Nilüfer Yanya’s new album Miss Universe is about an evil fictional organization called “WE WORRY ABOUT YOUR HEALTH™” (WWAY Health), and now she has advanced that plot further in a new video for “H34T RISES,” a new version of album track “Heat Rises.” The video sees her working for a private security company whose goal is to bring down WWAY Health.
Yanya says of the new version of the song:
“The original song ‘Heat Rises’ came together over a year or so, maybe. I felt really lucky I was able to work with Dave Okumu on this, there was a lot to learn just being in the room with him. I had the rough demo and beat on my phone for maybe a year, but it wasn’t until the lyrics were fully realized that that it really took shape as a song for me. The original track works perfectly in the album, but when I decided to re-release it as a single, I thought a few changes to the mix and structure might help it jump out more and that’s where ‘H34T RISES’ came from.”
Director (and Yanya’s sister) Molly Daniel says of the video, “Me and Nilufer hadn’t considered shooting in Istanbul, but once the thought had entered our head, we wanted to stick with it. I felt like Istanbul would really fit the concept and it was really nice to be able to work with a female led and Turkish crew. I remember finding out my mum was pregnant with Nilufer when we lived in Istanbul, so returning to work there together as adults really felt like we had come full circle.” Yanya added, “I thought whilst I was making Miss Universe — ‘WWAY Health is out to get us, they’re the bad guys.’ But when it came to making the video for ‘Heat Rises,’ it dawned on me that the enemy tends to be better disguised!”
Watch the video for “H34T RISES” above, and read our interview with Yanya here.
