Indie-pop group Foster the People have enjoyed an illustrious rise over the past year, with their debut album “Torches” having recently been certified Gold by the RIAA, based mostly on the strength of their smash-hit crossover single “Pumped Up Kicks”. The band’s latest music video certainly reflects that success to an extent, boasting lavish production values and featuring the band members in a variety of high-class settings including an opulent, high-ceilinged mansion and a black stretch limousine.
Of course, true to the group’s M.O. thus far, the glossy pop melodies of “Call It What You Want” are matched in the video with imagery that suggests the darker bent of the song’s lyrics, including the lines “Yeah you’ve crossed the line/I’ve got a knife behind my back, just sayin'”. At one moment, perhaps intended as the metaphorical centerpiece of the video, frontman Mark Foster “shoots down” (with his hand in the shape of a gun) a row of beautiful, screaming female fans as their chests erupt in an explosion of blue paint.
Are the girls in the firing line intended to represent the band’s “Johnny-come-lately” adherents? I’ll refrain from speculating on that point – the overall bent of the tune’s lyrics seem to indicate the band’s annoyance with the industry’s attempts to pigeonhole them (Foster has claimed that prior to his success with the band, Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment tried to sign him as a “white-soul artist”, an offer he turned down) – but in any case, this latest “Torches” clip is an eye-catching companion to an excellent pop tune.
Check out the video below and let us know what you think!
Foster the People