Jamaican-British singer Mahalia teamed up with American rapper Rico Nasty to drop new single and music video ‘Jealous’. This is Mahalia’s first track this year with the last release of her EP ‘Isolation Tapes’ in 2020 and Rico’s second following ‘Lil Bitch’ with Chillpill and Soleima with her debut album release ‘Nightmare Vacation’ at the end of last year. Mahalia won Best Female Act and Best R&B/Soul Act categories with ‘Isolation Tapes’ at 2020 MOBO Awards.
In an interview with DIY Mag regarding ‘Jealous’, Mahalia said: “It was a weird time… I was dealing with friends being super unsupportive about decisions I was making and I was struggling with navigating that. I’m really proud and excited about what came out in this song and I hope people love it in the same way we did when we wrote it. Rico Nasty is a badass and one of my favourite artists so getting her to feature was a huge moment for me!”
The music video references ‘Belly’, a 1998 crime film featuring a famous scene where a nightclub is robbed with actors covered in blue light. Instead of a nightclub, ‘Jealous’ features Mahalia and Rico breaking into a man’s house that is completely lit up in blue, and hijacking his home system to torment him. The 90s themed video has an ominous tone throughout, ending with Mahalia creepily smiling into the camera.
Melody Maker, director of the music video told Rolling Stones: “Working with Mahalia to create ‘Jealous’ encompassed so many exciting and rewarding challenges for me. I aimed to visually reference Belly, a film that had always stuck with me from my youth, with strong washes of colour and powerful contrasting production design. Bringing my vision to life was so much fun. I loved the lighting elements of the piece throughout. We used this element to grow the intrigue and suspense ultimately reaching a dramatic crescendo that works seamlessly with this incredible song.”
‘Jealous’ is out now on all platforms, check out the music video below.
