Cardi B Says She Had To Beg To Keep Kissing Scene In Music Video

Cardi B has shared some insights into the making of her music video Up, revealing she had to beg creators to let her keep a scene in which she touches tongues with two other women. 

It’s no secret that Cardi’s music videos often contain risqué, extravagant scenes – the video for WAP is evidence enough of that – but in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic even some of the more PG scenes became controversial.

The singer discussed the video during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the host asked whether it was ‘tough to even record a song, let alone do a video’ during the pandemic.

Check out her response below:

Cardi explained that her team was somewhat restricted by the preventative measures in place to help prevent the spread of the virus, saying: ‘There’s certain things you can’t do’.

She recalled creating a human pyramid with a group of women in the video, but said that they had to get the shot done in less than ten seconds because it consisted of more than six people, increasing the risk of potential spread.

Cardi explained: ‘Due to COVID, people can’t be touching. Even though you get tested before the music video three times; you get tested at the beginning of the week, the day before and the day of.’

You can see the music video for Up here:

In spite of the added measures, Cardi admitted that she did lick some of her video co-stars; a move which would have been questionable a couple of years ago, but which is pretty much beyond unacceptable during a pandemic…

Discussing the kissing, licking and general spit-swapping displays, the singer told Fallon she had to ‘beg’ to have the scenes be included.

The host questioned why a human pyramid seemed to have more restrictions than touching tongues, but Cardi didn’t have much of an explanation beyond ‘it’s the craziest thing’. She continued: ‘If you work in production, you will understand. It’s the craziest thing.’

The singer has stressed that she undergoes frequent COVID testing, at the time explaining she paid for every one of her attendees to have a test because she felt it was ‘worth it’ so they could be together.