The band is debuting their newest album titled single, "Midnight Memories" and boy is this song 180 degrees different from their last single. Their last single was a Mumford and Suns/Lumineers influenced blend of folk and pop... This one sounds like Def Leoppards "Pour Some Sugar on Me." You can tell that the boy band is trying to experiment away from their usual pop-dance heavy tracks. In fact, they don't even sound like the same band after listening to their first single, "What Makes You Beautiful." Given their new sound, I expected them to have a music video where all of them are clad in black leather debuting a new look and their cool "rockstar" life style. This music video kind of touched upon my image in my mind, but took it in a different direction...
The video, directed by the fabulous Ben Winston who did their last two music videos, "Best Song Ever" and "Story of My Life", begins at a house party. The boys of One Direction are there, except they're not entirely enjoying their time. Each of the boys are caught up in a scene that I feel like is a scenario we've all been through at a party. Realizing that Harry Styles was missing, my first thoughts of where this music video could go revolved around Styles bursting into the party singing the beginning lyrics of their song, which will then lead to the party suddenly picking up at the tune of Midnight Memories (cliche, right?). People will start dancing, and crazy party antics will take part. Ah, but of course, this didn't happen (though in a way I sort of wish it did), probably because they still have a very young fanbase, and management didn't want to promote partying.
One of my favorite scenes of course, is the scene where the boys take a boat down the river and admire all of the London landmarks (Big Ben, The London Bridge, The London Eye). As a huge appreciation for London culture, I nearly squealed at all the beautiful sights in the background. It's in this moment where the scene just really fits the song-- a cheesy "living young and wild and free" popped up in my head as I watched them lift their arms wide open with St Paul's Cathedral in the background (check out the first gif in this post.)
When you think in the context of the song, you assume Midnight Memories is going to be about crazy rockstar tour antics and heavy partying. But this video takes that and morphs it in a way to create a different (appropriate) midnight memories. Clearly their lifestyle is nothing close to normal and obviously, normal boys probably wouldn't be able to get away with stealing a boat and then climbing up on the London Bridge at night. They are living at the top of the world, yet are still humbled by the beauty of something as simple as London's architecture. Plus, you can't help but smile at the outrageous sillyness of these boys.
And of course, watching the video makes you realize that yeah, there are other things to do than drink your life away at a house party and make useless small talk with people you don't know. Why spend your time doing something you don't like? You create your own memories, and you can do anything you want.
With that said, it's a great music video and a nice shift from their Story of My Life music video (which was on the serious side.) It matches well with the song, and Winston does a brilliant job capturing the boys in different lights. Bravo!
BRB, watching it again. :D
*note* gifs borrowed from Tumblr
No comments:
Post a Comment