There's something very unusual about Frank Ocean's "Provider" lyric video. Specifically, it's got a Hello Kitty head jumping around.
The video, which you can find on his website, includes an old-fashioned boom box and words lighting up karaoke-style as Ocean sings them. And each time he moves on to a new word, the Hello Kitty head jumps onto it. It's extremely random but also mesmerising.
This isn't the first time Ocean has incorporated Hello Kitty into his art. A similar cat head appeared on a screen behind him with the lyrics of "Nikes" as he performed at Lovebox Festival, Vice reports.
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Someone who appears to be visual artist Tom Sachs makes a cameo in the "Provider" lyric video, according to Jezebel. Sachs has collaborated with Ocean multiple times, and he's also a fan of Hello Kitty. In 1994, he got in trouble for putting a Hello Kitty head where baby Jesus would normally be in the Christmas decorations for a Barney's window, Vice reports.
Sachs also designed two fountains shaped like Hello Kitty and her friend Miffy for an exhibit at Gordon Bunshaft’s modernist Park Avenue tower in New York City, according to The New York Times. He told The Times that Hello Kitty was a "merchandising icon" with "an almost Buddhist sense of nothingness." So, it's not surprising that Sachs and his favourite character would show up together in this video.
lyric video for frank ocean's "provider" pic.twitter.com/M7dJofyBMS
— Tenny Rudolph (@EARTH2TEN) August 28, 2017
"Provider" premiered Sunday on Ocean's "blonded RADIO" show. The melodic, minimalistic track packs in a variety of pop culture references, with lines like "Moonwalkin', R.I.P. Stanley Kubrick," "I just saw JAWS, divin' under influence," and "Stiff smile just like I'm Aphex Twin."
It's incredibly catchy — especially when you've got a Hello Kitty face guiding you through it.
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