Cardi B's new music video is the second most expensive from the last 20 years.
Music videos aren't what they used to be, but that isn't going to stop Cardi B. Due to the general demise of MTV and the skyrocketing of streaming songs, artists have generally decided that accompanying music videos aren't nearly as necessary.
With less pressure to sell singles, those songs don't need massively expensive music videos to help generate interest and push those sales. Despite all of that, it hasn't stopped Cardi B from pulling out all of the stops for the video alongside her new single 'Bongos', which sees her reunite with her 'WAP' hitmaker Megan Thee Stallion.
In a recent interview with iHeartRadio, Cardi B revealed that the 'Bongos' video cost a whopping $2 million to produce, and even goes on to explain why it cost so much:
"I really wanted to do this in a different country, but we couldn't because it was hurricane season. So we did it in Malibu, and Malibu always has paparazzi and everything so we hired about 20 guards, 15 guards just guarding the whole area.
"And we did geo-fencing (which detects when someone in the area is posting to social media), and stuff like that costs a lot of money."
You can check out the finished product right here:
And in case you're interested, here is the rundown of the most expensive music videos of all time:
Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson - 'Scream' - $7 million
Madonna - 'Die Another Day' - $6.1 million
Madonna - 'Express Yourself' - $5 million
Madonna - 'Bedtime Story' - $5 million
Guns N Roses - 'Estranged' - $5 million
Michael Jackson - 'Black or White' - $4 million
Gwen Stefani - 'Make Me Like You' - $4 million
Aqua - 'Cartoon Heroes' - $3.5 million
Limp Bizkit - 'Rollin''- $3 million
Puff Daddy - 'Victory' - $2.7 million
MC Hammer - '2 Legit 2 Quit' - $2.5 million
Mariah Carey - 'Heartbreaker' - $2.5 million
Janet Jackson - 'Doesn't Really Matter' - $2.5 million
Busta Rhymes - 'What's It Gonna Be?' - $2.4 million
Celine Dion - 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now' - $2.3 million
Michael Jackson - 'Bad' - $2.2 million
Backstreet Boys - 'Larger Than Life' - $2.1 million