Tampa songwriter Joshua Cruz has never been one to shy away from inserting steamy themes into his music videos (watch “Angels and Demons" with Danielle Dominguez for proof), but he just leveled up in a major way on this new clip for “Poison Lips."
The four-minute video set in and filmed in New York City leans hard on the Big Apple’s nighttime lights, and the song — a Julius Gardner-produced club-ready ode to the things you shan't touch — is easily one of the catchiest, sexiest cuts to come out of the Tampa Bay area this year.
“Figuratively she is my mistakes, temptations and lusts that have stayed with me mentally or followed me into relationships and friendships,” Cruz, 25, told CL in a message. He’s talking about Jasmine Rhey, another Bay area actress and songwriter who stalks Cruz’s mind in the sultry visual directed by Roberto Rivera and Caleb Cruz.
“There was no way to fake it. We wanted to capture feeling of the city and its vastness at night, it can be rather haunting,” Cruz — who is influenced by everyone from Freddy Mercury to Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Prince and George Michaels — told CL about making the video. The Gibbs High alum says the crew spent three days in 18-degree weather filming before filming additional parts in Clearwater. They spent about three months in post-production polishing it up, and the attention to detail paid off (I mean, I was totally screaming, “Bro, don’t touch that” at the 3:30 mark).
Dive into the clip below, and see Cruz in action when he plays Crowbar on June 16 and The Lion’s Den on June 17. Read our Q&A below.
\\Who is Caleb Cruz?
Caleb Cruz is my younger brother and an aspiring filmmaker. He co-produced this video.
Did we have to go to NYC?
Yes! There was no way to fake it. We wanted to capture the night lights and feeling of the city and its vastness at night, it can be rather haunting.
Where did you learn to sing?
Growing up I was raised in church and learned to sing there. I feel in love with the funk and power of dance music while listening to my grandfather’s old Motown and 80s records. I was/am inspired by Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Prince, George Michaels and the incredible Freddy Mercury. I learned how to control and project my voice at the PCCA program at Gibbs High. I then spent the next few years after high school working and shaping my voice after those singers I love.
Can you talk to me about the conceptual and production path for “Poison Lips” as far as the song goes?
I had been struggling to find my next single for a little while now when my keyboardist Julian Carrington brought me the rough idea for this track. Initially I didn’t like it but then the words, melodies and concept just fell into my lap and I knew I had something special. We worked on the song for about four months trying to perfect the vibe and feel of the music. Producer Julius Gardner and guitar legend Trevor Easterling came in and added special touches that brought the song from great to incredible. We recorded the song with Justin Colen who handled the mixing and mastering.
What about the video, how’d that come about?
The video idea came from Roberto Rivera and myself questioning where we could go to next after coming off of an animated music video. I came up with a pretty dope concept/story and we felt New York City was the best place to capture the look and feeling we were wanting. I storyboarded the video with my brother and co-director Caleb for about two months and then it was off to New York where filming took place over the course of 3 days in freezing 18 degree weather. The remaining filming took place in the studio of Motion State Media with the beautiful Jasmine Rhey a singer from Jacksonville.
Jasmine represented mistakes made from succumbing to lust and temptations. I felt as we have all dealt with that in some shape and form. She represents when those thoughts turn into actions and then those actions affect your mind which in turn can affect your world. After filming we spent the next three months editing and applying special effects with Roberto. Roberto Rivera went to school for graphics and design at Full Sail, so I knew he was the guy to take this video to the next level. We wanted to achieve a level of cinematic quality that was on par with industry standards and a concept that was as awesome as a MJ video.
This article appears in Jun 15-22, 2017.