huang explained that he is a fan of Lil Nas X and appreciates how he paid homage to his original work.
“Cellophane,” which dropped back in 2019, features similar imagery to what can be seen in Lil Nas X’s visuals, including FKA twigs ascending into what appears to be heaven on a stripper pole before being cast down into hell, similar to what occurs in the “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video.
Huang continued by talking about how much time and effort went into creating the “Cellophane” visuals.
Huang clarified to Time, however, that he is not frustrated with Lil Nas X, but instead the major label machine.
“I think twigs and Lil Nas are both doing important work. The question is, who benefits from their work? The answer is record labels,” Huang wrote. “The anger it stokes between artists just increases divisions between underrepresented artists. So I think there’s something larger and systemic here at work.”
Lil Nas X also told Time he drew inspiration from FKA twigs’ video when conceptualizing his own. “I wanted to see some things people have done in music videos with the pole—and I felt like twigs did a really amazing job at that,” he said. “I wanted to do my own take on it.”
Ultimately, Huang closed his tweet thread by urging major labels to uphold the director’s creative integrity for the betterment of the art and the artist.
FKA twigs herself showed appreciated for X on Instagram, also thanking “sex workers and strippers for providing the physical language to make both videos possible.”
“thank you @lilnasx for our gentle honest conversations and for acknowledging the inspiration cellophane gave you and your creative team in creating your iconic video!” she opened her caption on a pic of the “Montero” artist. “i think what you have done is amazing and i fully support your expression and bravery in pushing culture forward for the queer community. legend status. i want to thank @andrewthomashuang and @kelyvon for helping me create cellophane but also and most importantly i would like to thank sex workers and strippers for providing the physical language to make both videos possible.”
twigs closed out by saying she has “been working with @swarmhive to help support this community and i know all donations to the swarm hardship fund will be welcome during this difficult time. link in bio x.”
