By Nuzhat Naoreen
On the surface, the video for British electro-pop group La Roux's "I'm Not Your Toy" looks effortless and sleek. It features one particular, transfixing shot: Singer Elly Jackson emerges from beneath a pool of water while creating only the slightest of ripples.
But behind the scenes, things were a bit more complicated. The Woodie Award-nominated Jackson recently sat down with MTV's Adam Murphy to dish about what really took place during the shoot.
The video's director asked her to hold her breath for as long as she could before slowly and steadily coming to the surface. But once she was under, all she heard were shouts, first from the director and then from everyone else at the shoot to "go down." Jackson, who was trying her best to tread water, had no idea what they meant, since she was already fully submerged — or so she thought.
When she finally came up to get some air, she learned that her hair had been her undoing — as it turned out, everyone was yelling at her to go deeper underwater because a tuft of her hair was sticking out the entire time. To top it off, Jackson hit one of the heavy underwater lights and badly hurt her foot. But as a testament to her professionalism (and the magic of film), the backstage chaos isn't at all evident in the video.
Even with the foot injury, Jackson said the shoot was especially fun for her because it featured a lot of her family and friends.
As for what's next, the driving force behind La Roux said she's not planning on writing songs for anyone right now, even though she gets approached with the idea pretty often. Jackson, who collaborates with co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid, also shared that she won't be bringing on any new members to La Roux.
"I don't understand how anyone works with more than one person," she said. "It's beyond me."
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