Ava Max Breaks Down The Empowering Message Behind Her Superhero-Inspired 'Torn' Video

As soon as Ava Max showed up to the VMAs last night dressed as a caped superhero, it was actually a sneaky tease for her next big release: the video for "Torn," which arrived Tuesday (August 27) in all its dazzling, high-flying glory.


The new visual was directed by Joseph Kahn, the mastermind in back of such pop classics as Britney Spears's "Toxic" and Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." For "Torn," Kahn and Max teamed up to take the disco-tinged single's comic book-inspired lyric video and kick it up a number of notches. Max stars as "a woman scorned," who, in the video's first chapter, goes undercover as a hero (with that now-iconic haircut, obviously) who kicks the shit out of some masked villains — including her shady boyfriend.


Max's secret identity becomes her means of enduring a venomous relationship, and right after a betrayal knocks her off her feet, she finally musters up the power to fight back. It all comes to a head with a stormy showdown in the sky that, as she told MTV News, resembles "the woman finding her strength in a relationship that's unhealthy [and doing] what's best for her."


"I saw the visuals If I was recording the song," Max recalled of the vid's intricate concept. "I knew exactly what I wanted — in my head, I saw myself flying airborne to the song, saving the day.


"I remember sitting down with [Kahn], and I asked him if he might should make me a superhero," she continued. "I was half kidding; I wasn't, like, 100 percent serious, because a superhero is really crazy and hard to do. And he looked at me and he goes, 'I've routinely wanted to do that.'"


Together, they shot the "Torn" video over the summer throughout four long days in Milan, Italy. Max mentioned she didn't sleep for three days, nevertheless it was all worth it to fulfill her dream of becoming "an actual avenger" who, impressively, did all her own stunts.


"I did have a stuntwoman there, however I think the only thing she did was a backflip," she mentioned. "Everything else, all of the choreographed fighting scenes, I did. I woke up at six in the morning and learned them all before the shooting started at 11 a.M."


That sort of all-consuming dedication is also the attitude Max is bringing to her upcoming debut album, which she promises is in the works. Not that her fans are going starved — in early July, she released a remix of the anthemic "So Am I" featuring K-Pop superstars NCT 127, and later that month, she dropped a double dose of new tunes, "Freaking Me Out" and "Blood, Sweat & Tears."


"I have to mention, we have a lot of songs and right now it's a matter of putting them into an album and putting it out," the 25-year-old mentioned of the upcoming project. "So I think for me personally, I'm in no rush and I just hope to give people wonderful songs to jam to and basically get empowered to.


"The entire album is very, very empowering," she continued. "Aside from some wild cards like 'Freaking Me Out' and this other song that I can't name although, it's mainly super powerful and they're very anthemic songs."


In the meantime, the "Torn" video is conveniently Max's biggest and boldest move however — as well as a celebration of sorts right following the singer just slayed her first-ever VMA appearance. Relive her red carpet pre-show efficiency of "Sweet Although Psycho" and "Torn" below (stunts and ass-kicking not included).