Jump between a dream and reality in Major Lazer's new music video
A boys aspirations to hip-hop stardom help him handle real life struggles.
Major Lazer's latest EP, Know No Better, came out last month, surprising fans two years after the electronic hip-hop group's previous LP, Peace is the Mission. The original music video for the track — which features Travis Scott, Camila Cabello and Quavo on vocals — has a video game-style first person perspective that shows the unseen protagonist handing out flyers with the title printed on it to various strangers on the street. Now, though, the group has a totally new video for the track. While watching, you can click an icon to switch between two perspectives of a boy's life. It's fun to change viewpoints between his ordinary life and his aspirational dreams, and the story the video tells is both emotional and adorable.
Toggling back and forth gives you a sort of directorial command; you can tell the story in many different ways depending on which beats you choose to view as a dream or in reality. Clicking back and forth shows a young man with aspirations to hip-hop stardom. The dream boy has chauffeurs, the latest fashionable clothes, and a couple of live-in backup dancers, while the actual youngster rides to a public school with his mom and has to deal with a sullen sister and bullying classmates. In each version, however, his food choices are the same: pop-tarts for breakfast and a taco joint for lunch.
The video was put together with the help of interactive video company Eko, who worked with the video's director, Philip Andelman, to mesh the two storylines. "Major Lazer's creative execution of this parallel story allows audiences to simultaneously step into the shoes of this young dreamer's reality and his dreams themselves, experiencing his aspirations coming true with him in the moment," said executive producer Lihu Roter in a statement. "It's a lean forward experience that's highly engaging, and indicative of what I believe mainstream storytelling will look like in the years to come."