Jhené Aiko - Wading

What this video is

Released December 13, 2014, 'Wading' arrived during the final weeks of a landmark year for Jhené Aiko, who had debuted her album 'Souled Out' on Def Jam Records and toured with The Weeknd before launching her own headlining 'Enter the Void Tour.' The video dropped at a moment when alt-R&B was consolidating as a commercially and critically recognized genre, distinct from mainstream pop-R&B in its embrace of…

Why it matters

The video is a key document of 2014 alt-R&B visual culture — a genre moment when artists like Jhené Aiko were redefining what a soul record could look and feel like on screen. Its dark, amber-lit underground club aesthetic and theatrical narrative structure exemplify the cinematic ambitions of Def…

The director

Alex Nazari is an Armenian-American film director and photographer based in Los Angeles, California. His directorial identity is shaped by his Armenian American upbringing in LA. He has directed music videos across hip-hop and R&B for a wide roster of…