Jeff Satur On Working With Maison Valentino For His ‘Black Tie’ Music Video And More

Jeff Satur’s star is rising and showing no signs of slowing down. The 28-year-old breakout star of Be On Cloud’s KinnPorsche: The Series (2022) has swiftly become one of the biggest stars of his generation. He has performed at sold-out concerts all over the world as a solo artist and part of an ensemble cast—namely, his former co-stars Apo Nattawin Wattanagitiphat, Mile Phakphum Romsaithong and Bible Wichapas Sumettikul. In just over a year since the series premiered, Satur has gone on to found his own record label, Studio On Saturn (a play on his last name). He has also carved out a successful career in music and nabbed coveted deals with luxury fashion, and beauty brands.

His latest venture combines his undeniable musical talents with his affinity for fashion: A special collaboration with Maison Valentino on the outfits he wore in the music video of his newest English track "Black Tie", which takes inspiration from the brand’s collection of the same name. The Maison’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli designed two bespoke Valentino pieces for Satur, which appear in his music video.

Subverting Societal Norms

With this track, Satur wanted to make a powerful statement. He did it by subverting the meaning of a tie; a societal tool of conformity, and signifier of restriction and rules, and transform it into an emblem of emancipation. Piccioli, who also perceives identity as an essential part of his creative process, endeavoured to reflect these values in the custom pieces he designed.

This idea of rejecting black tie as a conventional dress code and symbol of masculine power also underlines Maison Valentino’s collection—exalting humanity and individuality, reimagining and amplifying the Maison’s codes.

Art Imitates Life

The custom Maison Valentino pieces include: a black and white chevron caban with all-over feather embroidery details with Satur’s name embroidered in dark sequins on the back, paired with a pair of silk trousers; a bespoke ValenTie (a black tie) with his initials “JS” embroidered in black; and a Maison Valentino signature red silk faille gown teamed with a ton-sur-ton red tie-over silk shorts and the feathered Valentino Garavani Rockstud M-Way boots. Dancers in the music video were also dressed in Maison Valentino—oversized Valentino V-Romask from the Valentino eyewear collection.

To celebrate the launch of Maison Valentino’s fall/winter 2023 collection, Jeff Satur made his way to the Singapore last Friday evening to grace the occasion and commemorate his partnership with the brand. Guests were also treated to a medley of his songs, including "Black Tie".

While he was in Singapore, we caught up with our April 2023 BAZAAR Man. He spoke on the making of the music video, the inspiration behind his bespoke Maison Valentino pieces and more.

Tell us about the making of the music video for your new English track "Black Tie".

Everything happened so fast—from storyboarding to shooting the music video. As I recall, we did it at the beginning of this month. Throughout the entire process, we worked very closely with Maison Valentino and the music video director. We were communicating as much as possible on the message of the song to ensure that it comes through.

What was it that you wanted to convey through this song?

To be yourself so as not to be restricted by society’s rules.

Tell us more about the looks you wore in your music video. 

This is the opening scene of the music video. And you can kind of tell that almost all of the suits that I wore were from the women’s collection. I wanted to create a genderless style and show that black tie—the dress code—has no boundaries. This was also one of the biggest and hardest scenes that we shot. We had really big fans blowing in my face so that the suit would be billowing beautifully. It was hard but pretty fun.

I wore a custom Maison Valentino suit that has my name embroidered on the back in this scene. Here, I wanted to show how we live in a colourful world that slowly turns black and white as we conform to society’s expectations. This is depicted through the wing and the shadow. 

This is a dramatic scene. Everyone’s wearing black, as a form of uniform to depict that they’re not in control of themselves.

This is the rain scene, which is actually a funny story. We were almost done for the day but just as we decided to do one more scene, it started to rain. At first it was just a little, but then it got heavier and heavier. The director even asked if I wanted to stop shooting but I just carried on, so they just kept shooting as well. We didn’t even need to hire someone to make it rain specially for this scene, it just happened. But the funny thing is that the rain completely stopped after this scene was done. 

*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.