How is it going in the US? 

It’s weird because there is more movement with work and stuff, but the reality is that things are not moving. So there is a contradiction. 

Still, I saw you’ve had many shoots recently. 

Yes, that’s true. In addition to all the shoots in NYC, I was in LA to shoot a music video for ‘Volcano.’ They covered me in Pepto-Bismol. Pepto is an opaque pink liquid stomach medicine. I performed, covered in this pink goo, at the top of a giant black sand dune. The volcanic sand is made by the heavy winds eroding the volcano rock from an eruption that happened there 10,000 years ago. The whole time, I was saying that the Volcano shoot would be easier than the Faith Consuming Hope shoot because Kyiv was so cold, but the truth is the Volcano shoot was just as cold because the desert is freezing at night.  

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That’s something I wanted to ask you about today. I am really curious about the process of filming your new video “Faith Consuming Hope” in Kyiv. 

It was the first time I got on an airplane or went anywhere since the beginning of lockdown. And it felt a bit surreal at that moment. 

Why did you decide to go that far to Kyiv? Was it a decision of Elliott Power, the director? 

Elliott hit me up pretty much out of the blue. We'd never spoken before. He told me he really wanted to direct a music video for me and that he wanted to film it in Kyiv with this incredible production company, Radioaktive. I'm really careful about letting anyone into my creative world, but I could immediately tell he was a very chill guy that knew how to treat an artist, so I agreed to work with him. Not to mention, he was offering such a high level of production it would have been silly to pass up. Also, he had already been to Kyiv to work with Radioaktive many times and had a strong and fruitful relationship with the company. The whole thing seemed perfect and exciting.

When he said that he wanted to shoot in Kyiv, my heart lurched — I envisioned the whole idea of it being a runaway nun story very quickly. I'm going to sound corny, but it was magical how it just appeared in my mind. It was like I was following my feet. There was like this string coming out of my belly button, pulling me. 

What was so special about his proposal to shoot in Kyiv? 

My father is from Moscow, so I grew up around many Russians and Ukrainians. My best childhood friend Sonya was born in Kyiv. But more than anything, I just thought about my mom and her story about how she had a school trip to Kyiv in 1975. She grew up in a cold, sterile English culture, and she was a very searching soul at quite a young age. She also had a very abusive childhood, which had a lot to do with her desperate desire to find spiritual force fields, if I can say so. She went there when she was 15-16 or whatever and one of her schoolmates, who was Ukrainian, was like: “We got to go to Pascha! [Orthodox Easter]” I guess, at that time, because it was under communism, not many churches were functioning, but they found one. She stayed in St.Vladimir Cathedral for the whole service, which is about six hours in the middle of the night, and had a really profound experience. She says that it planted the seed of Orthodoxy in her, and now she is a very devout Orthodox Christian living next to a monastery. The sisters are her best friends (they are Greek, but whatever, you know). I spent much of my childhood in orthodox monasteries with nuns.

I remember her telling me that story so often when I was growing up. So Kyiv was a part of my childhood mythology. And when Elliott told me we would be filming there, this whole idea for the video just sprung into my mind. It’s a naughty video, though I think it honors the beauty of the church that I always appreciated, even though I rejected its control. I suppose it’s pretty blasphemous compared to my mum’s perspective on things, but the story in this video is sacred and special to me even though it will only add to my devil child reputation with my mum’s devout friends. 

How did you want this story to unfold in the video? How did you and Elliott approach the scenario?

I need my work to feel expansive and untethered to reference. I always feel so many things at once, so the challenge is to not limit the complexity but have it be intrinsically me. I wanted to find a smooth and elegant way to incorporate all these different states of being. We wanted this video to have all the elements of superstar excellence and fashion seduction but with something much more. We wanted this to feel like a classic, timeless film. We wanted this to draw tears and to be unforgettable. I have no doubt that we’ve succeeded. 

Elliott first discussed the idea that I’m Samson and Delilah [Biblical figures] at the same time in the video. He also approached the scenes as if they were different stages of life, including the after-life. The way he felt only complemented what I was feeling in each scene. 

When I was imagining the video, I wanted the pink dress to be the purest essence of innocence that never is affected by anyone, whether a 78-year-old virgin nun or a night crawling demon temptress. The weightless pink dress dancer is the constant — maybe her name is “Faith.”

The aesthetics, storyline of the video seems to be so naturally combined indeed. 

Yes, this whole experience was very profound, and it seemed like there was something else controlling things to make it happen. I felt at home as soon as I got there. I felt held in the thick grey air. I kept looking at how the heavy sky was sitting on the buildings. The above and below were woven. Everything was coated in a layer of clear ice like the city was dipped in glass! It was so slippery I had to relearn how to walk. Yeah, I felt really taken by the magic of the city. 

