"You crazy!"
That was the unanimous reaction of Denzel Benjamin's inner circle to his decision to have Melissa Macdonald to appear in the video for his new single "Body Dialogue." Denzel's manager and agent insisted that he would upset his black female fans by putting a white woman in one of his videos for the first time, that he'd be harming his credibility in the eyes of his fanbase, that he'd be dismissed as another R & B singer desperate to cross over.
"Why are you doing this?" he was asked repeatedly in the days since the news came out.
And Denzel's answer was always the same:
"'Cause she's fuckin' hot, man."
Denzel and Melissa were equally awestruck by each other when they finally met: the Melbourne model was a huge fan of Benjamin's music, and was riveted by his good looks--his smooth chocolate skin, his shaved head, his sexy smile, his cute mustache, his muscular frame. Denzel was also taken by Melissa's beauty: her long, curly, light-brown hair, her sharp blue eyes, her regal nose, her lightly freckled pale skin, her lovely lips, her hourglass figure and her lovely breasts. Plus, Denzel thought to himself, she's got an ass like a sister.
Denzel, Melissa and the video's director--acclaimed British commercial director Michael Wilson-Harris--spent several days discussing the video's concept, which Denzel came up with: a screen split in two parts, showing Denzel and Melissa as Adam and Eve on the left side of the screen and the singer and model as a couple flirting with each other in a Manhattan apartment on the right side. The video would take several days to film, as the Adam-Eve scenes would have to be filmed first so that Denzel and Melissa could copy their moves in the New York segment.
"So, did they call you about the bodysuit yet?" Michael asked.
Melissa smiled.
"No, they haven't...but I don't want one."
"What?" said Michael, as Denzel also expressed surprise.
"It's bullshit. People would tell I'm not nude. I don't have a problem." Melissa winked at Denzel. "I hope you don't either."
Michael turned to Denzel.