Shy Girls – Voyeur’s Gaze Music Video w/ Director Tony Lowe & Bailey Stiles Interview

Shy Girls - Voyeur's Gaze Music Video

Talk about perfection in voyeurism! This music video for Shy Girls “Voyeur’s Gaze”, directed by Tony Lowe and featuring Chez Deep drag collective’s Bailey Stiles, is a one-take that’s all about the setting. Drawing inspiration from Russian webcam rooms, its aesthetic combines those cyber antics with the lives and times of many a boy-crazy teenage girl, to create a hazy wonderland full of stuffed animals and soft pastels. Read on, as Tony Lowe and Bailey Stiles give some words about self-love and empowerment.

Shy Girls - Voyeur's Gaze Music VideoShy Girls - Voyeur's Gaze Music Video

Can you talk a bit about how the initial music video concept came about?

Tony Lowe (Director):
I’ve been lucky enough to work with the amazing Chez Deep crew, of which Bailey is a part, for a little while now. They serve some of the most empowered (and therefore sexy) performances I’ve ever witnessed. It was initially inspired by an amazing performance I saw Bailey do at the Ace Hotel here in NYC, where one part was basically a reverse striptease.

 

The set is amazing and definitely plays a huge role in the success of the final product. What was the process of creating it like, and what are your favorite elements of it?

Tony Lowe (Director):
Thanks! The art director, Emma Rose Mead, Bailey and I wanted something really personal and pretty, but also strange. Bailey was amazed; she said the room was an uncanny conglomeration of things she’d had in her own bedrooms throughout her life — the beads, the Tweety bird. I looked at a lot of webcam sex rooms — these intimate but odd cubicles in Russia or who knows where — for inspiration. My favorite element is the giant purple stuffed thing, which Bailey brought from a friend’s house the day of the shoot.

 

The video is all a single take, correct? This being said, what is the degree to which each action was choreographed versus spontaneous?

Tony Lowe (Director):
It ended up being a kind of dance between Bailey and a 13-foot crane with our DP Andrei Bowden-Schwartz on the other end. We’d figured out the general blocking prior to shooting, but the details are all Bailey’s, and each take was unique. Picking the final take was tough.

 

In a couple stream-of-consciousness sentences, how would you describe the thoughts going through the head of the character in the video?

Bailey Stiles (Actress):
My thoughts going into this video was to be real and open with the idea that the world is watching! I wanted to be myself and as in my mind/body as possible, and not overthink it. And contemplate about how the love I have for myself is something others can see and love me, too!

 

How has the feedback been with regards to the music video? Have you seen any, or do you anticipate any, interesting dialogue pop up about sexuality because of it?

Bailey Stiles (Actress):
I mean sex sells, and I am [a] sexy being.

Tony Lowe (Director):
I really hope so! Part of why I work with Bailey and Chez Deep is because I feel they are pushing notions of identity in really experimental and inspiring ways.

 

Were there any particular challenges or surprises that you’d like to speak of?

Bailey Stiles (Actress):
It was really a very beautiful challenge for me to overcome just working as a central focus for a video and knowing my actions and ideas would dictate the content. Other than that, while filming, I was just keeping in mind what my Mammaw would always tell me: “Suck It In, Smile, and Be Yourself!”

Tony Lowe (Director):
It was a big surprise to include Nori, my studio-mate’s dog, in the video… she just happened to be there and kept walking on set. It was so perfect, especially because she and Bailey had very similar curls at the time.

 

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Bailey Stiles (Actress):
Love yourself with the most love you can and give yourself the right amount of ME time! Love, Bear Barbie XXXO

 

Shy Girls 2014 Spring Tour Dates

w/ Haim
04/09/14 Wed – San Francisco CA @ The Fillmore
04/10/14 Thu – San Francisco CA @ The Fillmore
04/16/14 Wed – Pomona CA @ Fox Theatre
04/22/14 Tue – Houston TX @ House of Blues
04/23/14 Wed – Austin TX @ Stubbs
04/24/14 Thu – Dallas TX @ House of Blues
04/26/14 Sat – Tulsa OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
04/27/14 Sun – Nashville TN @ Cannery Ballroom
04/29/14 Tue – Miami FL @ The Fillmore
05/02/14 Fri – Atlanta GA @ Tabernacle
05/06/14 Tue – Carrboro NC @ Cat’s Cradle
05/07/14 Wed – Washington DC @ 9:30 Club
05/08/14 Thu – Washington DC @ 9:30 Club
05/10/14 Sat – New York NY @ Terminal 5

More tour dates to come!

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Written by
Vee Hua 華婷婷

Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the Editor-in-Chief of REDEFINE, Interim Managing Editor of South Seattle Emerald, and Co-Chair of the Seattle Arts Commission. They also previously served as the Executive Director of the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences.

Vee has two narrative short films. Searching Skies (2017) touches on Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States; with it, they helped co-organize The Seventh Art Stand, a national film and civil rights discussion series against Islamophobia. Reckless Spirits (2022) is a metaphysical, multi-lingual POC buddy comedy for a bleak new era, in anticipation of a feature-length project.

Vee is passionate about cultural space, the environment, and finding ways to covertly and overtly disrupt oppressive structures. They also regularly share observational human stories through their storytelling newsletter, RAMBLIN’ WITH VEE!, and are pursuing a Master’s in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the Native American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota.

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