Did you have a moodboard or any references? What was the ultimate goal in terms of vibe/atmosphere you wanted to create? 

Yeah, Elliot made a reference deck, but I didn’t really pay much attention to it, to be honest. It was the right vibe from a glance, and that’s all that mattered. There was a still from the underpass scene from the film “Possession,” which I fucked with. 

We did a location scout and rehearsal the day before shooting and a fitting the day before I flew — it’s those types of meetings that I think most of the magic is set up. I’m pretty whatever about mood boards. I told Lee the exact pieces I wanted to pull or just explained to her verbally what I was looking for. I’ve never based my work on what someone has done before. I knew that just being in Kyiv and performing to the song with my truth would be what’s most important. 

What immediately comes to my mind is the part from the video where you are wearing a red latex coat in the subway. Who was in charge of styling, set design? 

Elliott took the reins with finding locations, and Lee Chistmas and I did the styling. Lee killed it — she found the red coat. It’s been a fantasy of mine to have a red latex coat for a long time. I didn’t know that it was going to happen in this video, but it did. The slits for the coat went up to the armpits and all the way to the back, and the arms were knitted underneath the latex. I think that’s a really great juxtaposition that is narrated in the video - comforting timeless knit sweater and sexy slippery wet latex, PVC, or whatever the fuck it’s called. 

And you know what I’ve noticed after I did an edit of the video? In the song, there are these blast beats that I was obsessed with. They sounded like a machine drum as you would take a kick drum and put it on 64 notes, so it’s basically this rapid-fire. When the camera spans out in the subway, you see all of the pillars and the lights, and it looks like it sounds — *trrrrr* like each pillar is hit off the drum. The way it’s represented sonically and visually, the way they marry is really important to me. 

You know, in music videos, you can have all these great aspirations, all these great ideas, and huge budgets, but then it doesn’t really look the way it sounds. That’s something that is lost all the time; people forget about it. 

What about the symbolism of other outfits? 

Elliott was seeing that story unfolding in a way that there are several stages of a lifetime. For instance, the black dress meant "after death." That's in that space, and that's why it's sort of hellish. The red coat to me was very "lava," very blood. And then a green reptilian bikini. Is it a lizard? Or is it an orchid? It's a venus flytrap. It's definitely the thirst trap moment in the video, and I literally had venus flytrap on my throats. And the pink dress... It's just so lovely! And I think that this contrast of nun outfits next to the whim of coolness, the baby pink frilly dress. It's just drawing this spectrum between us. It makes me feel so good.

And the characters of the video? How do they work with the plot of the clip?

I think it's the first time I had real actors and some sort of light narrative. First of all, you, Maya. You look like my dad's family from Siberia. There is something in your eyes. It was also very interesting that Tanya, the other young nun, her profile almost looks identical to mine. She looked like a younger version of me. 

And a crazy coincidence! Do you remember the church where my mom went to? St Vladimir's? And the guy who was worshiping me in the video is Vladimir. Crazy! And he was the sweetest, most smiley guy. He didn't speak even a word of English, but we understood each other. We took this shot with him maybe 50 times, but he was so patient! Natasha too! Such a beautiful, strong and lovely lady. It was very important to have different ages in the video. 

The idea of destruction is a prominent force on the album and the video. What does destruction mean for you? Do you juxtapose it to a positive, healing process? 

Destruction is obviously essential to creation. No one was born without ripping out the pussy or cutting open a belly. There is no room for growth in stagnance. What makes me really alive is provoking myself and my comfort and flirting with my parents’ stories and taboos. Somehow this behavior is considered destructive. I think people might be confused by this video, and that’s okay. The imagery of a nun and orthodox dogma clashing with dominant, aggressive sexual energy illustrates the kind of tectonic tension I want to play with. It’s also very personal - that’s the main thing to remember at the end of the day — that I grew up with this shit — it’s not just an aesthetic I’m flexing on in this video. It’s hard to articulate the delicacy of how deep this goes for me. 

How do you feel about putting all these things out? With revealing this story in such a frank way? 

I literally feel so many thoughts; I can write a book about it. I keep thinking of the word “offering,” and it’s a religious word, right? Is it a deity or the one who worships offering a deity-type shit? And that’s the exchange I am playing with — something which was drummed in me so deeply when I was a kid, so I am like unraveling all this shit. And it’s the main thing I am playing with in the album and the song “Faith Consuming Hope.” In the title, what is the difference between faith and hope? Faith has no doubt; faith is infinite and ongoing. And hope is kind of giving a little hole for something else to fuck with that: “I hope it happens,” which is implying it might not. I think it’s kind of like a snake eating itself in some ways. One feeds the other. And it’s demonstrated in the video - the sister is living a life of worship, to be worshiped, because that’s her calling. And that’s the deity.