Nudity quickly returns in the video, with Wright standing in the tub covered in red liquid the color of director Stanley Kubrick's gushing bloodbath in The Shining. She smacks her bloody rear again and gives the camera a full-frontal view of her shaven privates. Wright, with a strong resemblance to her older sister, erotically rubs herself all over -- face, lips, chest. Symbolically, the blood is almost certainly menstrual if the bathtub serves as a sort of surrogate womb. Birth is a messy business.

Following more shots of Badu and the Flaming Lips, the clip ends with Wright smearing herself in a white liquid. The gooey fluid looks like cake icing, but given the sexiness of the video, semen jumps to mind right away. Wright smiles and licks the runny drips in full close-up, flaunting her nipples and genitalia. And the song ends.

What's it all mean? First-time sex? Birth? As is so often the case with clips like this, it could signify anything you want it to. Recall the hypothesizing behind director Romain Gavras' "Born Free" video for British singer M.I.A. two years back. The clip culminated in the violent genocide of redheaded citizens, rounded up military-state style, and was roundly criticized in some circles for its heavy-handed treatment. Music videos are never a respected forum for artistic statements that resonate deeply.

In 2010's "Window Seat" clip, Badu stripped on camera, walking through her hometown Dallas near the intersection where President John F. Kennedy was killed in 1963, and was faux assassinated as her voice-over droned on about groupthink. The concept was wholly unrelated to the song, but "Window Seat" was still clever. With its eclectic abstractions, Badu's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" isn't likely to find as much support.

The song itself, more than 10 minutes in its album version, is quite beautiful, with an ambient soundscape that recalls the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. But the video feels like another stab at the notoriety of "Window Seat," as well as pandering to fans weaned on the histrionics of M.I.A., Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj.

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" isn't edgy once you figure out that it's Wright, not Badu, doing the heavy lifting. The Flaming Lips have done nakedness before, in NSFW videos for this year's "Girl, You're So Weird" and 2009's "Watching the Planets." But at the end of the latter video, full of stark-naked bicyclists, lead singer Wayne Coyne doesn't fake it -- he actually strips.

Miles Marshall Lewis is an author who blogs at Furthermucker.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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