It’s no coincidence that “Naked,” the new video from rising pop singer Natalie Shay, begins with the calming sounds of the waves hitting a shoreline. It’s a precursor and mood-setter for what comes next: That peace of mind is often the start of confidence to come, and what helps propel us to make the right decisions moving forward. For Shay and “Naked,” that’s all about attempting to move on from a relationship that’s gone sour, and navigating all the emotions to break free and move on — even if it leaves us feeling a bit vulnerable.
Though we last caught up with Shay in summer 2018 — a damn near eternity in pop years — the Londoner dropped a sterling slice of charismatic alt-pop earlier this year in her Naked EP. The title track, brought to video life this week — depicting Shay still in her wedding dress, on the Camber Sands dunes at dawn, assessing decisions that were made and what comes next — is the closing number on the record, and that’s very much by design. The towering single recalls the late-’80s-pop grandeur of Heart and Belinda Carlisle, with a visual storyline fit for MTV three-plus decades ago.
“Much delayed with Covid-19 but worth the wait I promise you,” Shay writes of the video on Facebook. “The final piece to the Naked EP project — happy but also pretty sad for this project to finally be coming to an end. At least it’s going out with a bang.”
Wrap yourself in Shay’s pop bliss below.