The Preatures – Manic Baby
2013 · Directed by Alex Ryan
1.4K Likes
Best comments
1.“When's the next album coming out? I thought I was watching a clip from Solid Gold!”
More comments
- 2.“Why wasn't this a #1 hit all around the world?”
The story
Manic Baby was the second single from The Preatures' 2013 EP Is This How You Feel?, and it sounds a lot sunnier than it is. Singer Isabella Manfredi wrote it while dealing with severe anxiety and near-daily panic attacks, and she has said the track has an anxious, sinister edge, like voices in your head. Then they set it to a bass line you can't help nodding along to.
The video goes full early-'80s TV. The band's manager Andy Cassell pitched it after the dance troupe Hot Gossip he watched growing up, and the band leaned into the kitsch, borrowing from Prince videos. Manfredi said it has the feel of an awkward old TV talent show. Director Alex Ryan shot it in a single studio day on a white-block set, band in the morning and dancers in the afternoon, cutting choreographed routines by Jasmin Forbes-Watson between shots of the band, with a VHS look added in post.
The budget started at $8,000. Ryan talked the label up to $15,000 three days before the shoot and produced it himself because there was no money left for a producer. He later admitted his own mother called it sexist. Tough crowd.
