Behind-the-Scenes on NF's "MOTTO" Video
2023 saw the release of NF’s fifth studio album, HOPE. Part of the leadup to that album included the “MOTTO” music video, which features the rapper crashing an awards show. The video, shot in Nashville in February 2023, required a lot of extras, so NF and his team put out a call for fans to be in it. One of the fans who answered that call was friend-of-the-zine Alexander Bitterling.
This article originally appeared in Midnight Donuts #4 from July 2024. Want to read the most recent edition of Midnight Donuts? You can do so here!
Midnight Donuts: How did you get involved in the “MOTTO” music video?
Alexander Bitterling: I saw [NF’s] Instagram post about needing extras in Nashville for a music video shoot, and I was like, “this is my chance!” Because I would love to look into what NF's creative mind is and be a part of it, because I'm a huge fan.
So, I filled out the form—you had to add a photo of yourself. It asked if you had a black suit, black pants, and very specific things. You had to show pictures of the outfit.
Then there was an NDA … that you had to fill out.
Midnight Donuts: So, you filled out the NDA before you even got accepted to be part of it?
Alexander Bitterling: I think it said that there would be one.
It [lasted] until January something [2024]. There was also a bunch of information about no phones, no recording devices. You couldn't post about it, anything like that either. It was wild.
I didn't think I would be picked, but they picked a lot of people, I guess.
Midnight Donuts: How many people would you say were there altogether?
Alexander Bitterling: I don't know… however many people the [Fisher Center for the Performing Arts] at Belmont [University] holds. It was basically full.
It was a lot of people. And it was cool to see all kinds of people were there. At a lot of CHH concerts, it feels like you could pick out the type of people who would be there. But in the NF video, it was like—I mean, there were 70-year-old men there, there were people with blue hair, there were people like me. There was everybody there. It was cool to see—all these people were big fans and wanted to be a part of it.
Midnight Donuts: If you had to say there was one thing that you learned from being a part of this that you wouldn't have otherwise known, what would it be?
Alexander Bitterling: I'm not sure that I didn't already know it, but just realizing how real it was, how picky NF is. It was cool to see an artist care so much about tiny details. [It was cool] to see him fully invested in the concept, from the beat to the song lyrics to the way it rolled out to the music video. Every single part of it was his brand.
Midnight Donuts: Yeah, I feel like sometimes you get the sense that the artist is just kind of an actor in the video, and it's not necessarily their vision.
Alexander Bitterling: I would say there were two times where NF did not get his way—where the director [Patrick Tohill] was like, “listen, Nate, try it my way. Let's see how it goes.” And it was not easy to convince him, but he tried it, and he ended up liking their way better.
One was funny… he had a pair of Adidas on, and they had tried to tape the logo that was on the sole of the shoe. … He watched it back, and he was like, “you can see the tape.” They were like, “you can barely see it.”... So they filmed it without the tape, and he was like, “oh, okay, you can't even see it.”
Midnight Donuts: I guess you got to hear the song early?
Alexander Bitterling: No. [Laughs] They played out loud, but he only filmed very select portions when we were there. … There were two groups of extras. The first day was the red carpet scenes, … then we were just the part where he's eating the popcorn and fights the security guards, things like that.
So we just heard the chorus over and over again, and only like 20 seconds of it. [Laughs]
I think the best part was not even being in the video, the best part was seeing him be creative, and still several albums in, having that passion for every part of it.
