“The thing that’s interesting with hypnosis is that people can’t really lie,” says Paris-based electro-pop artist Yanis of the uninhibited state he and fellow participants underwent for the video to “Hypnotized,” his debut single. “You don’t really have complete control, and I was searching for an experience that would bring that.”

The undulating track was inspired by watching David Lynch’s filmography, and subsequently feeling “hypnotized, as though I’m travelling into his movies,” says the singer, who worked with the suitably named Julian Hypnotiseur and director Ludovic Zuili to gather a troupe of “receptive” participants – including Charlotte Le Bon, who starred in 2014‘s Yves Saint Laurent biopic – before embarking on a mission to break down barriers of inhibition. 

“It’s half dream, half reality,” Yanis says of the oft-misunderstood practice. “I’ve learned that it’s not magic or mystic, it’s just about a connection with someone and I was really interested in that connection.

Yanis plays with Joe Bel at The Pan Piper, Paris, on June 15.