Produced by UK band Rudimental in collaboration with musician Elderbrook, “Something About You” is a single included in Rudimental’s recently released EP Distinction.
“I’ve always loved the music and energy that Rudimental put out,” said Elderbrook. “This song wouldn’t have happened without them and has been amazing collaborating with them!”
“We have been big fans of Elderbrook’s vocals and production over the past few years so it’s amazing to finally come together on this track,” added Rudimental.
Directed by Luke Davies, the music video for “Something About You” starring actor Michael Socha features an all-male self-help group. Exploring the notion of how men find it difficult to show emotion and speak about mental health, the self-help group overcomes by dancing and in doing so, learns of the value and joy that comes with expression and opening up to vulnerability.
Setting Mind interviews Davis and choreographer Jacob Holme to further understand the message.
Setting Mind: How did you end up directing the music video “Something About You” for Elderbrook and Rudimental?
Luke Davis: So I was actually on holiday with my girlfriend when the track came in for me to pitch on. I wasn’t going to write on it because I was only away for five days and I wanted to just relax but I just I loved the track. The brief for the music video is that you get a little bit from the artist or the label explaining what they wanted and because it was a summer track, they asked that they wanted something a bit uplifting and quite happy and it was weird because when you listen to the song, even though it is a summery track, there is a kind of sadness and melancholiness to it.
I had this idea after listening to it for about an hour and 45 minutes about, I mean it came quite quickly doing the self-help group and I just thought, as must as I want to write this idea, the chances of them going for something that just feels a little bit kinda, it should be uplifting, but the premise sounded kinda depressing.
A bunch of guys at a self-help group, it just didn’t really sound like that they wanted. But I said fuck it and wrote it. And they were really interested and then I had a couple calls with the commissioner and the artist and then they had the courage to go with it and that’s how it ended up happening.
What was the most challenging thing about working on the music video?
Davis: Well, it was two things. The hardest thing was that we shoot on the hottest day of the year in the United Kingdom so it was 38 degrees. We were all inside and people were dancing so that in itself was just a fucking nightmare but the fact that the whole makeup team and the whole of production, we had maybe about for every dancer, one or two fanners for in-between takes trying to desweat people and make sure no one was ridiculously sweaty on camera so that a bullate for everyone and just fucking tough.
Also, getting the choreography right because you have such a clear idea of what you want and as a director who doesn’t know anything about dance, its very hard to put into words what you want so you find references and I had countless meetings with my choreographer but I also said ‘look, a lot of the actors aren’t dancer so the dance has to be what I imagine but it also has to be simple enough so that these guys can learn it in two to three hours’.
So I guess getting that right was really difficult but we had such an amazing choreographer, he got it exactly how I wanted and also it was so good at teaching it and making sure everyone was never really flustered and always knew what to do. So that was a big challenge but the choreographer and the whole production team really rose up to the occasion.
Jacob Holme: The biggest challenge for me personally was not getting carried away in the creative process. Dance being my background it’s easy to get carried away with the movement and lose the story and message. Finding a simple balance.
What was your favourite part about working on the music video?
Davis: The whole day, without a doubt, was one of the most satisfying and enjoyable shoots of my life. I gotta admit, all the dancing was so much fun to do, especially the slow dancing on rehearsal day, because the actors had no idea it was going to be a part of the music video.
They knew there was going to be line dancing but I hadn’t told them they were going to be doing slow dancing. And these guys have only met each other for only a couple hours ago. I was like ‘right, ok so everyone stand in the middle of the room, here are your partners, now I just want you to sort of hug each other’. They hugged each other for about a minute. And once we had gone that and got the awkwardness out of the way, we just started slow dancing for a bit.
And what was weird is that I thought that people might be funky or not take it too seriously and be embarrassed but straight away, people were just so emotional leaning into each other and it was quite romantic and funny seeing a bunch of blokes slow dancing.
Holme: Contradicting my first answer, getting carried away in the creative process as long as you know what to chop off and when. This is my favourite part, the growth of it in the development process. Also when the cast started to get it and when it started to come together, that’s a buzz.
What is the message?
Davis: I know what it meant for me. This is an interesting one because it’s meant to be open enough that anyone can bring their own to it. Overall, it’s about masculinity but it’s not so prescriptive that its about one specific thing. I want people to be able to see whatever they want even if it has nothing to do with masculinity.
These are basically a group of people that need help and support. The bigger idea that we’re exploring is masculinity and within that, the unrealistic standards I think society sets for men. You only need to look at mental illness, depression and suicide numbers among young men to see how much of an issue it is and I think part of that is to do with the fact that men find it difficult on the whole to talk feelings.
