 Aguilera revealed that some of the inspiration for the music video came from her work in Burlesque , stating , " There is dancing , and I learned so much also as a dancer doing the ' Burlesque ' film , moving my body in ways that were , I feel , never as precise before [ ... ] I really fell in love and I adapted that in the dancing for ' Not Myself Tonight , ' but it was really , really fun to take what I learned from the movie . " She further elaborated , " A lot of that [ video ] was based on my visual inspiration . I took Hype into my salon area in my home ... it 's like my creative den . He took the ideas and then took other ideas and related to the ideas , and it just was really iconic imagery . " The video itself features a strong sexual theme with scenes of S & M and bondage , as well as scenes in a church and several prestigious @-@ looking buildings . Aguilera wore several hairstyles and outfits , including many which were dominatrix @-@ style . 
