Amandla Stenberg Breaks Down The Importance Of King Princess's 'Talia' Video

Since debuting earlier this year with her Harry Styles-approved ode to complex (and at one time, forbidden) love, "1950," King Princess has kept the music coming. In June, she released the Make My Bed EP, featuring the heartbreaker "Talia," and matched the song's emotional depths with video starring herself as well as a sex doll.


Although it's the way she uses the doll in the clip that's notable — and it's not the way a sex doll is usually used. That's what makes it a preference of King Princess collaborator Amandla Stenberg, who worked on the video as editor and colorist.


On the 2018 VMA red carpet Monday night (August 20), Stenberg broke down what makes the video so special.


"I think the concept is really cool, just being to be able to see a gay relationship portrayed in a music video," Stenberg told MTV News, yet specifically by way the sort of ironic, self-aware idea of a sex doll, something that's usually discarded and abused by men."


however you get to be able to see a gay girl treating it with love and respect," she continued. "I think that's really funny and cool."


Stenberg stars in the upcoming film adaptation of The Hate U Give, a YA novel that tackles police brutality and racial profiling. She walked the VMAs red carpet with King Princess by her side.


For King Princess's fans, songs like "Talia" and "1950" reveal concealed pockets of hope among the agitation and fear of being a young queer person in the world today.


"Now all these folks are answering to it, and I get these astonishing messages from kids who were very similar to me a couple of years back King Princess told MTV News earlier this year. "And they're talking about how they're heartbroken and sad, and ["1950"] is a beacon of hope."


Watch MTV News's interview with King Princess below.