Japan's First Black-Owned Anime Studio Is Behind The Weeknd's New Music Video

[Stephan Bobb]

Japan's First Black-Owned Anime Studio Is Behind The Weeknd's New Music Video

July 27 2020

The Weeknd has teamed up with the first Black-owned anime studio in Japan to create his latest music video for "Snowchild."

As Complex reports, D'ART Shtajio studio was behind the creation of The Weeknd's animated music video, which features The Weeknd's traveling through different eras of his career as he battles villains who can transform into black panthers (a reference to his song "Pray For Me" on Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar, perhaps?).

D'ART Shtajio is based in Tokyo and creates animations for television, commercials, film and animated shorts. According to the studio's official website, D'ART Shtajio "bridges the gap between Eastern and Western ideologies to create a truly unique and vibrant animation," based in "traditional anime art style."

inRead invented by Teads

One of D'ART Shtajio's other high-profile American projects includes the Netflix original anime film Sound & Fury, based on musician Sturgill Simpson's latest album of the same name.

Watch the full music video:

Photo: The Weeknd/YouTube