'Office Space'-like dance video was all about having fun. By Gil Kaufman, with additional reporting by Akshay Bhansali
Avicii Photo: Getty Images
When it came to making the VMA-nominated
clip for his breakthrough hit "Le7els," Swedish DJ/producer Avicii just wanted to have some fun.
Competing against clips by Skrillex, Duck Sauce, Calvin Harris and Martin Solveig in the Best Electronic Dance Music Video category at the September 6 2012 Video Music Awards, Avicii's clip is definitely one of the most irreverent of the bunch.
"It turned out really well from first getting the treatment from you ... I really liked how it turned out," the shy party-starter told MTV News about when he received the concept for the video from manager/executive producer Ash Pournouri. "It really captured what they were gonna do with it."
What director Petro (Ellie Goulding, Girls Aloud, TV On the Radio) did with it was create a fun "Office Space"-like mini-movie that goes in directions you would never imagine.
It starts off as the tale of a bored office worker toiling in gray, paper-pushing drudgery, then quickly escalates into a torso-jerking cubicle rebellion as the beat takes over. Sick of working for the man, the clip's hero pops and locks his way across his officemates' desks before getting tasered into an alternate universe where he is transformed into Sisyphus pushing that big rock up a mountain to the strains of the song's signature Etta James sample.
It's unclear why that flower grows out of his mouth as he lays in a hospital bed, but its strange magic infects the orderlies, who join him in surrendering to the tune's rubbery groove.
"I think that overall it's not taking anything too seriously, that's what I like about the video," said Pournouri. "That's how we work. It follows that line of doing everything for fun."
The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards will air live from Staples Center in Los Angeles on Thursday, September 6, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Head to VMA.MTV.com now through August 24 to vote for your favorites, or text BNA to 22444 (message and data rates may apply) to vote for Best New Artist all the way through the show!
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