American singer songwriter Jenny Lewis and rapper Serengeti continue to collaborate during quarantine with “Idiot.” The new single follows the duo’s release of previous tracks “Unblu” and “Vroom Vroom.”

The song adopts an adroit but shorthand style. It’s a short, contained track, but it boasts a smooth, subtle groove and voluble lyrics. Lewis supplies emphatic and chagrin phrases between Serengeti’s playfully adept verses. The music video for the song was shot and directed by Lewis herself. It generates a reaction through shock value and its beguiling simplicity. In it, Lewis can be seen under a multitude of camera filters sporting skimpy swimwear. It has a campy appeal to it because it was seemingly shot on her personal phone, a slight critique to how people manifest different senses of self through filters and social media.

Lewis, via a press release, commented, “These songs with Dave (Serengeti) start with a late night feeling and access to — because of where we’re at right now in the world — whatever you have in your house that makes a sound. Or, I don’t have Pro Tools, so I use my phone, and I’ve got a little drum machine and a drum kit. Sometimes when I’m doing my vocals, Forensic Files is on in the background. That makes it onto the track because that’s just what’s happening.”

Serengeti adds in a press statement, “Jenny sent the beat and it’s always a great joy, it’s fun to do. I wrote a small rap about a man who gets knocked out by his mom’s boyfriend and then reconnects with his high school girlfriend.”

For more on Jenny Lewis, check out her reunion with Blake Sennett of Rilo Kiley.

photo credit: Stephen Hoffmeister