Teyana Taylor just shared the searing new music video for the song “Still” from her June 2020 release The Album. The self-directed visuals were intended as a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement — though many viewers are voicing their discomfort with a number of the images included.
“Still” begins with archival footage from the Civil Rights era, as well as more recent protest films, to draw parallels between the struggles within the two unfortunately similar time periods. Throughout the video, Teyana dresses as Civil Rights figures such as Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton and Malcolm X, as well as several recent victims of racist violence.
Teyana’s fans have called the visual “powerful” and “chilling”, though it has been criticised for its use of images of police brutality victims such as Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and George Floyd; the clip also includes audio from George Floyd’s murder, a choice which some have found “macabre” and “disturbing”.
However you feel about the video, “Still” is undeniably pretty hard to watch. The clip was self-directed by Teyana, who wrote a heartfelt post about the release on Instagram. “We are STILL emotional. We STILL keep fighting for love, justice. Yet we STILL keep losing our beautiful Black lives. Where’s our healing?” she wrote in the caption of a recent IG post. “I shot this video a few months ago & it’s crazy how to this day our cry for love is STILL so relevant today and plans to be for a very long time smh! WE DEMAND CHANGE!!!”