The 28-year-old singer revealed that she researched asylums and watched old movies to perfectly capture 'what it meant to be a maniac.'
- Jan 7, 2017
AceShowbiz - R&B singer/songwriter Jhene Aiko unleashes her sexiness and insanity in the new video for her song "Maniac". Directed by Aiko herself along with Top Shelf Junior, the freaky visuals finds the singer getting tied to a hospital bed in an asylum set.
Donning a sexy lingerie, Aiko gets bound and gagged on a hospital bed and in a wheelchair under the supervision of mannequins dressed as doctors while she raps the lyrics. As the video jumps in and out of focus, the singer is seen locked inside a cage. She is then released from her binds and straddling a mannequin by the end of the clip.
The 28-year-old singer explained the video's inspiration to Rolling Stone. "There are so many layers to my personality. One of them is very sexual and 'Maniac' is me sharing that side of myself," she said. "When I started putting together the concept for the 'Maniac' visual, I wanted to explore "what it meant to be manic."
She revealed that she researched asylums and watched old movies to perfectly capture "what it meant to be a maniac." She said she learned a lot about the ridiculous reasons women were admitted into mental institution back in the day, including being nymphomaniacs.
The singer noted that the sexy track was released at a time when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. "I think we all have some sort of imbalance, but I also believe that we can overcome it. I find my balance through creating art. The 'Maniac' visual is the story of a mental patient who finds her own cure," she shared.
Aiko released "Maniac" last November alongside the song's cover art, which sees the singer getting tied up in a style representative of Japanese rope bondage art shibari. Last April, she teamed up with Big Sean to release a collaborative album "Twenty88". The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart and received generally positive reviews from music critics.
