If Among Savages' latest single isn't stuck in your head, it's probably because you haven't heard it yet. The slick alt-pop song, made great by smooth vocals and a danceable beat, is sexy in itself, but its new music video brings the vibe to new levels. Choreographed by Beyoncé's choreographer Dana Foglia, dancers in striped leotards crawl, swim, and spin around a simple stage. The dance itself is a beautiful interpretation of the recurring feelings about which Peter Barbee, the man behind Among Savages, is singing. They seem to claw at him and stalk him the same way his emotions do.
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Shot in black-and-white, the video is nothing like Beyoncé's elaborate performances, but the dancers invariably hold the same sense of power and allure. Barbee saunters around the stage in a suit, and is sometimes the object of the dancers' affection. Partway through the song, his love interest arrives in a skirt and halter top. After a brief almost-kiss, she leaves him again, returning to the realm of the fantasy, where she stands in line with the other dancers momentarily, as if to suggest that the dancers represent his other thwarted love interests. But aside from a few slightly clichéd music video moments, the video's strength rests comfortably on the song's addictive hooks and strong dancing.
The video was directed by Casey Brooks, who was working on a documentary about Formation choreographer Dana Foglia, when she heard "If You See Her" and decided to put something together for the song. Foglia agreed to choreograph the video, and brought 11 dancers to the project. "I felt like I was standing in the eye of a tornado," Barbee tells Creators.While most of Among Savages' forthcoming album, Accounts of Friend and Foe, is a story about personal struggles with identity and aging, "If You See Her" is an upbeat, dancey, breakup tune. When he wrote it, Barbee was listening to a lot of Peter Gabriel, Queen, and Electric Light Orchestra. "You don't have to learn a single word to their song or know who the artist is…your foot is naturally tapping and you're moving with it," Barbee explains. "I realized that I'd never really written a song to help create a certain moment." When "If You See Her" was finished, he danced in the studio with his producer, basking in the irresistible mood that the song creates. Check out the video below:
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