As a longtime passenger/oft-times driver of the Saba fan bandwagon, I am extremely here for the Chicago rapper doing more features lately. After joining Audrey Nuna for the introspective “Top Again” video, Saba contributes a verse to rising R&B star Cautious Clay’s Nintendo-inspired, animated video for “Strange Love.” The video follows a CGI version of Clay as he shops a store full of Strange Love plushies. However, after being hypnotized by one of the strange heart-shaped products, he gets addicted, shoveling more and more of them into his shopping cart until he creates a monster.
The metaphor seems pretty obvious here and watching the animated protagonist try to dodge the toxic monster he’s accidentally created (a la the No Face scene in Spirited Away) might dredge up some memories for viewers. The video ends on an ambiguous cliffhanger, evoking the video-gamey graphics by leaving our hero with a choice to accept or reject his monster’s offer of another heart plushy.
The Cleveland, Ohio-born Cautious Clay has been rolling out his self-released debut album Deadpan Love over the past several weeks with a release date set for June 25. You can watch the “Strange Love” video above and pre-order the album here.