Considering the hyper-paranoid nature of “Noises” in its original incarnation on Fancy That, it’s no surprise that, with the addition of JT for PinkPantheress’ remix version of the mixtape, Fancy Some More?, she should opt for a spooky, “this is some fucked-up shit” visual. One that allows her to really show (rather than just tell) the emotional spiral she’s experiencing over her various fears of things unseen…and even things that are.
Commencing with a brief scene of two crow-like birds silhouetted in the moonlight to set the sinister, Edgar Allan Poe-esque tone, the signature opening notes of Groove Armada’s 2001 track, “Suntoucher,” play as director Charlotte Rutherford then cuts to the interior of a house with PinkPantheress’ shadow dancing on the wall. Another cut to a quintessentially “spooky house” type of grandfather clock allows for the title card, “Noises,” to appear before PinkPantheress herself is finally shown in her non-shadowy form. Sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed with curlers in her hair (wig or not), she talks to someone on the phone (a very unusual practice in the current era unless one is quite alone indeed) and describes, “I guess I got it wrong, today is not my holiday/I steal the show from them, no matter what them people say/I-I got it from the man, but I forgot to pay.”
At that moment, another brief cut to a note taped to her wall that reads (in “ransom note” font), “Pay the bills! Or else,” adds to the sense of ominousness that Rutherford wants to convey, even if only in a playful manner. As for PinkPantheress’ manner, it starts to shift from one of “he-he-he” and “la-di-da” to “holy shit, what’s that sound and why does it suddenly feel so creepy-rather-than-liberating to be alone in here?” In many ways, it channels some Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) in Scream energy, except that rather than masked psychopath being after her, it appears as though a more supernatural presence is stalking her every move as she continues to note, “Uh, I’m home alone, I’ll do just what I wanna do/I hear someone knock my door, but now I’m in the nude [naturally, PinkPantheress, modesty queen that she is, would never show herself that way—or even make the visual suggestion of it—in one of her videos, though it is definitely a horror movie trope]/But my parents said that they would be returning soon/I think I hear some noises from my living room.”
Based on that slasher movie concept posing as lyrics alone, it makes perfect sense that PinkPantheress would finally drop a video accompaniment for the song (after already having offered up videos for most of what’s on the original Fancy That mixtape, including “Tonight,” “Stateside,” “Illegal” and “Romeo”) during the Halloween season. A time of relishing the joy of being scared as opposed to expecting it now on a daily basis thanks to a certain administration’s tyrannical reign.
With her additional sample (because PinkPantheress isn’t afraid of making multiple “references” in one song, no matter how brief her tracks tend to be) from Nardo Wick’s “Who Want Smoke?”—the repeated line, “What the fuck was that?,” which she’s sure to mouth the words to every time—PinkPantheress only adds to the overarching sense of paranoia on the track. A sense that is, indeed, rampant throughout Fancy That (particularly with her feelings about smoking weed, joking at one point during a Reddit AMA that “Illegal” was a “diss track” aimed at said drug). But “Noises” is one of the apexes of that feeling of more-than-slight unease she transfers so effectively onto the listener.
Rutherford aims to do the same to viewers of the “Noises” video, with PinkPantheress’ “freak out” moments ramping up as mysterious gusts of wind blow open her door and toss mounds of leaves into her house (truly, an OCD person’s nightmare) or giant shadow hands on the ceiling seek to grab her (yes, it’s all very Nosferatu in that regard). As for JT, she at last appears when one of the walls “turns” to reveal a library/study type of room behind the one PinkPantheress is having a sort of panic attack in (in a maneuver that reminds one of the Addams family’s brand of architectural design).
Her verse, of course, has little to do with the theme of the song as she contributes such non sequitur lines as, “I used to step on hoеs, I upgraded to stompin’/I’m with my bitches shaking ass for pounds in London/Ghetto cunt front page, they ain’t see it coming/I’m in that vintage Galliano, pussy stuntin’.” While this declaration has little bearing on being tripped the fuck out as a result of being on your own in what turns out to be a creepy house, JT makes her presence complementary to PinkPantheress’ once she finally joins her on the couch in one of the rooms (this being when the video switches to black and white). Prior to that scene, however, PinkPantheress and JT bump into one another in the dark after a clap of thunder heightens the eeriness of it all. After they both scream in horror at the sight of the other, they seem to realize they’re all they’ve got in this house of terrors, so perhaps they ought to get to know one another better.
Sitting on the couch together as though they’ve made peace with whatever this other unseen “presence” might want with them, there comes a moment when the giant shadow hands try to reach for both of them. Together, though, they both seem to get used to their feelings of discomfort in the house, casually chatting to one another as the video starts to come to a close.
Alas, it ain’t quite a happy ending once there’s another cut back to color with PinkPantheress in her original outfit sitting alone on the couch as she covers her ears in fear at the sound of another clap of thunder. Begging the question, “Am I hearing things or is that someone there?” And also: was JT just a weed-addled vision?
