Jonathan Currinn
After releasing a music video trailer to this song, yesterday on her Vevo Channel; Katy Perry has now dropped the official music video to her third single from Witness, “Swish Swish“. The song and the visual features Nicki Minaj.
We also see a whole range of stars in the music video, playing characters in this basketball match. It’s The Sheep vs The Tigers, with team captains, Thor “The Mountain” Björnsson and Katy “Kobe” Perry respectively, taking their teams out on the court.
According to the music video description, the video stars: “Molly Shannon, Terry Crews, Bill Walton, Rich Eisen, Gatan Matarazzo, Jenna Ushkowitz, Christine Sydelko, Dexter Mayfield, Doug The Pug, Russel “Backpack Kid” Horning, Iris Kyle, Rob Gronkowski, Karl-Anthony Towns, Joey Chestnut, the ladies of GLOW (Sydelle Noel, Britney Young, Kia Stevens, Jackie Tohn), Carter Wilkerson, West Hollywood Cheerleaders, Amanda LaCount, and Nugget as herself.”
The whole visual was directed by Dave Meyers. Nicki Minaj comes in as the interval act, completely slaying the entire video and giving Katy Perry the motivation to win the basketball game.
Watch Katy Perry’s “Swish Swish” Featuring Nicki Minaj Music Video Here:
The opening shows Bingo’s Bail Bond Stadium from an aerial view before showing Katy Perry on a pyramid of basket balls. Then the announcers, Bill Walton and Rich Eisen, state that this will be “the most unwatchable eye-gouging moment of the season”. They then launch into the player stats for The Tigers. We see “Tragic Johnson” who’s played by Gatan Matarazzo; next is “The Rainmaker” played by Jenna Ushkowitz; then there’s “Shaquille O’Meals” who is played by Christine Sydelko; “Hair Jordan” is next, played by Dexter Mayfield; also on the team is “Pack-Man” played by Russel “Backpack Kid” Horning – who we know from Katy Perry’s SNL performance; and finally, we have the singer herself, Katy “Kobe” Perry.
This is where the game truly begins. Kobe takes a hold of the ball, but The Sheep steal it from her and shoots the first two-pointer. The Sheep continue to rack up points as each member of The Tigers fail as expected. There is also a great meme shot when Katy Perry falls flat on her face; the music used for the meme is Bag Raider’s “Shooting Stars”.
During the time-out period, The Tigers’ coach – played by Molly Shannon – injects Kobe Sweat into Kobe, which gives her surprising energy. The game starts up again but The Tigers are still no better. We also see Just Dance 2018 advertised on the screens.
The interval kicks in and Nicki Minaj appears bringing sass, fierceness, and glamour. She totally steals the show and reminds us of the prestigious interval performances at the Super Bowl every year. At the end of her addition to the song, she says: “Get it together, Katy” and passes a ball to her through the air.
With added motivation from Nicki Minaj, The Tigers come back with determination and vigour, determined to slay the game; just like Nicki did in the interval.
The ending sees The Tigers winning, and they throw a party to celebrate. This is definitely an iconic music video that we’re never going to forget.
