- My rocket titties made their debut here.
00:00
I use them all the time personally,
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but they publicly made their
debut in this video as well.
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They're very useful though.
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Hi, Allure, it's Ariana Grande.
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And today I'm gonna be breaking down
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some of my most iconic videos.
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By the way, they told me
to use the word iconic.
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I didn't assume that.
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♪ Head in the clouds ♪
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♪ Got no weight on my shoulders ♪
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So this video was directed
by The Young Astronauts,
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And she and I collaborated
on this concept.
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I really love the '60s.
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I've always loved that era
for glamour, for wardrobe,
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for aesthetic, film,
choreography, everything.
00:50
The dancing scene in
this video was actually
00:55
inspired by "Sweet
Charity," and the wardrobe,
00:57
it's pretty, almost identical.
01:00
But yeah, I really, I love that era.
01:03
So we had a lot of fun
dipping a toe in here,
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and then I never kinda dipped any toes out
01:09
for the rest of my life.
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Also, I love Iggy's glam here.
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I loved her makeup, I loved her hair.
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It was funny 'cause my
ponytail in this scene
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was actually not that high or teased.
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And like five minutes before we rolled,
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I was like, this looks too, eh.
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And then I just went in the
mirror, and I just grabbed it,
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and I was like, went like this.
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And I brought it up really high.
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And I sort of, okay, we don't need
01:39
a bunch of memes of me
going like this anywhere,
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but it's okay, it's too late.
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This is one of my favorite videos.
01:51
This one is "Break Free,"
directed by Chris Marrs.
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I had the time of my
life shooting this video.
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I loved this makeup.
02:01
Kris Buckle did this makeup.
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He put a bunch of stickers
from Michaels or something
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on my face, and they definitely
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weren't supposed to be there.
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I think Dalina did this hair,
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and Johnny Wujek did this wardrobe.
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It was a beautiful, fun video.
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I've always loved vintage
interpretations of space,
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and like what the future looks like,
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but in the '50s or '60s,
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I always thought that was so cool.
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Big "Barbarella" fan, obviously.
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I continue to channel
her as much as possible.
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There's a really cool deleted scene
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on the internet somewhere,
where we recreated
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the who shot first scene from "Star Wars,"
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which was really fun as well.
02:43
My rocket titties made their debut here.
02:45
I use them all the time personally,
02:49
but they publicly made their
debut in this video as well.
02:51
They're very useful though.
02:55
♪ 'Cause it you want to keep me ♪
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♪ You gotta, gotta, gotta, gotta, got to ♪
03:00
"Love Me Harder," 2014,
featuring The Weeknd.
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This was our first time collaborating.
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This concept didn't feel
very personal to me,
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as I'm sitting in a
old chair in some sand,
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and I end up in water for some reason.
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I'm dressed as some
sort of whorish kitten.
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I love the look in it, I love the look.
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I kinda gave up the reins here
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and was just kind of like, go for it.
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And then I really fought
Hannah for the kitty ears.
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I'm really glad that I did though,
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'cause I really like them.
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I think it would've
felt almost too serious
03:38
without the ears for me.
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♪ I'm talking to you ♪
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♪ See you standing over
there wit' your body ♪
03:45
So this is "Side to Side,"
featuring Nicki Minaj, 2016.
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We were going back and forth
and back and forth about
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what should this concept be?
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And I remember I was on the treadmill
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thinking and listening to my playlist
04:00
of what was becoming the
"Dangerous Woman" album.
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And I got to "Side to
Side," and I was like,
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why does this feel so fun to
listen to on the treadmill?
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And I FaceTimed Hannah, and I said,
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we should be on SoulCycle bikes.
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And she was like, [gasps],
I'll call you back.
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And then pulled together all
these dope visual references.
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She was like, you and Nikki
have to be in the sauna.
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I don't love the look with the leggings
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and the stringy bra thing.
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But I love the other ones.
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I love the one on the bike.
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The one in the leggings feels
like I was forced into it.
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I probably was. [laughs]
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♪ Right now I'm in a state of mind ♪
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This one is "No Tears Left to Cry,"
04:41
2018, directed by Dave Meyers.
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This was a really fun video,
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simply because of how much
preparation went into it.
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The rotating set that we had to build
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to create the first scene
took so long to get used to.
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And we rehearsed the day
before, and it was so much fun.
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I pitched Dave this idea of sort of
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multiple fields of gravity
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because of a game I
was playing at the time
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called Monument Valley on my phone.
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I told him how much I love Escher's stairs
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and stuff like that.
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And we sort of mushed everything together
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and created the "Sweetener,"
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what really was sort
of like the centerpiece
05:27
for the "Sweetener" album and era.
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Which was this sort of
play on being upside down
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and not knowing what is
right and what is up.
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Because also personally,
in my life at the time,
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I was sort of upside down,
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and not knowing where the ground was,
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and not feeling very grounded or okay.
05:45
So yeah, I felt like
that was a really nice,
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cool way to visually represent
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what I was feeling during
those moments, really.
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The fashion here is really fun.
05:58
I loved the polka dot umbrella
dress, I really loved that.
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I remember feeling so joyful in that.
