A$AP Rocky got a little strange with the music video for his new song “Punk Rocky,” just in time for Saturday Night Live to get even Stranger.
The rapper and musician is performing as Saturday Night Live‘s Musical Guest on January 17, with Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard hosting 2026’s first episode. A$AP performs just one day after the release of his fourth studio album, Don’t Be Dumb. Its lead single, “Punk Rocky,” is a catchy indie rock/pop punk-tinged song with lyrics like, “I thought you was the one, I guess you just the two / You want the last laugh, look, now the joke’s on you.”
The video is a surreal, self-referential tale of of a neighborhood being disrupted by Rocky partying with his own alter egos. The raucous garage jam gets the attention of a neighbor, played by none other than Wolfhard’s Stranger Things costar Winona Ryder.
Winona Ryder plays a flirty neighbor in A$AP Rocky’s “Punk Rocky” video
The actress recently wrapped up her five season, ten year run on Stranger Things, with Wolfhard as the best friend of her character’s son Will. In “Punk Rocky,” she’s shedding Joyce Byers in something of a callback to her ’90s cool girl era (while wearing some weirdly fashionable dishwashing gloves).
Watch the video for “Punk Rocky”starring Winona Ryder here.
It’s far from Winona Ryder’s first music video role. In 1990, she appeared in December 20 Musical Guest Cher‘s video for her cover of “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss),” which also featured little Christina Ricci. Ryder and Ricci played Cher’s daughters in the movie the song was from, Mermaids, and they all wear incredible matching outfits in the clip. She also starred in Soul Asylum’s “Without a Trace” video in 1993, and in 1998, Ryder sported a pixie cut to play rocker Jon Spencer’s alter ego in the video for Blues Explosion’s “Talk About the Blues.” She’s been in videos for Mojo Nixon, Roy Orbison, and The Killers.
A$AP Rocky’s new album features Danny Elfman and Tim Burton collaborations
Whether Rocky is intentionally referencing Stranger Things is unclear just yet, but he’s definitely inspired by a certain era and genre of movie that Ryder is known for. Director Tim Burton created the album art for Don’t Be Dumb, and composer Danny Elfman scored “a bunch” of the songs on the album, in addition to playing the drummer on the roof in the “Punk Rocky” video.
Elfman, Burton, and Ryder have all worked together on multiple projects including Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, and Rocky clearly took some inspiration from those movies.
“I love Tim Burton, man,” Rocky said in a November 2025 video for Vanity Fair. “I’ve been inspired by him as a child. I think what he does with claymation and how he transcended into live action movies and the parallels between ’em, and he seamlessly included it, from matte painting to German expressionism. I think he’s a f–king genius.”
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Rocky specifically called out 1993’s The Nightmare Before Christmas as one of the movies he loves, and said his favorite holiday is Halloween. Tim Burton produced the Henry Selick-directed film, while Elfman famously wrote the music and sang Jack Skellington’s songs.
“I got this on VHS. I was probably like 5 or 6 years old when I got it, and I’ve been addicted to it since,” he said of the movie. “I like cartoons because they allow you to imagine, and that’s something I held onto even in my adulthood. I prefer to do things that would consider me as a man child.” Wonder if he’s watched Nightmare Before Christmas with his three kids with partner Rihanna?
“Don’t Be Dumb” is Rocky’s first album since 2018, and it certainly sounds like it’s worth the wait. Catch his debut SNL performance on January 17.
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