Some people have seen it as like an attack on toxic masculinity which for me, its never been about. I know toxic masculinity exists and I do think it needs to be discouraged but at the same time, I think people who are most guilty of it are also kind of the victims of this idea of not being able to talk about emotions and be vulnerable.
It’s about accepting and opening up and being more emotional with yourself. I think it’s more just commenting on the fact that it is generally more hard and deemed socially unacceptable for a man to cry and be more sensitive and in touch, so I think that’s the idea we were exploring. But there was never a specific one thing that it was about, it was just exploring the many different facets of masculinity in the modern-day.
Holme: I feel each message is personal. I love the process then let it go for the individual to translate. Broadly, you are not alone. Everyone has and will have some sort of issue in life at some point and it’s in that time, no matter how severe the problem, to talk to people. Especially blokes today, its seen as not masculine or weak to talk to people about problems you may have. If anything it’s opposite.
Do you personally relate to this message?
Davis: Yeah, 100%. I think it affects every young guy and to be honest, not even young guys. I reason I made is, it wasn’t actually about or for me. It was for a family member of mine who is older, I don’t want to go into detail with that but it was more, I think, in the last few years, there’s been such progression with the MeToo and the new wave of feminism and people talking about the issues and pressures that society has for women is fantastic, but there hasn’t really been that ongoing discussion about being a man.
That doesn’t mean it should take away issues that face women but just as there are loads of talented women making films about women’s issues, I just wish there were more directors, writers and people making projects about masculinity.
But yeah, I definitely think it was personal for me and, to be honest, I believe this idea of the standards that society hold for men affect everyone regardless if they know it or not.
Holme: 100%! I’m very lucky to have grown up around a very close group of friends of which we still are today. Countless times we’ve had chats for hours on end & knowing I have comrades of that level of understanding, a family really, this gives me confidence & a base to grow from.
How did you decide on a choreography that fit with the song and music video’s message?
Holme: Again, I’m very lucky. Luke Davies, comes to me with the idea, loads of clips to show then he talks me through everything he’s got in his head. I then go away mix it all together, develop a character & a vocabulary. A world of sorts for this stuff to live in. Then it’s making sure the story is clear.
What are some sources of inspiration for the music video?
Davis: This is a bit of a tricky one because I’m constantly being inspired by different things both consciously and unconsciously. Things affect me, I don’t really know if I could point our my finger and say its ‘this, this and this’, but probably the main thing is obviously the line dancing. I’m always looking for cool ideas for dance music videos and i saved a few video of line dancing and i wanted to do a concept around line dancing for a while but just needed to find the right track to do it for where it wasn’t just a straight-up line dancing music video but it was kind of a metaphor for something else.
I always think of cowboys and for me, cowboys are an archetypal symbol for men. I think of Clint Eastwood and all these Hollywood archetypal superheroes before there were superheroes.
Visually, the cinematography in this film is inspired by this Polish film titled Ida, which does just the most beautiful framing with lots of negative space and lots of static shots where normally, the camera will follow your characters and they sort of control the presence of where the camera is looking whereas, in this, I tried to keep the camera very still and barely move it. Characters walk in and out but they don’t hold the frame. The camera is looking where it’s looking and the characters are sometimes in and sometimes there not. There’s not bold enough to hold the camera’s attention.
This is a bit more subtle but going back to those westerns, there’s this sort of cliche in cinematography when you want to make someone feel big, strong, and powerful in the frame, you shoot from below so they look big and imposing on screen. We did the opposite for this where a lot of the time we’re looking down on the characters like were judging them and or, there not positioned in the centre and instead on the bottom right. So slightly uncomfortable framing techniques which were definitely an inspiration from the film Ida.
Holme: Alot!! Movement clips, talking ideas with Luke, digging into & earthing out the story & the message. In all honesty its everything. I know that might sound like a bit of a cop-out but I could leave a meeting with Luke have loads of ideas rattling around in my head then just be people watching & see something I like.
What makes this project different from others you’ve been apart of?
Davis: So much. I’ve never so confident that the music video wasn’t going to be made. When I wrote the pitch, I finished and remember saying to my girlfriend like ‘theres just no way this is going to be made, its meant to be a summery pop track and the pitch is just a bunch of men at a self-help group line dancing. This is so off brief’. But then, there was so much trust from Elderbrook and Rudimental and their managers and they were very involved but at the same time, they let get on with it and they were never controlling. I think they really liked the idea and had the faith to trust in us to execute it.
Holme: I never watch or look at the outcome of a piece or project again for me it’s the process, the development stage. After it’s complete I’ll never be in it again. This one has had such a reaction with people it’s hard not to be aware of it, & it’s actually been real nice to see. Knowing (hopefully) somewhere it made a difference is a real nice feeling.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
