Ultimately a commentary on how it’s much more fun for a girl to talk about all the things she’d like to do sexually (a.k.a. sext), the video for Tyga’s latest single featuring Doja Cat, “Freaky Deaky,” owes some aesthetic debts to two 90s classics. Namely, Amy Heckerling’s Clueless and Madonna’s Erotica. Although some might style its rather vanilla portrayals (even in lyrics like, “I’ve been feelin’ freaky deaky/You’re on your way to see me/Got the mirror on the ceiling”) as Fifty Shades of Grey-esque, there can be no mistaking the bondage-y moments as a nod to Madonna, even if “only” a lingering subliminal influence on Ms. Dlamini from that time she showed up to the 2021 VMAs after-party hosted by Doja for Interview magazine.
“Freaky Deaky” starts, like most things, with a text exchange. Specifically, a flirtatious one between Tyga and Doja (rendered in that now all too cliché method of the texts being blown up and showcased for the audience to better view without squinting). Tyga types, “I’m just chillin. Wyd?” Doja, “subtly” lying on her stomach next to a pussycat, responds, “I’m laying in bed playing with my [cat emoji cat emoji cat emoji] Wanna join?” Here, it bears pointing out that graduating from high school might have been useful in terms of Doja knowing that she ought to have said “I’m lying in bed,” not “laying.” But, as we all know, men aren’t much turned on by women’s brains, which is why Tyga immediately replies back, “ON MY WAY [rocket emoji spaceship emoji].” Perhaps re-creating a similar exchange he shared with Kylie Jenner before she made a huge mistake and shifted to crowd killer Travis Scott as her baby daddy selection.
Directed by Christian Breslauer (who also worked with Doja on her video for “Streets”), the video sustains the “outer space”-oriented motif of Doja Cat’s Planet Her album, despite this technically being a Tyga song. And since everyone is perfectly okay with using Dr. Luke as a producer, especially (and ironically) for “sex positive” anthems, he returns as a co-writer and co-producer for this single after providing most of the “beats” for Doja’s previous records, including Planet Her. While many have defended Doja’s continued work with Dr. Luke as part of being signed with Kemosabe in 2013 before the Kesha allegations became public, it seems that if she was really that passionate about “breaking ties,” she might find a way to do so instead of saying, “I haven’t worked with him in a very long time” when that patently isn’t the case.
Doja also went on to say in the same 2021 interview with Billboard, “There’s shit that he’s credited for, where I’m like, ‘Hmm, I don’t know, I don’t know if you did anything on that…” Likely scared of Dr. Luke’s wrath (as Kesha constantly was) after reading such a thing, Doja was sure to add, “The credits on my music are accurate, and I don’t want to imply anything else.” But if she (and Tyga) should be crediting anyone for the visuals that appear in the “Freaky Deaky” video, it’s Madonna and Amy Heckerling. And it’s the latter who made Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) in Clueless look futuristically fashion-forward when she imbued her computer with the ability to sift through Cher’s closet and perfectly match an outfit (not that, based on the top and bottom literally having the same pattern, it was totally useful). This once awe-inducing feature is repurposed in “Freaky Deaky” as Tyga gets ready in the mirror using a touch screen to click on items that materialize on his body for him to get a sense of the best ensemble for an occasion. You know, such as a booty call.
After settling on something “fly” to don, he then zips along in his car through a “city” that looks like just about every other one portrayed with a “metaverse” slant in any Doja Cat video (including “Need to Know” and The Weeknd’s “In Your Eyes” remix video [even if animated]). When he shows up at Doja’s door, she answers it in a way one would expect Rihanna to—that is to say, clad in lingerie. She eyeballs him seductively and then opens a trap door for him to fall through. Down the rabbit hole… or, in this case, Doja’s hole. And as he drops through cotton candy-tinged clouds to land in Doja’s sex lair, it’s here that more “subtlety” abounds as Doja appears in a bondage-inspired look surrounded by a coterie of cats against a very pink backdrop (and two giant, fluffy pink balls over Doja’s head). Tu comprends? Pussy.
The S&M aesthetic in this segment of the video owes its now-decidedly vanilla origins to Madonna’s Erotica era, as she single-handedly made bondage “palatable” for the mainstream later on, after herself enduring a river of shit for it. So no, do not thank Fifty Shades of Grey for anything (other than further dumbing down the publishing industry).
Even the elements of Tyga playing the voyeur are rooted in themes Madonna long ago explored in the early 90s, particularly with the video for “Justify My Love.” Not to mention a fetish for all things whips and chains (reiterated once again in M’s 2015 song from Rebel Heart, aptly titled, “S.E.X.”). Which Doja also showcases as the cosplay continues after she pulls a Nicki Minaj à la appearing as a Barbie in a box (complete with bondage accessories) and then as a winged fairy to make all the magic happen in the boudoir.
Except, as we see by the end, all that magic is in her head, as fantasy gives way to reality in that Doja has actually fallen asleep amid all this sexting, with Tyga calling her in the final frame only to be met with no response. But oh, if this were a 90s-era Madonna video (or even Clueless), there would be no such “jocularity” about ensuring one’s pleasure.
