RIIKI DELIVERS A FUTURISTIC PARALLEL UNIVERSE IN MUSIC VIDEO FOR HER LATEST SINGLE ‘IN THE MOMENT’
Indie popster RIIKI plunges herself into a futuristic parallel universe in the latest music video for her most recent single, “In The Moment”, proudly supported by NZ On Air.
Directed by the young 22-year-old award-winning New Zealand director, Connor Pritchard (‘Best visionary director’ - New Zealand’s vision feast film festival), the video shows RIIKI’s curiosity luring her down a neon-lit alleyway and through a suspicious door that transports RIIKI into a futuristic Y2K inspired world until RIIKI finds herself entering groundhog day, stuck in a constant loop between the two worlds as things start progressively getting more twisted and weird; perfectly performed by RIIKI to emphasise the message of getting ‘stuck in the moment’ on repeat. With an incredible array of NZ bred creatives; Highly acclaimed makeup artist Lochie Stonehouse (Billie Eilish, Grimes, The 1975), stylist Imogen Wilson, hairstylist Philippa Hofman and the extras who are RIIKI’s friends, this freak city 2000’s Y2K movie is brought to life. On the talent within the video, RIIKI exclaims “I really wanted this project to involve my friends because I knew that was going to make the experience so much more fun, in particular my dance friends who do a segment of dancing in the video...if you look close you’ll spot me too.”
RIIKI delivers a sonic switch up with ‘In The Moment’. It delves into the world of melancholic sentiment and R&B-infused pop, showcasing another facet of the versatile musician that is RIIKI. The song’s inspiration stemmed on the final day of her overseas trip, while RIIKI was feeling motions of homesickness distracting her from being present in the moment encapsulating the experience. “I had been to a Tove Lo concert with my manager the night before the session. I woke up the next day so despondent, was kinda shitty weather outside, slightly hungover craving a hug and my friends and family back home. I spent the whole night at the concert messaging all my pals every detail going on, really I should have been embracing the moment.
RIIKI says on the video, “When I came to Connor with my ideas, I told him I really wanted to create a different type of world which represents the feeling of ‘how I’ was feeling like I was in a different type of world that felt foreign at the time of writing the song. I wanted to play with the concept of myself almost being ‘lost’ and trying to escape everything and everyone who is fully in the moment. The journey of the video (in my head from start to finish) was me trying to escape the chaos of people and environments which are embracing ‘being in the moment’.”
Her most popular release ‘High Heights’ is RIIKI’s second-ever release, co-produced by Simon Gooding (projects include P!nk, Dua Lipa and Migos) which stunned an appearance’s on various NZ charts and gained international attention. The track also made it on Apple Music’s A-list Pop and New Music Daily playlist’s and featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlists in NZ/AU, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and also became the cover of the popular Spotify playlist ‘Pop Edge’. Since then, RIIKI has grasped people’s attention with follow-up singles ‘Share Your Luv’ and her most recent release ‘Good Times’ which gained the #1 spot on the Hot NZ Singles Chart.