Kid Cudi uses the video for his MGMT and Ratatat collabo "Pursuit Of Happiness" to dip into the same ennui that his mentor Kanye West explored in his Spike Jonze short film, "We Were Once A Fairytale." Once again we're at a posh party with beautiful women, flowing champagne and once again the action culminates with a moment of self-realization in the bathroom [ed: Come on, don't we all do our best thinking in the can?]. Cudi's conundrum is clear: He's hanging with the pretty people, with the celebs —FYI: Actor Josh Hartnett cameos in co-produced the video — and on the surface he's one of them, but there's also a sense of discord, an alienation made clear visually by having him move at normal speed while everything else is a listless step or two behind reality (and, in a behind-the-scenes tidbit that reinforces that duality: Although a Hollywood celeb like Hartnett produced, the director is Brody Baker, best known for an Animal Collective video). He rebels and laughs it off with his likeminded labelmate Drake, dousing the crowd with their own champagne, but eventually he's forced to look in the mirror and have his own private "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" moment. --> watch "Pursuit Of Happiness" (VEVO Premiere)
[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"99","attributes":{"class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image","height":"265","width":"470","style":""}}]]
Kid Cudi f/ MGMT + Ratatat
"Pursuit Of Happiness" (G.O.O.D./Universal Motown)
Brody Baker, director | Josh Hartnett + Alex Orlovsky, producer | Knowmore, production co | Luke McCoubrey, DP | Joseph Krings, editor
Comments