When he presented her that award at the and did that speech, he said something about first meeting her at this restaurant where he was the DJ or singing there. Her video was shot at my hometown! I think her and Drake met around that time. I actually brought her to Toronto to do that video. She had real star power then and who knew she’d become this big? When we shot her performance - she was wearing a turquoise dress - and she was just singing the song, I was watching her and was like, “Oh I see what this is.” When I saw that happen, I knew this was something special. I felt Rihanna’s star quality on set, and I’ll tell you when I really knew it. It just needs to feel like something is progressing, and that’s the key element. Someone sitting and then standing up is a change. You can make things interesting either by changing location or changing the action. I think there was something special about that video, having a really young director with a really young artist making this thing happen together. Usher and I were around the same age, and it was just one of those that really clicked. I was young and was kind of venting through my own life experience through the song. Most people would say there’s a difference between working with R&B singers and rappers, but there isn’t. I don’t remember how I came up with that face-licking scene. The director of photography for that video, Claudio Miranda, ended up winning an Academy Award for Life of Pi, so there’s that! The vibe on set was cool and we had a lot to do: one day on the desert and then off to go shoot at the next location. Below, the auteur looks back of some of the memorable highlights throughout his career, like when two star-crossed superstars met for the first time on one of his sets, and the biggest thing that still kills him about Iggy Azalea‘s “Fancy” video.Ģ000: Mystikal, “Danger (Been So Long)” featuring Nivea

While he continues to explore new projects like movies and Mister Tachyon - his new sci-fi series on Viceland that premiered this July - Director X’s heart remains with music videos.

Director x mister tachyon