Priscilla Block’s Bold New Era Begins With ‘Hey Jack’ [Interview]
Priscilla Block fans are beginning to anticipate what she might wear as much as they look forward to hearing what she'll sing. To that end, the music video for "Hey Jack" is very satisfying.
The power ballad is new for her in that she's literally singing to an object (a bottle of whiskey) instead of a person or group of people (her bottle is a stand-in for any vice called on to battle heartbreak, she says). Randy Montana, Jeremy Stover and Dave Cohen helped with lyrics that Block feels represent the start of a new era.
"But it still felt like me," she says, adding how the song feels like a natural extension of her duet with Justin Moore. "I’m still gonna be a what-you-see-is-what-you-get girl and you're still gonna see that in my videos, but we’re evolving with the music."
"I sent Cover Girl down south / Crying my eyes out / Finally putting on the boots," she sings to open the first verse. "Scissors cut the jeans off / Walmart had press-ons / Walgreens covered the roots."
It hardly gets more what-you-see-is-what-you-get than that.
Visually, her style is a bit bolder in the video. A chocolate-brown, satin bed sheet covers Block's black, lace camisole for most of the 3-minute-long clip. Jewels hang from her neck as she glides around the bedroom, glancing over a pile of red roses set around several burning candles.
You'd forgive her — or anyone — for feeling anxious about filming a video as sensual as this. Save your apologies.
“I own who I am and it’s a big part of my artistry," she says. "I wrote a song called ‘Thick Thighs’ and there’s something in this video and even in this song, it’s about getting your power back.”
As if to double down, Block repurposed the bed sheet for her outfit at this month's BMI Country Awards in Nashville, telling Taste of Country that embroidering "Hey Jack" on the back was a last-minute, "Why not?" kind of idea. For several days afterward, her Instagram was filled with images from the night and music video. During a 15-minute-long chat with ToC, she'd light up talking about how she designed her last two red carpet looks as much as she does teasing her next album and 2024 headlining tour.
"I used to only ever wear black and clothes that were too big because I didn’t love my body," the "You, Me & Whiskey" hitmaker admits. "I’ve gotten a lot more confident as the years have gone on, and it’s been fun for me to be bold with my outfits, because my personality is really bold."
Musically, Block tells Taste of Country she hopes the songs she's cutting for 2024 are bold, too, but her new chic style isn't part of some rebrand. A micro-second clip at the start of the "Hey Jack" video ties everything together. Warning tape across her upper body nods to the safety vest she wore to the CMA Awards — "Shockingly enough, you can go purchase traffic cones at Home Depot," she shares — which nods to her fans wearing similar vests to shows after noticing she put one on at random one night in 2023.
Then — as if to underline her point about 2024 Priscilla being the same woman, elevated — the Raleigh, N.C., native had removed her nail polish and slipped into a more seasonal outfit within days of going full glam.
