Coronavirus! The shit is real! Cardi B marked another historic pop culture milestone becoming the Voice of a Pandemic! While the resulting dance challenge video is epic, here are a half-dozen other recent music videos that made me go wow-now on fashion styling. Who should I be checking out during social distancing?! Tell me 🙂

AJ Rafael – Waking Up Sucks (Sometimes)

Directed by Yohahn Ko, this supermarket love story will have you heading for the tissues aisle. I note its styling, because it takes great effort to create “simple” looks that support the characters. No uniform can deny the uniqueness of love experience(s)!

Zoë Modiga – Lengoma feat. Tubatsi Mpho Moloi

“A song for healing, for dancing and for all people.” What a glorious vibe for now! YES! Please! Styling by Neo Mofammere, Refiloe Seretlo & Lawrance Nketsia Asmah gently reintroduces us and nature. That golden coat is my dreamy out-of-quarantine outfit!

LOBODA – Новый Рим (New Rome) 

Styled by LUVI and Andrey Anikeyev, Russia’s reigning pop diva channels every cliché of trash-cinema: alien abduction newsreels, horror flicks, spaghetti westerns, (very) mixed martial arts demos, etc. This retro-futuristic Rome wasn’t built on one look 😉 

D Smoke – Black Habits feat. Jackie Gouché

Summertime and the styling ain’t easy to weave raw heritage of the American South into contemporary cotton looks. Kudos to Mazhane Rima Fleurima for a grand job! This video delivers an unequivocal nod to Beyoncé’s “best revenge is your papers” proclamation.

Biykech – Kyrk Kyz

MUST-SEE ALERT! Produced & designed by Torokul, the fashion range in this video is wow: ancient Central Asian patterns to Soviet chic to MTV-VMA looks. A feminist manifesto from a country literally tattooed on my life. Kyrgyzstan, мен сени сүйөм! 

Samanta Tīna – Still Breathing

Eurovision: can’t have it, can’t live without it. Styled by Ramona Lazda, this Latvian entry is sponsored by Lauma Lingerie: the first brand of intimates in the USSR since 1971 (!) It also reminded me of Moschino’s FRESH perfume bottled in a home cleaning spray bottle. An uneasy blend of capitalism, nationalism, feminism & mass market pride, Eurovision warrants a dedicated Style-the-Beat review.

Meanwhile … Stay tuned, stay styled!

Check out previous installments of my Style the Beat series here.