Just as Britney Spears made an innuendo-laden song about a sleepover (which she then chose Tinashe be featured on), so, too, does Tinashe now have one of her very own: “Pillow Fight.” Following the trifecta of singles consisting of “Too Easy,” “Crash Out” and “Melatonin,” “Pillow Fight” marks the first glimpse of Tinashe’s sultrier side for the forthcoming Popstar (and this is probably why she chose to release it as a “double single” with “I’d Rather Be Alone,” which, sonically, is also a bit of a “slow jam”—albeit not one that’s filled with the same kind of amorous lyrics as “Pillow Fight”).
Granted, Tinashe’s version of sultry is intermixed with plenty of raunchiness. Even though, for the first ten seconds of “Pillow Fight,” a series of soft, elegant piano notes sets a perhaps misleading tone that this might be something of a “romantic” track. And, one supposes, in a sense, that it is. After all, what man (or woman) wouldn’t want to hear such direct comments as, “On sight, you’re what I like, like/I’ll take you to the bed, I’ll get you right, right/Give it to you good, you can spend the night/We can roll around, have a pillow fight.” Needless to say, Tinashe doesn’t exactly mean the kind of pillow fights associated with the conventional, tee-hee-hee “girls’ sleepover.”
Nor was Britney referring to that either in her own 2016 single, “Slumber Party.” Which, technically, could be called “Like a Slumber Party” (but maybe Madonna already has the monopoly on “Like a…” songs), since that’s what she frequently compares certain images to (e.g., “Let’s fill up this clawfoot bath with bubbles/Lovin’ me so hard, it’s causin’ trouble/If there’s seven minutes in Heaven, make it double, triple/Like a slumber party”). And of course, the most evocative, hyper-sexual image of the song (along with being arguably the cheesiest) is, “Sheets all on the floor just like an ocean/Building up your fortress like a mountain.”
Tinashe, having studied under Britney (as “Crash Out” also emphasizes in that it’s like her version of “Piece of Me”), seems determined to build up someone’s fortress like a mountain as well. Not only with her lyrics, but also with the accompanying video to “Pillow Fight,” directed by Zac Wiesel. And it commences with a dreamy type of shot (which is on-brand for a song that theoretically alludes to sleeping at some point) that shows Tinashe looking upward with her eyes closed against a totally black backdrop as stark white feathers fall around her (conjuring the “Slumber Party” line, “Pillow fights and feathers, overdosin’”). Two more shots quickly follow: one that’s, for all intents and purposes, a close-up of Tinashe’s crotch in her slinky chemise (or “nightgown,” if you prefer—though that word doesn’t have quite the same association with “sexiness”) and a close-up of her serene face.
After these moments, Wiesel opens up the video to a wider “universe,” as it were, revealing a “performance space” to the viewer. It’s here that Tinashe stands against a pillar (Madonna in “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore”-style) as the piano notes start to intermix with a pop-R&B sound co-produced by Zack Sekoff and kimj. She then delivers the first verse, “Don’t ever let a pretty face fool ya/Because I was never innocent (innocent) [another high-key nod to Britney]/I’ll keep my hands to myself [in contrast to Selena Gomez]/Or I’ll show you who’s the boss of this.” Something she seems keen on showing regardless of how the object of her desire acts: subservient or “rebellious.”
As Tinashe is saying all of this, some movers start to bring in an overtly bed-shaped “piece” into the space, except it’s covered up with the sort of furniture pad one is more accustomed to seeing on a piano. And since there are plenty of piano notes playing, the natural assumption might be that it’s said instrument. But no, “Pillow Fight” is all about the bed, of course (and yes, in many ways it’s a song that also puts Ariana Grande’s [side note: N***i M***j shall no longer be named as a feature] “Bed” to shame).
No sooner do the movers uncover the bed than Tinashe falls into it as if from the sky. Only too ready to further outdo Britney’s “Slumber Party” lyrics with such innuendos as, “I like to tussle, I wanna wrestle/Undress ya, let’s make a mess, yeah/I’ll give it to you good, you can spend the night” and “Round after round/I’m not even tired/Oxytocin and adrenaline/I’ll take you down to the ground/Before you tap out.”
As she gyrates and engages in other assorted acrobatics on the bed, a slew of men continue to move furniture in the background as if Tinashe isn’t out here seducing them and anyone else who happens to walk by. Only the way she’s performing that seduction is decidedly for herself. In another scene, Wiesel showcases Tinashe in a “cloud room” that exudes a similar look to the smoky, whimsy-filled rooms of the mansion in “Slumber Party.”
In another part of the space, Tinashe’s moving men bring her not one but two beds (albeit twin size) to play around in, at which time her acrobatics really ramp up. But, as it turns out, she still appears to be searching for the perfect bed (in this regard, there is a bit of a “The Princess and the Pea” vibe to all of this) for her “pillow fight.” This considering that yet another one is brought to her by the moving men—and this one is extra special because it manages to stay suspended in mid-air for what would surely amount to a truly “fucking on a cloud”-inspired experience. And based on her reaction to this particular bed—and the fact that she’s bothered to switch into “full-on” lingerie (in blue) to roll around in it, this one must be her preferred out of all the others.
During some of the final scenes of her in the blue lingerie, Tinashe lies on the bed in such a way that almost evokes the image of the famed overhead shot of Britney in the “Oops!…I Did It Again” video. But, to be sure, the most blatant Spears reference and re-creation here is “Slumber Party.” Indeed, it seems Tinashe felt obliged to make a “sequel” to the song by herself, what with Spears refusing to engage with the music industry anymore. Nonetheless, it’s safe to say that Tinashe has done Spears proud with this offering to the niche genre of songs about sleepovers that are “not that innocent” a.k.a. dripping with sex.
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