Tinashe's slow-burning, head-nodding “Pretend” is one of the highlights we’ve heard from her forthcoming debut album, Aquarius. The A$AP Rocky-featuring song now has a new video to accompany it.
For the most part, the video is what you’d expect based on the lyrics, but another layer of drama has been added to these visuals. Within the clip, we see a studious Tinashe getting wooed by her guy, who sneaks kisses in study hall and in the hallway. But she seems distracted during each encounter, either by her thoughts of him being unfaithful or by A$AP Rocky, her friend for whom she seems to be developing feelings.
Those elements intersect when, in a strip club, the rapper confronts Tinashe’s man, who gets a little too friendly with one of the entertainers. The gentleman A$AP Rocky is, he later helps Tinashe handle this complicated situation, as the two drive away into the moonlight — and the boyfriend is greeted to an empty room by two hoodie-wearing figures and the suggestion he’s about to get a beatdown.
Interspersed with the city imagery are artistic nature shots of mountains, glaciers and more … odd inclusions to be sure, but none as silly as a rainstorm of books.
