The good folks at Badu World have made us aware of an official statement from Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips regarding the mildly x-rated video the group recently released for their collaboration with Erykah Badu, covering "First Time Ever I saw Your Face" (the classic love ballad made famous by Roberta Flack) and featuring Ms. Badoula and her little sister Nayrok in semi-nude and nekkid poses, respectively. The video, as many readers of this site have noted, went up on Vimeo after a debut on Pitchfork, then was blocked, then re-appeared and is now (apparently) blocked again. Coyne's statement sheds some light on the situation:
"The video link that was erroneously posted on Pitchfork by the Flaming Lips of the Music Video 'The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face', which features Erykah Badu, is unedited and unapproved.. Sorry!! We, the Flaming Lips, accept full responsibility for prematurely having Pitchfork post it. It has outraged and upset a segment of fans and we apologize if we offended any viewers!!! This is a Flaming Lips video which features Erykah Badu and her sister Nayrok and is not meant to be considered an Erykah Badu or Nayrok statement, creation, or approved version.”
It remains to be seen what might change in an edited and approved version, since Ms. Badoula-at least judging by her twitter timeline--seemed fully comfortable with the nudity displayed in some stills leaked beforehand by Coyne (and which was mainly confined to Nayrok's cameo), commenting:
"@waynecoyne it looks beautiful. Nayrok ( lil sis) looks amazing . U are a Tru visionary .. My fav is the glitter."
And then a few days later, soliciting responses to the video itself, tweeting:
"Official Flaming Lips Vid discussion. How does it make u feel? Astetically, What does it make u fear? Anger?Joy?Freedom?Disgust? Discuss."
Which seemed to elicit a mostly high-minded and and healthy discussion of the role of art and the meaning of beauty. To Coyne's extended twitter mea culpa today, Ms. Badoula replied simply: "ok." To which we can only add: "player."
spotted at BW
