Gigi Hadid makes a special music video cameo today (July 16) for artist Maha Alamri’s reimagined tribute to Daft Punk’s timeless dance anthem “One More Time.”
The 23-year-old college student from Saudi Arabia teamed up with the model for Gigi Journal II in collaboration with V Magazine, which openly calls for digital artist contributors for the editorial project conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her reimagining of the French-house hit that “represented the new frontier of electronic music,” according to the publication’s IGTV music video, sonically and physically zaps Hadid out of this world and into the final frontier. In the five-minute animated visual, the 25-year-old model travels through the shimmering cosmos by riding a whale with a unicorn horn to her club performance on a different planet where she plays the keyboard in front of extraterrestrial fans. Sound familiar?
“I was inspired by the original ‘One More Time’ music video by Daft Punk. I wanted to pay homage to the ’80s anime style, which is viewed as something nostalgic,” Alamri said in an interview with V Magazine today. “I’m also very fascinated by outer space and keeping that theme going was something I purposely wanted. I wanted to bring the feeling of childhood imagination in the video, and flying whales symbolize the freedom of creativity.”
Alamri stayed the course with the 20-year-old storyline where a planet’s inhabitants get captured, and Hadid gets transported to that same planet. But how the budding artist strays away and carves her own creative path illustrates how she envisions breaking free during the coronavirus-induced quarantine.
“During these difficult times and being stuck in the same routine can drag us down. And I guess breaking from that routine, even for a night and letting your imagination run free, can make a difference,” she said. “So at the end of this video, when Gigi wakes up to reality, I wanted to bring her dreams to life and show that just because dreams are intangible, doesn’t mean they aren’t real. They’re made of memories, imagination, and hope.”
Watch Hadid rewind through the Daft Punk classic “One More Time” below.
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Twenty years ago, @daftpunk released the dance anthem of the millennium, a few months after V was born! “One More Time” represented a new frontier of electronic music, and reminds us how powerful bold creativity can be. In a similar way, #GigiJournalPartII is a landmark for digital artists — produced and conceived entirely during the age of COVID. Thank you to the Daft Punk team for allowing us to re-launch their iconic single and as a homage to you and to celebrate the arrival of Gigi’s creative tour-de-force, here is a video we collaborated on with artist @designsbymaha, who was also discovered on instagram! Head to shop.vmagazine.com to purchase the journal now! — Talent: @gigihadid Illustration & Production: @designsbymaha Music: “One More Time” by @daftpunk