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This was styled by Law Roach.
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And I loved these looks, I
think they're so much fun.
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♪ You believe God is a woman ♪
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"God is a Woman," 2018, also
directed by Dave Meyers.
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This was such a fun video to do.
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This was glam by Ash and Josh,
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and styled by Mimi Cuttrell.
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This one was so much fun because obviously
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there are so many beautiful
ways to express femininity
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and what it is to be a woman.
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And there's so many things
to lean into as far as
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paying homage to art that already exists,
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and also creating our own.
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So yeah, we had a lot of fun with this.
06:59
One of my favorite moments is probably
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when I'm fingering the
Earth, loved that a lot.
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I also loved recreating the moment,
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the Michelangelo moment, at the end,
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because I was able to tease that we were
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putting that in this video at the Met Gala
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when I worked with Vera Wang on my dress.
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I like that connection, to me, that was,
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that felt exciting, and
I felt giddy knowing.
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And then I love that sort
of watercolor [beeps]
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that I'm swimming in, in the beginning.
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I think it's so beautiful.
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Alexa Meade did that
art on my sort of face,
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and hair, and boobs, and
in the water as well.
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That is not random paint, it's not a pool.
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That's [beeps] for sure.
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♪ Thought I'd end up with Sean ♪
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♪ But he wasn't a match ♪
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This is "Thank You, Next" from 2018.
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I loved this video so much.
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The funny thing about this is that
08:00
we were working on the "Breathin" video,
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Hannah and I were in New York
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filming the video for "Breathin."
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"Breathin" kind of was like the tail end
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single of "Sweetener" 'cause it kind of,
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life thrust me into the
"Thank You, Next" album era.
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I didn't have any plan of moving
on that time, anytime soon,
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but I kinda had to do that album
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as an artist to feel better.
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And I really was ready to move on.
08:27
And we were working on "Breathin,"
and I was like, [gasps],
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we have to recreate all my favorite scenes
08:34
from all my favorite movies,
08:37
and make the "Thank You, Next" video.
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Like next month we have to do it.
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And she was like, holy [beeps].
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Like, nobody is more right
to do this with than Hannah.
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She turned something that
felt so torrential at the time
08:51
in my life into something
that felt fun and light,
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at least while we were doing it,
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and while we were making it.
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And what I got to share with the world
09:05
felt bright and beautiful.
09:07
Playing Regina George was really fun.
09:10
Playing Elle Woods was really fun.
09:12
Playing Jenna Rink was a dream come true.
09:15
I couldn't believe it, Jennifer
Garner even reposted it.
09:19
And I love her so much.
09:23
I loved being able to work
with Jennifer Coolidge on this.
09:25
She actually recreated all of her looks
09:27
from "Legally Blonde" for this,
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which was the biggest
honor of my entire life.
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I'm a humongous comedy person.
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I, my favorite movie is "Best in Show,"
09:39
and she happens to be in that as well.
09:43
You should see the
outtakes, they're so funny.
09:46
She was like, I met a guy with no teeth.
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I made out with him, it was so weird.
09:51
And then I saw him under the
covers, he was doing something.
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And I was like, trying
to keep a straight face.
09:57
And she was like, have you ever
kissed a guy with no teeth?
10:02
♪ Heaven sent you to me ♪
10:06
I love this video so much.
10:11
I love this glam, I love this styling.
10:14
This makeup was by Manthony
and my hair was by Josh Liu.
10:17
This styling was Mimi Cuttrell.
10:21
This was directed by Dave Meyers again.
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And conceptualized by my husband.
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We were in the car driving home,
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and Dalton just turned to me and was like,
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what if you were the president?
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And I was like, [gasps], you're perfect.
10:33
This was literally three
days away from the shoot,
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And we just like, he made it happen.
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I also love the women that
are in this video with me.
10:45
It was really cool just to
sort of paint this picture
10:50
in a feminine way, and just say, you know,
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why couldn't it look like that?
10:57
Why couldn't it even look
half like that? [beeps]
10:59
♪ So what you doing tonight? ♪
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♪ Better say, doing you right ♪
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♪ Watching movies, but we ain't seen ♪
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"34+35," 2020, directed by Director X.
11:11
Michael did this makeup again.
11:16
And Josh did this hair again.
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And this was styled by Mimi again.
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This was another one where we took
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inspiration from that '60s sci-fi.
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Again, that old horror '60s thing
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is my favorite aesthetic in the world.
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So we tried to make it
sort of emulate that
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with the drippy letters and stuff.
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I, yeah, feel so lucky to have done this.
11:40
And choreographed by Brian
and Scott Nicholson as well.
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This choreography is so silly and fun,
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but like also so chic.
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I've worked with them my whole career.
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So it's fun to sort of find new stories
11:52
And okay, are we voguing today?
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No we're being fembots today, actually.
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And they are always able to jump in,
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and execute everything so beautifully,
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and make me feel beautiful
in the movements.
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And I appreciate them, and
everybody I get to work with.
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Thank you all so much for joining me,
12:13
as I broke down some of my most,
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I was forced to say the
word iconic earlier,
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but some of my most they
happened music videos.
12:20
You have to use that,
you have to use that.
12:27