“Step right up and feast your eyes on the spectacular, the daring, the utterly unpredictable, Haute & Freddy!”

This description of the LA duo’s “Scantily Clad” music video tees it all up perfectly, like a carnival ringleader introducing a show that’ll make you choke on your popcorn — or more simply “clutch your pearls,” as the band hopes. “Scantily Clad” is the first proper visual from Haute & Freddy, the brainchild of Michelle Buzz and Lance Shipp, who’ve been carving out space for their self-described “runaway carnie” brand of theatrical pop. (They even refer to fans as a “Royal Court.”)

The Sam Hayes-directed video looks like a drunken opera house riot, featuring a full cast of unruly characters moving through choreography by Melissa Schade. It’s an outsider’s fantasy that reads like a dream sequence, as the group lounges around broken mannequin parts like they’re real life lovers. “Oh, what a disgrace,” Buzz sings, wearing opulent orange hair, as Shipp parades nearby in a black top hat. “Scantily clad woman, scantily clad man,” the hook repeats, with dramatic flair.

Watch the PAPER premiere of “Scantily Clad,” below, and learn more about Haute & Freddy as they prepare their next single, “Fashion Over Function,” coming soon.

What does the hook, “Scantily clad woman/ Scantily clad man,” really mean?

It’s basically a song about clutching pearls at self-expression, people loving who they love, queerness, gender in general being a silly little box, and how medieval it all feels sometimes.

Tell me about the world you’re building, sonically and visually.

It’s all very 18th century runaway carnie-coded. The fans are our Royal Court and we are their humble jesters. We have an antique shopping problem, and we love flea markets and vintage objects. It all bleeds into our visual and sonic world. We’re drawn to old synths, dusty drum machines and anything that sounds like it’s always existed — not something forcibly created. Live, we have a miming balloon artist making crowns for our Royal Court. There’s a stilt walker, and fake mustaches and feather boas adorn the tables for anyone who wants to play dress-up. It’s just us having the most fun possible and creating a world where everyone can be their full selves, loud and proud.

What’s the collaborative process like, lyrically and musically, between you both?

Extremely free. We both produce, we both find synth sounds we like, drums we like, fly by the seat of our pants until melodies and lyrics start falling out and just capture it. Ultimately, we just want each other to be ourselves and so we try to egg on the weird.

So far this year you’ve released “Scantily Clad” and, more recently, “Anti-Superstar.” Do you see a relationship between the two?

Yes, most of our music lyrically is inspired by anything that goes against what is generally acceptable, trendy, polished. It’s ironic building such a beautiful quick fan army on TikTok, but it’s very much like, “Please gatekeep us,” in a cheeky way. Things that are too popular aren’t fun for us. We want to feel like a secret club. “Scantily Clad” is like, How dare you express yourself! Gasp! And “Anti-Superstar” is like, I don’t want everyone to get it.

How did you want to bring “Scantily Clad” to life in video? I love the choreography and all the high drama.

High drama is our life. It all started because Melissa Schade, the choreographer, tagged us in her class and taught a dance to “Scantily Clad,” and we loved it and her so much we had to make it together. We always knew it had to be in an old, charming theater and had to be the after party of sorts — post-scantily clad opera house riot, like the cast ran back to their little theater and made fun of the whole uproar together.

How did you approach casting? Who’s all featured in the video? I recognize Shamu Azizam, who was in our PAPER People LA cover series.

We told [the choreographer] Melissa, “We want unhinged, main characters who look like they ran away from the carnival.” She sent us all these options, it was so hard to pick because everyone was so iconic. We narrowed it down after seeing everyone’s socials because it was video after video of them in their living room or in a field or on some massive tour, all being so clownish and obscure and already dressing the part.

What’s to come from you in 2025?

More live shows and so much more music. We have an album fully written, so we’ll just be creating a metaphorical parade of singles, unique shows and visual feasts leading up to that.

High drama is our life.

Photography: Zoe Donahoe