Sex, power, desire…

It’s been a long time coming and I’m very, very proud to announce two firsts; my band ZCluster‘s first video clip, and my first at creating a video clip!

I’ve integrated a number of scenes from my porn “The Summoning – Demon Seed” into the clip, and reimagined the narrative into the context of the lyrics. I do love telling my stories, and big thanks to my beautiful partner in crime Eve X for appearing in the clip.

It would be remiss of me to not mention the fact that it’s the skills that I’ve picked up in online sexwork and digital content creation (aka pornography) that have made this endeavour a possibility. Learning to work a camera, project and connect remotely, ALL the editing (dear lord, all the editing), writing music to accompany the erotic visuals and then reverse engineering how to create erotic visuals to music. Three cheers for sex work creative boot camp!

Excuse me while I get on this conveniently placed soapbox…

Pop culture and mainstream media has long co-opted the imagery and desire in our erotic selves while trying to stay at arms length. This is especially true in America with their paradoxical purity culture alongside their consumption and creation of some of the most highly commercialised sexuality you’ll ever see… Without actually selling sex and in many cases disrespecting the very cultures they’ve co-opted their imagery and inspirations from.

Well, fuck all the hypocrisy. Am I using sex to sell my art? Yeah. Am I using art to sell my sex? Absolutely. Firstly, I don’t see why one would diminish the validity of the other. Secondly, eroticism in performative, intimate, authentic and narrative form IS an art. And thirdly, all capitalistic considerations aside, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the journey of exploring both and seeing where and how they sinuously and sweatily entwine.

It’s been interested to create an MA/R rated music video and finding the places to launch it. Youtube, Instagram and Facebook were out of the question for the full clip. So I created a censored, PG version for these particular platforms. Doing this also reminded me of my frustrations around the role of censorship in our society; hence all my snarky anti-censorship messages all through the censored clip.

The censored clip actually afforded me the space to rant at you while you’re viewing the clip (Sorry/not sorry). Why are we saying “yes” to indoctrinated shame? Why are we consenting to the digital gentrification of our online spaces? Why do we see sexuality and viewing certain parts of the human body as a threat to our safety, both online and offline? If you want to read more about this, follow recent activism around the oncoming Online Safety Bill.

I decided to premiere the clip on Pornhub as the most accessible method of making the clip available to all for your “enjoyment”. Also, the side benefit of affording us a decent streaming income compared to the streaming income from Spotify or ad revenue monetisation on Youtube is quite lovely! Something interesting for those musicians who dabble or have a career in the erotic arts… Ironically, Vimeo removed the clip for copyright infringement; however that’s now also back online for any who have a preference to not support Pornhub for various reasons.

Here are the links to the clip on various platforms!

PORNHUB (Uncensored)
VIMEO (Uncensored)
MANYVIDS (Uncensored)
YOUTUBE (Censored)
FACEBOOK (Censored)

I’ve been incredibly inspired by this, so look forward to more artistic, musical evocations of eroticism in the future! I would also love to hear your feedback, so do drop me a line at jaidenlillith@protonmail.com.

Bonus shameless ZCluster gig promotion

Be well, be safe <3
With Love
Sai Jaiden Lillith