Chlöe gives us thickness and Greek mythology in "Have Mercy"

So, after teasing this damn song back in July. JULY Y'ALL. We finally have the full song and music video for Chlöe's debut solo single "Have Mercy". Chlöe really played us how they do in Japan. Dropping a snippet of a song, then not dropping the damn thing in full until months later. And having now seen the video; that clip she posted as a teaser was not a clip from the music video as I thought it was. She really shot a whole video just for a teaser. Parkwood has the budget, as you'll see from the full music video.

Lemme tell you something. Chlöe has been WAITING for this moment ever since she popped that thang in a money dress during Chloe x Halle's televised performance of their song "Everywhere" back in 2018.

I knew Chlöe was going to give us a serve. But even so I was still surprised by how much we got in this music video. We got multiple looks. Multiple setups. We got fashion. We got a dance break. We got Beyoncé's mother. We got Sam's bastard child from How to Get Away With Murder. We got Bree Runway. We got a budget. We got Chlöe feeling her whole entire self.

It's cool seeing new Black ladies of Pop / R&B like Chlöe and Normani give us the type of music videos that other artists of the genre(s) used to give. Not just because it's good to see money, but it's a reminder of the genres that popularised these types of music videos. Most will attribute a video like "Have Mercy" or "Wild Side" to K-Pop - which I completely understand. But the reality is that K-Pop music videos are based off of what everybody in R&B and Hip-Hop used to give back in the late 90s and early 2000s. One day we gon' have a discussion about how Hype Williams impacted K-Pop videos as we know them today. But it's great to see these types of videos coming back to pop and R&B again. Michael Jackson is whipping his "Remember the Time" press wig in his grave with approval that the girls are caring about music videos again and saying 'Fuck the accountants'.

The whole Medusa thing was cool. I don't think there's any big statement being made with it other than to give the music video a narrative. Although if we all wanted to take a moment and stretch, I could probabaly reach based on the story of Medusa. As in THE ACTUAL story of how Medusa became the snake haired monster we know, because I don't think everybody knows it, and it's a story which is as relevant today as ever.

So, Medusa wasn't born a monster and didn't always possess the power to turn men into stone. She was a regular ass woman. A priestess in fact, who served Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and war. Medusa took her duties as a priestess seriously and devoted her life to it. Something which was thrown into jeopardy when she met Poseidon, the Greek God of the sea. He saw Medusa in Athena's temple, and he was taken by her beauty...so he raped her. When Athena caught wind of the act, she was disgusted at her temple being desecrated by the act. But Athena's raggedy-ass didn't blame Poseidon. She blamed Athena. And Athena figured that because Medusa's beauty was why she got raped, that she'd take it from her and have it that she'd never be able to interact with any man again. So she cursed her, turning Medusa into a snake haired gorgon who would never be able to look a man in his eyes without turning him into stone. It's unfortunate that this tale is one which rings true to this day. Women being raped, being blamed for getting raped, being punished for saying they were raped, and the rapist being protected.

The music video of course depicts a modern day Medusa and doesn't speak to the tragic tale of her character. But there is something to be said for how Medusa was failed by a fellow woman. When Chlöe set up her Instagram account and started to take agency over her sexuality and her body, it was women in her comments talking shit and telling Chlöe that she was wrong. But in this video, Chlöe doubles down on the agency she has to show her body how she desires, and is surrounded by other women doing the same and asserting it as a power that they have over men. Chlöe's Medusa is given things that Medusa in the original story was stripped of: the support and companionship of other women and agency.

Then there's the hair.

I'm sure that many girls with dreads were / are poked fun of at school and called Medusa, who was known for having a mane of snakes. And whilst there is a clear visual connection between Chlöe having dreadlocks and playing Medusa, her hair isn't grotesque at all. It's as much of a feature in this music video as Chlöe's ass and all of her looks. There isn't a single moment in this video where Chlöe's hair is tied up of hidden. It's displayed in all its beauty. It's a great statement to young girls with dreads that you should love your hair and embrace it.

Y'all know what's also clever? The promotion of this song. Dropping the teaser with the hook of the song back in June was genius, because everybody knew the hook of the song months before it came out. And then to run it on TikTok? More genius.

I like the song. The more I listen to it, the more it grows on me. It will absolutely go off in the clubs. However, in Janet Jackson fashion, the version of "Have Mercy" in the music video, is a music video specific mix. The standard version of the song on streaming is a whole minute shorter. There is no dance break section or an outro. As a result the standard version of the song sounds incomplete, which I feel is gonna people back to the video. No bad thing, because it's a great video and it'll keep that viewer count ticking. But I do hope that when Chlöe's album drops that we get an extended version of the song. And I need that Bree Runway cameo in the music video to extend to her hopping on a remix. She'd sound great on it.

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Chlöe gives us thickness and Greek mythology in "Have Mercy"

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