In the video to her new single 'We Need A Resolution', Aaliyah lies in a snake pit, pythons crawling between her legs. Just as in various cultures, snakes have been symbols of wisdom, sex or evil, it's a strange and ambiguous image. Is Aaliyah in danger, or witchily commanding the darker forces of nature?
"I had always been intrigued by snakes," she says, "but I'd never handled the things. A lot of people think they're going to be hard and scaly, but they feel like velvet, really. I wanted to handle the biggest one, so I said, 'Give me the biggest python that you have,' and it's a cool feeling. It's very empowering, actually, to handle snakes like that."
Which in one way doesn't answer and in another way says it all. In Aaliyah's world, everything is all about suggestion and rumour, innuendo and metaphor. From the snakes in the video to the eerie electronic darkness at the heart of her records, things are never what they initially appear.
Alex Needham on Aaliyah in this week's NME (cover dated July 7... on sale now)

To watch the full writhing with snakes video, 'We Need A Resolution', click here.

To talk to other Aaliyah fans, click here.

For more, read NMESOUL.COM's recent Aaliyah feature... Click here.
Check out NMESOUL.COM's tips for 2001 - which was first published in December 2000 - where Aaliyah was one of our hotshots. Any other names in there worth watching? You bet. Click here.

To send an Aaliyah 'ecard' and to catch up on all the Aaliyah news you've missed, click here.



Published: 04-07-2001-11-30