Synopsis
Presented like a warped vintage television segment, "Shoes" places Tiga in a surreal world of fashion, desire and deadpan performance. Stylized interview fragments, exaggerated poses, retro broadcast effects and bizarre visual tableaux build a deliberately artificial atmosphere around the song's fixation on footwear and sex. Models, sculptures and a green-painted drummer appear alongside Tiga, while rapid edits and vivid compositions turn the performance into a strange fashion fantasy. The video embraces absurdity rather than following a conventional narrative, matching the track's playful electro-disco attitude.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was shot in Berlin using two old cameras that had reportedly been sitting in a cellar for around 15 years.
- A live video mixer was used during the shoot, allowing visual accidents and spontaneous effects to become part of the finished piece.
- The production was made on a small budget, with the filmmakers describing the process as exhausting but helped by collaborators working in exchange for food, karaoke and other favors.
- Dutch artist Rein Vollenga supplied the sculptures and live-collage artwork seen in the video.
- The cast includes model Janine Henkes, actor Roger Hopley and drummer Candie, who appears painted green and unclothed.
- Tiga described "Shoes" as a character piece influenced by Prince and the Minneapolis sound. He said the lyrics represented a fantasy of cruising, with the song's flirtatious lines functioning like pickup lines.
- The track appeared on Tiga's 2009 album "Ciao!" and was also issued through the "Shoes" EP on PIAS and Different Recordings.
- The video's surreal humor and retro television styling helped establish "Shoes" as one of Tiga's cult music-video pieces.