University of Tampa freshman Ziona Wright posted a music video of her song “Invited” on YouTube less than a month ago. Today, it has more than 95,000 views. The song centers around having fun and confidence. In the video, Wright (she goes by Ziona as an artist) struts her stuff and dances around a pool, even jumping in the water toward the end.
She also provocatively dances in the Howard Johnson’s laundry room with another UT student who agreed to be in the video.
The lyrics chant, “I’ve got a pretty little paper with your name engraved/I’ve been runnin’ ‘round lookin’ for you all damn day/Imma show you I can get what’s in your pants excited/because tonight, tonight, oh, tonight/you’re invited.”
She even gives a shout out to Tampa Bay and Miami later on in the song. While Wright agrees the lyrics are silly, she wanted the song to be easy to dance and sing along with.
“I wanted to write something stupid and something catchy that people would be looking at and be like ‘wow, what is this?’” Wright said.
Freshman film and business major, Alix Honda, said Wright’s music video was very funny, but he would have never guessed she was trying to be a serious artist. “The song itself I think is catchy–– not very well done, but definitely original,” he said.
Wright said it took her two months to write the lyrics and was constantly changing them. It only took two hours to film the video and two weeks to edit. She made the video with the intention of getting noticed on YouTube, and it worked. Chelsea Handler featured Wright’s video at the end of her late night television show “Chelsea Lately.”
Handler stated, “What you need though when you are a musician is more than just a song. You need a brilliant video to sell it and that video requires hot dance moves, a provocative wardrobe and exotic, very, very super sexy locations.”
Handler showed a clip from Wright’s video and had dancers (people from her office) come out on the stage wearing rompers like the one Wright sported in her video.
Wright said she liked the segment. “I thought it was hilarious even though she was making fun of me,” she said. “It’s a big accomplishment. I’m proud of it and excited.”
Sophomore government and world affairs major, Angenee Wilson-Gay, said she wasn’t a fan of the video.
“It seemed like something you make when you’re in fifth grade with your friends and you’re singing karaoke,” she said. “It didn’t seem like she [Wright] was genuine. [It was] almost like a parody of something.”
She thought it was a joke until someone told her about Wright’s intentions with the song. “I think it’s interesting that it made it all the way to ‘Chelsea Lately,’” Wilson-Gay said. “I don’t know if that’s something to be proud of.”
Wright has found it difficult to ignore the negativity “Invited” has been receiving. The comments people posted made her depressed, initially, but she had to work through it.
“I have to keep my head held high because most of those comments were from people who don’t know me, and they’re hiding behind a screen. That will always happen, so I try not to take it personally. I also don’t respond to them because it’s like I’m doing the same thing,” Wright said. “That video portrayed an image of me and as an artist. You have to take a risk, and that’s what I did.”
“The one thing that I really want to stress is cyber bullying,” Wright said. “It isn’t real until it happens to you. Be ambitious about your own passions and dreams. I got death threats, and so did my family. It’s just awful.”
Despite this, Wright is excited people are listening to her song and that she is being recognized. Another YouTuber even created an acoustic cover of “Invited.”
Wright will continue to write music and wants to stay focused on the pop genre. She has more videos in the works and plans to become a more serious artist.
“People have this image from that video [“Invited”], and I want to show them the more serious side. I am passionate about music.” She strives to be like her idols Ne-Yo and other mainstream artists such as Rihanna and Ke$ha.
Kelly St.Onge can be reached at kelly.st.onge@theminaretonline.com.
I guess negative attention is still attention. This girl and her song are whack.
Excellent article. The video/song reminds me of the Rebecca Black weirdo
This is awesome article… Well written..