Behind the virtual reality clip of the Kiwi prodigy RnB Villette

When I first meet Villette Dasha in a bar on a Friday afternoon, I can’t help but be already impressed by her. About 15 minutes earlier, I had sat in a room, donned a pair of VR glasses, and been thrown into an immersive music video in which she was strutting around like a badass and stealing everything. my money.

Dasha, an Auckland-born and Hamilton-raised DJ, producer and singer, has teamed up with Red Bull Music to release a 360-degree virtual reality music video to accompany her new single, Money. The video immerses the viewer in a hyper-real dreamlike landscape, assuming a first-person perspective in the alluring and hypnotic world of Dasha.

The 22-year-old has been making waves with her well-produced RnB, here and abroad, most recently with her mixtape Drip Crimson. She began her journey with music at a young age, taking piano, guitar and dance lessons. As a teenager, hip-hop and RnB piqued her interest. “I was like ‘I wanna make beats’ because nobody was sending me beats, and I was tired of just being the girl with the guitar,” she says.

“I moved from Hamilton to Auckland, I went to Mainz, I learned to use Ableton [music software], and then it kind of took off, ”she says. “I just started making beats in my room and sending them back. I did trap music for a while and started sending it to rappers. Eventually I started to make music for myself. “

The opportunity to shoot a VR video for Money came from Red Bull Music, which Dasha got involved with a few years ago through her friends at Madcap Music. The company took her to Los Angeles last December, pairing her with creators such as coregrapher Nina McNeely (who worked with Bjork and Rihanna) and movement artist Danny Gutirrez (Cirque du Soleil). Dasha had only filmed one clip before with a budget of $ 100, which made the experience all the more surreal.

“[It] It was crazy, “she said.” There was a guy following me around with a megaphone saying, ‘Villette is two minutes away.’ Honestly, it was so weird, ”she says.

“When we were actually shooting the movie, no one was allowed to be in the room when we were recording because the 360-degree camera captures everything,” she says. “So every time they screamed ‘action!’ It would be behind a wall, or they were hiding behind a potted plant or something.”

Money’s tale takes place in a psychedelic version of a bedroom, with Dasha taking the story to emotionally and physically denuded places. Although she’s already proudly involved sexuality in her art – she sells lingerie at concerts instead of traditional goods – she says filming these scenes was an intimidating prospect. But later, she recognized the power of her performance.

“I was quite shy before [the lingerie scene, at the very end]she said. and I understand that. ‘

“Seeing that scene afterwards, I was super proud of myself, because I was like, ‘It’s cool for the people who follow me here in New Zealand to see that you can still do shit and be a normal size too. “It’s probably one of the coolest things I took from this whole clip.”

LOW :
Who: Villette
What: VR music video for cash
When: out now
Where: Available on Red Bull Music channels