Jhene Aiko doesn’t hold anything back in her new music video for “Maniac”.
The R&B singer directed the video alongside TopShelf Junior. She took to Instagram to explain where the concept for the visual came from. The “Maniac” visual tells the story of a mental patient who finds her own cure. The video takes place in a mental asylum and displays a selection of “bizarre techniques” which Jhene thoroughly researched beforehand. Her genuine interest in the topic was sparked after she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder recently. She says: “When I start putting together the concept for the ‘Maniac’ visual, I wanted to explore what it meant to be manic. That idea led me to research old asylums and the bizarre techniques that were used back in the day to treat mental patients. I watched a few movies that explore the topic including Stonehearst Asylum and Shutter Island. I even visited a Psychiatry museum in Hollywood. I learned that lots of women were admitted for absurd reasons, including being ‘nymphomaniacs’ and were basically tortured in the name of treatment.”
“I plan on taking my fans on a Trip through every layer of my being, straight to the depths of my soul….” says the singer. This video is an homage to the extremely sexual side of her personality, and she says the props used are her own sex toys she bought herself. She says there are many layers to her personality, and she believes “we all have some sort of imbalance”. However, she strongly feels people have the ability to overcome this imbalance, and her way of doing so is through creating art.
If you thought this music video was wild, be prepared for more because Jhene says this one is only “scratching the surface”. Watch the video below.
