Video review
Girl Next Door
Barely a month after releasing Melanin featuring Nigeria’ s Patoranking, Sauti Sol are not resting on their laurels. They have a new song, Girl Next Door, featuring another Nigerian artiste, Tiwa Savage.
Produced by Maleek Berry, Girl Next Door is a blend of slow-paced reggae feel and RnB vibe, maintaining a tempo that you can dance to while relaxing on a lazy afternoon.
Tiwa appears to be feeling the Swahili vibe, as she does not shy away from singing some Swahili lines.
The video tells the story of two lovers who are obsessed with each other but have not had a chance to express themselves, or what Kenyans simply call“ kufungua roho.” The scenes switch from Tiwa to Sauti Sol and she eventually ends up with Bien who is her love interest in the track.
The video starts with Polycarp Otieno setting the mood with a little guitar groove, before Chimamo takes us to the song’ s intro. Then comes an aerial view of a certain neighbourhood, where the shoot is staged. Normal activities are going on as usual with kids playing in the neighbourhood.
At this juncture, Willis Austin chips in to tell the whole story, about a girl next door whom they rarely talk. It’ s time to open and pour his heart out.
“ Hey baby, nimechoka tu kupretend( I’ m tired of pretending),” he starts. I know I’ m jumping in the deep end... What you doing for the weekend? For sure this is the deep end. He is taking the bull by the horns, after all which man would ask a girl out the first time they talk? However, the risk is worth everything considering the response he gets from Tiwa, who is in a tranquil mood, as if she has been waiting for the guy to make a move.
“ Hey baby, sina noma hii wikendi niko easy( I have nothing serious to do this weekend),” her response comes, full of hopes. The director here decides to use a rose flower and a medium shot of the girl in bed most probably idle but longing to be loved.“ I want this weekend to be different; I love it when you get to my deep end.”
None of the two lovers wants to make a move, yet they have all been pinning each other. The lady most probably likes men who make such risks, men brave enough to ask girls out.
With a very strong baritone, Bien-Aime Baraza chips in with rap telling the girl why they should go out. He talks about noise from the neighbours, landlord’ s headache and mother’ s worries. Unlimited L. A, the director of the video captures all these in alternating shots. Baraza gets a slap shot and a silhouette, to show how they will‘ give a back’ to the stresses of life by going out. As he concludes the rap, he promises how he is ready to sacrifice everything to give her company.
The girl whom we see previously distressed gives in via a sheepish smile. It is now time to roll it out, and the ever-promising Savara Mudigi is set with the cameraman giving him a long shot. He leads the chorus in his tenor voice.
Asking to get a taste of her flavour, the girl is ready for it. She has observed how the boy next door has been looking at her.
The dress code in the video depicts a modern, fashionable but moderate party girl. The men dress in regular fashion for young men.
The song is about young neighbours of the opposite sex who admire one another, but rarely talk to each other. At the tail end, the song is staged in a club with youngsters partying.
Throughout the video, the director utilises medium shot with a long shot used twice, when Mudigi debuts the chorus and when Baraza and Savage are going out.
Looks like Sauti Sol are taking over Africa, but we leave it for the fans to decide.
Filamu Kenya PAGE 19 now playing