See Ari Lennox’s Hard Reckoning in ‘Whipped Cream’ Video
Ari Lennox, the lone R&B singer signed to rapper J. Cole’s Dreamville Records, struggles to stop reminiscing about her ex in the new video for “Whipped Cream.”
“Whipped Cream” is built around a wonderfully slowed sample of “Two of Us,” a luscious, falsetto-smeared record from the funk group Cameo. On top of this bass-heavy foundation, Lennox sings frustrated, lovelorn lines: “You’ve been everywhere, wish I didn’t care.” As the song progresses, Lennox begins to interrogate memories of her past relationship, wondering if the whole thing was a lie from the start. “Admit it,” she demands at one point. “You were never mine at all.”
The video uses Lennox’s pining as its primary theme. It’s filled with handsomely shot scenes of intimacy: A couple daydreaming, cuddling by a bridge and sliding in for a slow-motion smooch.
But after Lennox sings that key line, “you were never mine at all,” the imagery in the clip changes. For nearly a minute, the two lovers mostly appear in separate frames, so that the camera reinforces the distance between them. After that, even when Lennox and her partner appear together, the imagery starts to blur and fray around the edges, as if the memories of their love are fading. In the final shot, the man walks out of the frame, leaving Lennox alone, and she starts to dissolve into a watery blob.
Lennox’s underappreciated Pho EP came out in 2016.