I think the main problem is that costume. Vera Wang really did a disservice. I wonder did she have no real concept? I have no idea how this fits the music. Honestly looks like his practice gear and not even nice gear. I know simplicity can look divine and say a lot but this simply says I don't care.
I think her concept was to create a costume for Nathan that would showcase his skating. Less is more, if you will. But I think there's more to that... elaborating on my previous post:
When I first saw Nathan do Nemesis (my first time hearing the song Nemesis, too), I actually thought it was some sort of jazz/blues number because of the piano riffs, and because of the rolled up sleeves/casual outfit Nathan was wearing. I thought he was trying to portray a character like some pianist in a jazz bar, perhaps a bit angsty one (yes, cliche, I know). But that's the thing about so many skating costumes. The costume is used to help with characterization, to the point where some costumes become a literal expression of music.
Then when I saw this costume, like others, I was confused - it was such a departure from the costume I'd seen before, and like others I didn't know what to make of it. But once I stopped trying to see the casual rolled jazz pianist character that I'd envisioned before when he'd done this SP earlier this season, I started looking more at the actual skating itself.And then I realized that it's not supposed to be anything specific. It's movement and interpretation of the music. And interestingly, after looking up Benjamin Clementine I learned that critics often struggle to place his music in any genre. His work is often described as avant garde or experimental.
Now that Nathan is wearing a minimalist costume with white lines on black, it's hard to define it thematically (i.e. place it in an era, or picture him as an archetype or a character or assign it a specific storyline), so weirdly enough it actually does reflect the music he's skating too by being almost open-ended and abstract and just "different". And indeed, actually kinda reflects Nathan's movements because when I first saw this program (and I think others mentioned similarly) it really does look like a different way/type of skating.
The question I would ask you is: what WOULD fit the music - what does the music tell you?
How is Nathan *supposed* to be dressed?