- Visuals are so important to me
because I think something I want to do, as maybe
even a second career, is be an art director,
or something in the visual realm,
in either film or music videos.
And I think I found a real love for it.
And it actually came from not having resources
because I didn't have money to make videos in the beginning.
I'd be making them from my own savings
for less than a thousand dollars.
So I really had to learn how to, like, be my own director
and, like, be in charge of the quality control
and learn so much about the process to save money.
And now, I get to direct these, like, pretty
high-budget music videos, and it's such a blessing
and I learn so much every time.
I love as a woman of color, like, feeling empowered
to be completely in control of my own narrative,
visually, and feeling like I can draw from my culture,
feeling like I can feel empowered
in whatever way I'm presenting myself
in my sensuality and my queerness.
It's very empowering.
Hey MTV News! This is Raveena and these are my top five
music videos of all time.
My first favorite music video is Sade's "By Your Side."
It is the dreamiest, most ethereal thing I've ever seen.
I'm so in love with the sets.
I think this image of Sade pulling
this glowing, lychee-like fruit and catching it
is forever burned in my memory.
It's just gorgeous.
It's so beautiful.
Sade has been a huge influence on me.
I think her timelessness, and her dreaminess,
and hope, in both her songs and visuals, really inspires me.
She feels very, like, in her own little universe as an artist,
very unmarred and unaffected by how chaotic
the music industry is.
My next favorite music video is M.I.A's "Bring The Noize."
I love that music video mostly because I love the Sikh man
tying his turban in the opening scene.
And I think I felt so seen as a Sikh person.
And I was just like,
"Woah, this is so cool to see this with this music,"
"in this setting. Like, he just looks so sick."
And then, they enter this club and she's -
Like, the use of lighting that music video is crazy.
That music video gets me very hyped up.
I love that music video.
And it makes me very proud to be brown in this way.
I think using my platform for representation
it's just inherent in what I do.
I just am that, I can't hide it,
and I'd rather pull from the beauty
of my culture than try to suppress any of it
because there's so much there.
So if people feel seen in that, that's such a blessing,
but it feels just such like a natural part of what I do.
My third favorite music video is Missy Elliott's
"Get Ur Freak On."
Not only does that song have amazing
Bollywood influence with Timbaland,
that's one of the most iconic Bollywood sampling,
I think, of all time.
But her dancing in that video, the insane sets,
the part where she, like, catches the spit,
I don't know, it's just all so iconic.
There's so many moments
in that video that would never happen in another music video,
where it's just so, specifically, like, Missy Elliot.
Only she could pull that off in that way.
Another one of my favorite music videos
is Bjork's "Bachelorette" video.
Bjork has some of the most iconic visuals of all time.
This one is my favorite
because it's one of my favorite directors, as well.
It's Michel Gondry, who is so good
at making the most dreamy sets.
I'm in love with set making,
so this music video probably has the craziest set
to me that I've ever seen accomplished
in a music video. And the way that it's shot, kind of, like,
to feel like it's all one flowing
movement and theatrical and these sets, like,
constantly moving around.
It's just some of the most iconic and artful
[beep] I've ever seen.
And I really appreciate Bjork for always collaborating
with, like, some of the most genre-bending
and experimental people in visuals.
I think I do watch all visuals now, whether it's film
or music video, from kind of a more director lens
and, like, breaking it down technically, and kind of being in awe
at what people accomplish with certain budgets.
And you know how hard it is to make any music video,
so to make a music video that is timeless
and crazy in concept is just amazing.
And finally, my last favorite music video,
which is not technically a music video,
is "Maar Dala" from 'Devdas,'
and it's an iconic scene in the movie.
And that song is so beautiful,
Madhuri Dixit is probably one
of the best dancers, to me, of all time in Bollywood.
And she's so incredibly beautiful.
I love that video because it pulls
upon so many of its references.
I think, like, 'Pakeezah' probably inspired it.
I can see all those influences in it and it's -
I think it captured this very beautiful time
in Bollywood in, like, the early 2000s
when there was just this specific look
that is one of my favorite eras in Bollywood.
So, my new album is called 'Asha's Awakening,'
and the inspiration behind that title
is a Punjabi space princess character
that I made up about two years ago.
And basically, her story is that
she is from the 1600s in Punjab,
and she gets transported to space
and lives with these highly advanced, spiritual beings
who teach her how to, like, meditate and tap into her inner magic.
And she is crowned a princess there for thousands of years,
and then she comes back to earth
to find her reincarnated lover.
And then, on the visual side,
I spent two years developing the story and this character,
and, like, creative directing all the visuals,
and learned to dance, learned how to do aerial silks.
It was a lot of, like, just pushing myself a lot as an artist.
I think I've evolved since 2019
and since I put out my last album 'Lucid'
in every single way.
I think that this pandemic, especially, allowed me
to really slow down and get in touch with my artistry
in this way that I never was afforded the time to before.
And obviously, it was a very, like, heartbreaking
and, like, socially and politically charged time,
which had its own pain in it.
But I think, in a way, it was all, like, in conversation
with the art at the same time.
And I feel like we're more human
than ever these last two years,
and a lot of us grew up more than we ever did
in the last two years because we had time to grow.
Even though there was so much going on
and we were feeling so much, there was time
to just emerge into, kind of, this new person.
So I think people will hopefully, definitely sense
that from, like, this album. And all the sonic changes I made,
all the visual changes, the ways I grew as a performer,
hopefully they'll catch up on that.
If not, then they'll see in next album. [Laughs]