This is what gave the song an added tension: Kim remained unsmiling through the soaring chorus—she was withdrawn, dead-eyed, even drugged. Maybe she knew where she was, or maybe she didn’t know, maybe she could have been anywhere—this was what became so suggestive in the video. She was offering an invitation but she didn’t care if you came or not, because she could always find somebody else. She was radiating that numbness-as-a-feeling aesthetic I was so drawn to and trying to perfect in Less Than Zero and I was thrilled seeing it embodied in the poppiest of artifacts.
