Mexican producer Mateo González, better known as Bufi, just dropped the video for his latest single “Apocalipstick.” The track is an audiovisual collaboration between Bufi, Franka Polari (Mother of Mexico City’s House of Apocalipstick) and award-winning cinematographer Rodrigo Ruiz Patterson. This fiery techno track is also the first single off Bufi’s forthcoming sophomore album Revelación, and it’s an excellent first taste of the album’s raw, club-ready energy.
“Apocalipstick” is one of Bufi’s sleekest and darkest dance floor efforts to date. The song bubbles with a restrained energy and coolness that would set off your favorite underground club night. Bufi has crafted a truly engrossing song, at times sounding like a super stylized chase sequence straight out of Run Lola Run. Polari’s vocals float hypnotically over the pulsing beat, only adding to the song’s inescapable, ultra-chic style as he repeatedly chants “En la pista,” urging you to strut. A massive crew of vogue dancers kill it in the video, but the track never strays into cliché ballroom appropriation, embracing its potential as a new queer anthem free of exploitation.
Bufi’s team was smart to use Polari’s connections in Mexico’s burgeoning ballroom world to enlist some top-notch dancers from the scene. Featuring members of the Houses of Drag, Tepayotl, and Apocalipstick – the very house from which the track gets its name – the video features more than waves of attitude and steely stares. Patterson shot the video as a series of backlit sequences where dancers, drag queens, and club kids serve their best runway walks and poses in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of CDMX. These dancers came to slay, delivering their best high kicks and New Way Vogue hand performances. There are more dips and death drops here than you can possibly scream “Yaaaas!” at.
The video was shot on location while Mexico’s coast was being blasted by a tropical storm, which only added to the dynamic atmosphere of the shoot. As Polari puts it, “I love the part that was filmed during that terrible tropical storm. I love hurricanes. The energy was super intense, plus we were afraid the shoot would get shut down.” It’s no surprise these high stakes and the wealth of talent resulted in a perfect storm of fierceness.