John Duffidentifies as a sex clown, in his own words. When planning the video for his newest single, “Stick Up,” he wanted the creative to match, and so he approached Zain Curtis and Brett Loudermilk.
As Duff tells PAPER, he wanted a “video like Showgirls, but with male strippers, politics and murder.” Loudermilk and Curtis were more than willing to oblige.
The video comes with an accompanying version on OnlyFans, which Duff says was inspired by a chance encounter after performing at Chicago Pride this summer. “I got to perform for 8,000 people — but I ended up spending more money on the gig than I made,” he says. “Crazily, when I left the stage, an executive from OnlyFans was standing there, and basically told me to join. Is that God? I don’t know, but it made me question, ‘Why does struggling have more integrity than doing porn?’”
Duff says the lingering question “served as a big inspiration for the song, which was written around the idea that I would debut it with an OnlyFans.” As he sees it, “Everything about this song, video, and alternate versions is part of the same message, there is no path to success without a lil corruption.”
For the video’s premiere, PAPER caught up with Duff, Curtis and Loudermilk to talk about the creative process, what it's like shooting two music videos at once, and more.
How did you both get connected with John Duff for this?
Zain and Brett: John found us! He had been following both of us for a while. When the Orville Peck cover we made for you guys at PAPER came out in June, he slid into the DMs and wanted to make sure he snagged us as collaborators before anyone else had the chance. The response we got from the cover was so lovely and the amount of people that started paying attention to us and wanting to work with us just exploded. John just stood out, he sent us "Stick Up", and asked if it resonated. It did.
John Duff: I’d been a big fan of their world-building for a few years — it just felt like me... because I identify as a sex clown. When I wrote “Stick Up,” I knew they had to do it with me, so I slid in the DMs. Basically said, “I want a video like Showgirls, but with male strippers, politics, and murder — will you direct it? Can you make me cool?”
I saw their work in photography and knew they would absolutely kill it in the video space — so I gave them 100% of my trust, and it took off in a very collaborative way. If nothing else comes of this video, I am proud to have commissioned their debut as directors, it’s a milestone. Brett and Zain have very bright futures ahead of them.
The video is quite striking in its visuals. What was your initial inspiration, and how much did the song itself shape that concept?
Zain and Brett: Thanks! As a creative duo, we are really focused on world building. When John came to us he said he wanted to exist in our world; we both listened to the song with the ideas that John had brought with it in mind, it just clicked. We saw every bit of it. John's basic attitude about his work is actually pretty punk. He's very “fuck you”' about it and as artists, Zain and I are the same. If we want to make something, we're gonna make it. So, taking these lyrics and the fuck you sensibility and of course a budget.... We told a story that illustrates John's lyrics but at the same time injected our visual language.
Cristol Connors is name-dropped in the creative for the video, a legend in her own right. What about Showgirls specifically spoke to you, for this project?
Zain and Brett: Look, John loves Showgirls, we love Showgirls and you probably love Showgirls, too. Of course we're gonna make John a fucked up, pervy, gay Cristol Conners. It's an insane movie, it's also pretty societally on the nose. So yeah, with our creative intentions living on that plane and creating work that speaks a bit to late stage capitalism and politics... The whole movie spoke to us. Especially Tony Moss' ice cube advice, but that was just for us all to enjoy off-camera.
John: I know every line of Showgirls — it’s my all-time favorite movie. I think Veerhoeven is a mastermind at trolling his own audience, giving them exactly what they want but in the most beautifully disgusting way — holding a mirror — it’s something I think Brett, Zain and I all had in common, in terms of intention.
In writing “Stick Up,” and life in general, Cristal and Nomi’s conversation at Spago in the Forum was a major influence. “You are a whore, darlin’. We all are. We take the cash, we cash the check, we show ‘em what they wanna see.” That whole dialogue, the whole plot in general, basically saying everyone is evil, compromised, and out for themselves in late stage capitalism. The good ones end up losing - like Molly in Showgirls, or Terry the Secretary in “Stick Up.”
In addition to the actual video, there's an OnlyFans only version with more explicit, full frontal material. How did it go, shooting both videos simultaneously, and what changes between the two?
Zain and Brett: It went great! On the technical and practical end there was considerable planning involved... When you hire a crew for a music video no one is expecting a hard weiner to just pop up on the monitor. It was important for us to make sure everyone involved on the project knew what they were getting into. As far as how it changes, I mean- It's gayer. That's for sure. The OnlyFans version is less extracurricular character development and more hot dudes stripping, phones going in holes and John swinging his dick around and fucking himself. It's really hot and it's silly, the way it should be.
John: My audience has been asking me to do one for years — and then this summer, I played Chicago Pride. I got to perform for 8,000 people, but I ended up spending more money on the gig than I made. Crazily, when I left the stage, an executive from OnlyFans was standing there, and basically told me to join. Is that God? I don’t know — but it made me question, “why does struggling have more integrity than doing porn?” And that served as a big inspo for the song, which was written around the idea that I would debut it with an OnlyFans. Everything about this song, video, and alternate versions is part of the same message: there is no path to success without a lil corruption.
Zain, your work has previously tackled censored content on social media, with Sensitive Content. What motivates you to uplift queer art that's been censored, or is generally seen as too provocative or explicit by restrictive social media policies?
Zain: I always think it's important to combat big tech when they strong-arm their rules onto their users. We can't pretend it's something we don't use everyday as a tool to further ourselves, social media has become a huge part of the artist's life in the way of getting work viewed and generating sales. It's tough that such a general platform that so many different types of people use has puritanical views on what can be shared. I was getting tired of it and I always had a love for printed media so it felt like a great outlet to display work from friends that I really liked. It's fun and sends a message that an artist's life isn't a social app.
This is your first music video as directors. How did your previous work influence or help with the move to cutting film to music?
Brett: Zain is a powerhouse creative from painting to publishing, if he has limits to his abilities, I haven't seen them. I have spent the last 20 years as a sword-swallower (not a euphemism), comedic performer, director and photographer. Our individual skill sets pick up where the other's leaves off and they overlap in really wonderful ways. On the call sheet for the production, I was listed as “Director” and Zain as “Creative Director.” I made it very clear on set that Zain and I are the same person, creatively. Any question could be answered by either of us and any direction given was the direction. It was a kind of a, “lets see how this works for us” experiment.
Over the 28 hours of production, time and time again we noticed that we're just on the same page. We would get asked the same question by two different people on different parts of the set and answer the exact same way. We've got a really cool ability to communicate without directly speaking and it really shined on-set.
Director: Brett Loudermilk
Creative director: Zain Curtis
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