Cheyenne Miller is a Los Angeles-based creative commissioner overseeing music video, photography, and creative direction commissioning for AWAL's unmatched artist roster. She has been working in music with an emphasis on music video production for almost 7 years.
Starting at award-winning production company PRETTYBIRD, Cheyenne has contributed to music video and creative asset creation for artists like Beyoncé, Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish, Vince Staples, FINNEAS, Kim Petras and more.
Our recent chat with Cheyenne discusses her favourite campaigns and talks about the overlaps between visual creativity and music.
I’m currently working on so much! Just released this SchoolHouse Rock-inspired animated video for Dayglow's Woah Man and we're working on videos and creative assets for girl in red, BANKS, Little Simz, The Wombats, Alaina Castillo and more. Many great things coming soon from AWAL! Get ready...
I'm loving
Creatively at the moment, I’m loving finding new and exciting makeup artists to work with.
I met Alexandra French last year on a video for Khai Dreams and fell in love with her makeup artistry. Since then, I've discovered other amazing makeup artists like Sydney Szramowski and Zaheer Sukhnandan, who are pushing the makeup game to extremes and creating amazing looks. I love the nostalgia and 90s/00s elements I've seen artists lean into for their creative direction and love how much makeup can help bring visions to life.
Favourite video
My all-time favourite music video is Flying Lotus Never Catch Me ft. Kendrick Lamar directed by the insanely talented Hiro Murai.
The choreography, visuals, and heartbreakingly beautiful story get me every time. One of the reasons I've pursued a career in music videos as this one truly shows you how impactful visuals can be for a song. Love this one so, so much as well as all of Hiro's other videos!
Best artwork
I’ve always loved the album art for Interpol's debut album Turn On The Bright Lights – one of my favorite albums ever by my all time favorite band.
Photographed by Sean McCabe of a movie theater screen in London, I personally am a huge fan of the contrasted colors and love the simplicity of the subject matter yet the impactfulness of the photo. This record and Interpol's music in general (mainly the early Carlos D works), speak to my soul.
I was lucky enough to work on Interpol's video for If You Really Love Nothing (featuring Kristen Stewart and Finn Wittrock) as a stills photographer and these photographs remain some of my favorites to date. The red, of course, inspired by the Turn On The Bright Lights cover.
Recent campaign
The most recent campaign I’ve enjoyed working on has been Little Simz! A rising rapper out of London, Little Simz is gearing up to release a legendary new album and just released the music video for first single Introvert. Directed by Salomon Ligthelm, this video is absolutely gorgeous and groundbreaking.
Keep an eye on Simz! Kendrick Lamar said she's "one of the illest doing this right now".
Brand collab
The most recent brand collab that caught my eye was girl in red X WeTransfer’s graphic novel collaboration!
The brand new graphic novel Do you listen to girl in red? by award-winning illustrator Tillie Walden is exclusively on WeTransfer’s editorial platform WePresent, ahead of girl in red’s highly anticipated debut album, if i could make it go quiet – out 4/30. The comic tells the story of girl in red’s upbringing in Horten, Norway, to becoming a worldwide music phenomenon to young queer womxn around the world. Such a cool and creative partnership!
Video of the year
For me the most creative and original music video of the past year is Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's Phenom video.
Released a year ago at the height of quarantine, I love the creative of "how do we make Zoom calls exciting and engaging"? Love the choreography and fun gags that interweave the other setups into each other. Seems like the most fun zoom party I've seen and a great video for a lower budget!
Logo love
I wish I’d designed the artist logo for My Chemical Romance.
Yes, I had the same emo phase everyone else did! I love the angry, scratchy look to the logo and it basically looks like something I would've carved into a desk in middle school. Designed by their frontman who was a graduate of New York's School of Visual Arts, it's truly iconic. MCR will always hold a place in my heart!
Go follow
The one artist you should follow on Instagram is Kim Petras!
My favorite rising pop star and someone who's social accounts I really love. She's sassy, sweet, and sings like an angel. Very inline with the fashion world as well with fans ranging from Marc Jacobs to Paris Hilton. Her 2019 album Clarity remains one of my favorites as well as her fan-favorite Halloween album Turn Off The Light. Woo-ah!
Iconic
The most iconic music photograph is anything from Woodstock '69.
Over 400,000 people and 32 iconic acts plus the legendary traffic jam that ensued, all the pictures I've seen from this festival make me wish I was there (except the lack of toilets)! I grew up obsessed with classic rock and Motown thanks to my parents' excellent taste in music and know this event would've changed my life.
