Just in time for the kick-off of spooky szn Madonna‘s daughter, Lourdes Leon (who records as Lolahol) dropped the super freaky video for her downtempo dance tune “Spelling” on Wednesday morning (Oct. 11). The hypnotic song — and its bat-filled video — were inspired by her mom, of course, something Leon explained in an Instagram post.
“This piece is very special. It’s an homage to my mother’s timeless piece of art ‘Frozen,’” Leon wrote of her mother’s 1998 Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 Ray of Light single in which Madonna shapeshifts into a murder of crows and floats over a cracked desert in a black dress. “That piece has come up countless times in my life, connecting the two of us,” Lourdes continued. “I would be nothing without the woman who brought me into the world . I revere her, and hope that this translates.”
In the Claire Farin-directed video that pays direct homage to some of the set pieces from “Frozen,” Lourdes, 26, hovers in the air in a fog-shrouded forest in a billowing, voluminous black gown, her eyes a milky white as she murmurs the dun lyrics, “You stay in water/ Remind you/ Following in black whatever/ Cyclical, bicycle, forever,” before exploding into a cloud of flapping bats.
The singer then crawls along the forest floor, transforming into a Dobermann and then back into herself as she sings, “Ground splits in two cracks/ I try to run/ One of you show me my room/ I was stupid and it doesn’t work like that” over a trip-hop-like beat that picks up the pace midway through the four-minute track as Leon and two female dancers do a provocative moon dance in a field at night.
The single is the follow up to Leon’s 2022 debut song, “Lock & Key” and that year’s Go EP. Leon, who is also a model and dancer, was born to Madonna and dancer/fitness trainer Carlos Leon in 1996. She graduated in 2018 from the University of Michigan, where she studied dance.
Watch the “Spelling” video and see Lourdes’ post below.
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