Premiere: "Fortuno’s ‘Wanna Believe U’ Music Video Explores Trust and Fragmented Connections
FOR THEIR LATEST MUSIC VIDEO, “WANNA BELIEVE U” - Fortuno has taken a thoughtful and creative approach, resulting in a captivating visual narrative that dives deep into the themes of trust and heartbreak. Directed by the talented Ja’Lisa Arnold, the video is a visually stunning exploration of relationships, inspired by both the song’s emotive content and the cover art from the EP Milestones, Changes. The band’s frontman, Tobi Omola, along with Arnold, brought their personal experiences and a collaborative spirit into crafting the piece, reflecting the often tumultuous and fragile nature of friendships and connections.
The music video unfolds through a unique grid concept, which, as Arnold explains, gradually builds from a single black screen into a fragmented collage of moments, echoing the breakdown of a relationship. Drawing from experiences of lost friendships and the inevitable pain of growing apart, Fortuno and Arnold managed to translate this emotional intensity into powerful imagery that resonates with viewers.
In our interview, Omola and Arnold discuss the inspiration behind “Wanna Believe U”, their collaborative dynamic, and the technical and emotional challenges they faced during production. Their dedication to visually capturing the song’s themes of trust, disconnection, and vulnerability not only reflects their creative ambition but also sets the stage for Fortuno’s upcoming projects and evolving artistry.
LUNA: Can you share the inspiration behind "Wanna Believe U" and what the song means to you personally?
OMOLA: The song sounds like it’s about troubles in a romantic relationship but it was actually written in response to an argument over the phone with a close, platonic friend. I felt like they just couldn’t be happy for me.
LUNA: The music video for "Wanna Believe U" is visually striking. What was the creative vision behind it, and how does it tie into the themes of the song?
ARNOLD: The grid concept was inspired by the song’s cover art from the EP ‘Milestones, Changes’. If you look it up, the cover is a compilation of images, textures, and colors laid out on a grid. Using that, we envisioned the entirety of the video living on a grid with moving images flowing in and out of it. Once we established the concept, we started developing the story and brainstorming ways to utilize the grid to express connection and disconnection in relation to the main theme of the song — a relationship falling apart.
We were strategic about it. We wanted the state of their relationship to be reflected in the camerawork, the pacing, and the number of images on the grid. For instance, we knew we wanted the video to begin on a black screen and build the grid, and their relationship, square by square. We also knew that by the end of the video, we wanted the pacing to kick up with a clutter of images spread over the grid showing the growing fragmentation of this relationship that’s falling apart before our eyes.
LUNA: How did you approach collaborating with the director and creative team for the music video?
OMOLA: Ja’Lisa and I have been close friends for years. We interned at Capitol Records back in college and have always found ways to collaborate on art projects of some sort. She is also an incredible photographer!!! She shot the stills for our upcoming project.
We shot a video together for “Scared” back in 2020 but we never fully felt comfortable with where it ended up, but we might revisit it. I rewatched it recently and love it. It makes me so nostalgic.
ARNOLD: It was super collaborative. It took a community to bring this together. You can see it in the credits. Tobi and I go way back so there was a lot of mutual trust given to make this. I’m also pretty humble when it comes to this stuff. You have to be in filmmaking because it’s such a collaborative art form. I always want my crew to be better than me in what their skill sets are. As a result, I always learn so much from them by the end of it.
Director Ja’Lisa Arnold
LUNA: There seems to be a sense of emotional intensity in both the song and video. How did you translate that emotion visually, and what were some key moments during filming that stood out to you?
ARNOLD: While constructing the story, I found out the lyrics were written in mourning of the lead singer’s fallout with a close friend. I thought that added so much depth and nuance. This song about pain and heartbreak became even more devastatingly beautiful.
It also reiterated a big theme we (director, band, and our community) were experiencing in our lives at the time. As a group of twenty-somethings floating through life and relationships, we were all going through heartbreak in some form or another. A few were with romantic partners but a lot of those heartbreaks we experienced were from completely platonic relationships — close friends, family members, mentors, and all other loved ones. Some of these relationships changed us more than others, but every single break-up was brutal and heart-wrenching, nonetheless. We took a lot of those experiences and translated them into the story we have. The song is short so we knew the imagery had to be clear and strong but still nuanced.
We shot a bedroom scene on a hi8 camcorder which we were planning to place at the end of the video but it didn’t make the cut. It was written to be this intimate moment of the first time they said I love you to each other. That scene stood out because once you add dialogue, it becomes a short film in a way. I had to have the actors pull from their own lives and relationships to connect with this scene more than any other.
LUNA: The song touches on themes of trust and vulnerability. How do these themes relate to your personal experiences, and how do they resonate with your audience?
OMOLA: I tend to write a lot about trust and vulnerability. Songwriting feels like a sacred space for me to let it all out. My private turned public journal, haha. Wanna Believe U is specifically about falling out with a friend. Falling out with friends really stinks! I think everyone can relate to that.
LUNA: What was the most challenging aspect of creating the video for "Wanna Believe U," and how did you overcome those challenges during the creative process?
ARNOLD: The edit. Without a doubt. Naturally, we had a lot of issues during the shoot. Most were normal shoot stuff that happens but the biggest setback was when the monitor stopped working during the car shoot day. Because of that, we had to control the 360 camera rig remotely with no reference to what the frame looked like, what was in focus, or the speed of the rig. We pulled through but it left a lot of limitations on what we could use in the edit. It took months and a lot of sleepless nights to get the edit right. I don’t even want to tell you the number of versions we had haha, but that car section was for sure the hardest to crack.
I think people will watch it and think everything was so meticulously planned, but there was a lot of discovery in the edit. Luckily, we had the best editors who found a way to put the pieces together. Shout out to Anders Mills and Jacques Simon! What helped us was building a language for the edit early on. Each section had its own flow and we had to figure out where it landed under our theme of connection.
LUNA: As an artist, how do you balance creating music that's deeply personal with visuals that can appeal to a broader audience? Do you think the video captures this balance?
OMOLA: I’ve been working in the video production space for the past three years and it has really shown me the importance of having striking visuals as an artist. It’s an opportunity for artists to reimagine a song visually, expand creative expression, enhance emotional impact, and hopefully reach a larger audience. The video certainly captures this balance! Kudos to the best team.
LUNA: Looking forward, how does "Wanna Believe U" fit into your overall vision as an artist, and how does it set the tone for any future releases or upcoming projects?
OMOLA: The “Wanna Believe U” video really captures our artistic goal of telling evocative and intimate stories..stories that you want to come back to and learn more about. I’m biased but a lot of our songs, especially our newer songs, have good replay value and a sort of cinematic quality to them and this video really sets the tone for the quality and care put into our upcoming releases + visuals. We’re dropping a new single on November 8th!
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