Tinashe hits the desert in the stunning video for “Bated Breath,” a track off her debut album Aquarius. The nearly nine-minute clip was shot in the Mojave Desert with videographer Stephen Garnett.

“It was pretty DIY,” Tinashe told W Magazine of the five-hour shoot. “It wasn’t a big production or anything.”

The label didn’t finance the video, so she decided to take things into her own hands. “I don’t like to sit around waiting for people to do things for me,” said Tinashe. “So when I know my label’s not going to produce music videos, I’ll either make them myself or I’ll find people that I think are cool and reach out to them directly. I’m like, ‘Fuck it. I’ll just do it.'”

She forwent the big-budget luxuries and roughed it. “You have to fix your own hair, there’s no catering, and there’s no bathroom, but the challenges became benefits in this case, because they made the video a whole lot grungier. I was incredibly dirty, really dragging myself through the dirt. And it wasn’t like I could shower before I had to drive home.”

Tinashe will join Iggy Azalea on her “Great Escape Tour,” which kicks off April 14 in Fresno, Calif.