This morning, Dev Hynes dropped the latest Blood Orange music video for the song “Hope,” off his album Negro Swan. It features a pretty star-studded cast, including Diddy and Tei Shi, who contribute vocals on the optimistic track, as well as cameos by Empress Of, A$AP Rocky, and Tyler, The Creator in some stunning fits.
In the video, which was self-directed by Hynes, he takes us dancing through New York City’s streets and into an intimate studio session with Diddy, where the rapper puts the finishing touches on the song. “Sometimes I ask myself, like/ You know, what is going to take for me not be afraid/ To be loved the way, like, I really wanna be loved… But I’m, but I’m, like, scared to really, really feel that,” he says.
Apparently, the idea for the outro was all his own. “While working on that song, I started doing fake Puff vocals, because I thought it sounded like that to me. And then I was like, ‘It’d be kind of cool if it actually was Puff.’” Hynes told Pitchfork. “So I sent him a text, like, ‘I did this track, do you want to do this vocal part?’ And he replied, ‘Send it.’ He sent back his vocals, like, 20 hours later. And he also sent an outro that he did on his own—I guess he just heard the rough version of it and felt like going in.”
Watch the full video on Apple Music, here.