Bebe Huxley Summons Her Queer Femininity in Radical 'Scorpio' Video

2017 is becoming the year the patriarchy fell, and Bebe Huxley has proven to be an active force in tipping the scales. The LA pop artist's "Scorpio" music video arrives at an important time, telling a relevant story of unruly self-empowerment. Lifted off her new EP of the same title, the Xavier Hamel-directed visual sees Huxley summoning her feminine strength and ultimately transforming from a violent male ex.

Related | Premiere: Bebe Huxley's Debut EP Scorpio is Queer Pop Catharsis

"The song was inspired by a relationship in my early twenties that haunted me for years," Huxley says. "He was an artist and convinced me I needed him to make my art a reality, and used sex and violence to control me into staying with him. Getting over that relationship took years of counseling, tears, and dedication to my art."

In the video, Huxley juxtaposes the dark past and powerful present, as she rebirths herself from the trauma, and returns as a sensual "Scorpion priestess" on a burning mountaintop." There's violent flashbacks referencing her dominant ex, spliced against ferocious choreography alongside queer performer Love Bailey, before Huxley finally bathes herself and shaves her head. It's intense and cinematic, visceral and symbolic--a dramatized display of Huxley's radical self-possession.

Making this epic pop odyssey helped Huxley heal her wounds and put them into the past. "I am a queer woman still discovering what life means outside of a man's control, and each new creation is a small death of its hold on my brain," she says. "I am rebirthing myself with every new song--every new vision."

Watch the OUT premiere of Bebe Huxley's "Scorpio" video, below.