To celebrate new female voices in R&B and soul, fourteen-time Grammy Award winner Kenneth ‘Babyface‘ Edmonds released Girls Night Out in 2022. The album featured prominent female vocalists like Ella Mai and Muni Long, and it was this undertaking that saw Babyface and Dreamville songstress Ari Lennox share the mic in the alcohol-inspired song ‘Liquor’. The song has been given new life in a form of video, thanks to the direction of Jean Estene.
The sultry visuals of the song see the pair from two different generations locked in each other’s valency in a near-empty jazz lounge. Ari, wearing a curve-conforming dress, graces the set as the bar’s sassy singer, while Babyface assumes the role of the modest bartender.
The age/sex/location singer struts her stuff as she sings and models off The Peppermint Club’s stage, before spinning her web of seduction around a patron mesmerised by her. Once sure she’d captured him, the Shea Butter Baby beauty orders a drink from Babyface, which she takes to the suitor. The scenes correlate to Ari’s liquor-themed lyricism in which she sings: “Baby, make love to me (Oh) / It’s all for you (Oh) / Rounds on rounds on rounds / Liquid courage ‘cause your lovin’ hundred proof.”
In as much as the environment is not conducive to it, with it being an booze-driven establishment, Babyface’s aged worldview still prevails. As the down-to-earth voice of reason, he fulfils the trope of The Bartender, advising the singer while she awaits the drink.
“When you find you the one, better hold on for keeps, oh-woah / Find you somebody that’s faithful, bring more than food to the table / Loving you more than you able,” the sixty-three-year old sings, dropping seeds of wisdom.
The lustful visuals reinforce the theme of love and getting lost in passion through liquor by employing the colour red. From the curtains and the roses to the lights bleeding red on the lounge and all over its visitors, the visuals for ‘Liquor’ interpret the lyrics and the ambience of the singers and turn them into a visually appealing experience.
Watch ‘Liquor’ here:
