Paramore's Music Video For 'Fake Happy' Is Kinda Shit

20 November 2017 | 5:53 pm | Alex Sievers
Originally Appeared In

No, it is, trust me.

No, it is, trust me.



I believe that there is a real art to creating good music videos and Paramore have had some decent videos over the years. From the genuine fun and charming nature of 'Ain't It Fun', the cliche yet endearing high-school teen-angst story in 'Misery Business', the cinematic, paint-splattered conflicts in 'Now' to the simplistic but inoffensive 'band plays in a house' ('That's What You Get'), 'band plays in the woods' ('Decode') and 'band plays in middle of butt fuck nowhere' ('Crushcrushcrush'); the group have a varied history of film clips.

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As for Paramore's two previous clips taken from 'After Laughter' (2017) - 'Hard Times' and 'Told You So' respectively - they were both fine and their visuals and colour tone (especially the former) all worked well in conjunction with the aesthetic of this year's poppier, 80's new-wave themed record. The very same is true of the recently released film clip for 'Fake Happy', from the upside down smiley faces plastered over everyone's faces to the rather revealing, glitter-baked neon outfit singer Hayley Williams dons. Yet that aesthetic consistency is one of the few positives to be had here.

The clip itself sees Williams walking down various streets and seeing the sights around New York City/Manhattan, with the camera trailing behind her, capturing what are mostly real and unstaged moments. Only ever showing her face at the start as she tries to compose herself and at the very end post-golden-streaked waterworks.

And man... it's just not very good.

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For one, with the exception of the short montage right before the clip wraps up, the editing throughout this video never gives the song any real weight nor does it punctuate the music anywhere near enough to what it should have done. Which is mostly the point of putting all of this time, money and effort into creating a music video I'd argue. If you want a good example of better, more meaningful editing, please check out the film clip from Pianos Become The Teeth for their wonderful new single, 'Charisma', which is a great example of how tight and sharp editing can make a music video all the stronger and effective.

Ineffective editing aside, the actual performance here also doesn't help matters.

With the exception of bustling crowds of strangers on these busy New York streets and showing a packed Times Square at night, Williams is the sole focus of the video here. Which isn't surprising given how much of her own feelings, thoughts, and personal life went into 'After Laughter', namely her separation from New Found Glory's Chad Gilbert.

However, only seeing the singer's back for 80-90% of the clip never makes for that engaging of a watch and her random, half-hearted as shit "dancing" at various points never adds to the clip nor do they sync up and add punch to any of the song's pivotal sections. For instance, the song's fucking huge chorus is easily the biggest and best selling point of 'Fake Happy' - something that makes it one of the few tracks that I genuinely enjoy from Paramore's new record. Yet when the first chorus hits, on-screen all we get are these uninspiring scenes of Williams doing this pathetic half-walking, half-dancing routine down a random alleyway with little life, feeling or character and it's just horribly awkward to watch as a viewer. This happens at other points throughout the clip and it always - always - comes off as really cringey.

It honestly seems like the band, Williams, and/or the film crew were aiming for the kind of quirky choreography moments a la Maddie Ziegler from Sia's 'Chandelier' and 'Elastic Heart' videos, but it all just comes off as lazily implemented and utterly disinteresting on the eyes too.

The song and video just feel really disjointed from one another, instead of acting in a symbiotic relationship that other great music videos nail. I find that some finer examples of such audio-visual symbiosis from this year alone are: Casey's 'Little Bird', Julien Baker's 'Turn Out The Lights', Heaven Shall Burn's 'Corium', Every Time I Die's 'Map Change', Circa Waves' 'Fire That Burns' and Fit For An Autopsy's 'Black Mammoth'.

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Now, this video's producer Lia Mayer-Sommer (who has worked on films like MunichDefinitely, Maybe and Inside Man), who with cinematographer Josh Goleman, have done their behind-the-scenes jobs more than well enough. Especially Goleman, who has helped to set up some very cool looking scenes in this clip - that massive harbour shot at 1:37 that gives a real sense of depth and space, to those warm and inviting nightlife shots of Time Square in the final minute, among a couple other moments.

Beyond that though, this clip was actually directed by the band's drummer, Zac Farro, who as far as I can tell, has only directed one other film clip, and that was the band's 'Told You So' video earlier this year. But even then, that was co-directed with Aaron Joseph and this 'Fake Happy' clip is apparently Farro's first time sitting alone in the coveted director's chair. (At least, when it comes to Paramore and excluding his directing for the video of his previous side project, Halfnoise). Which I think also explain a fair few things about how this video turned out.

And look, I have a very good feeling that the whole point of this clip was for Williams to show through her performance physical hints of emotional apathy, inner turmoil, and a feeling social restriction in spite of her supposedly acting happy to save face and force her spirits up. Which ties nicely back into the song's lyrics and it's overall theme, but my god, that doesn't make the final product any less of an awkward, awful watch.

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Perhaps some better options for how this video could have been approached may have been to have Williams, the band, some actors or all of the above to act out fun activities with gloomy, sad facial expressions and depressed body movements (similar to the vibe of Trophy Eyes' 'Breathe You In' clip). Or maybe a collection of portrait shots about people - the band included if need be - who have battled with their own depression and "fake happiness" could have been created to make more of a statement; make something more intimate about an already very personal song.

Another idea would have been to use the public space setting, keep Williams' style and upside down faces as per the actual clip, but stage it all with actors and have the vocalist grab these random strangers while walking down the streets as the chorus belts out and have her sing it right in their faces yet with these strangers seemingly not notice her pleading for help. Again, adding to the facade of happiness she is putting on.

Of course, hindsight is always twenty-twenty, so nothing can be done after the fact, only analysis. So all up, this 'Fake Happy' music video was a decent idea in theory, but then when put into practice - even with a solid tune as a basis and some good people working away behind the scenes - it just came out in a poorly executed, subpar manner that doesn't feel fully realised, sadly.

Hell, the one and only moment that I found actually funny and warranted any kind of emotional response from me while watching was about halfway through when while Williams is walking along the waterside doing her random "dancing", some dude further down the path jokingly imitates her movements.

I think what bothers me most here is that when all was said and done, a group of people sat down, watched this clip all the way through (hopefully), and then signed off on the damn thing.

Oh well, that won't stop the Paramore fanatics from lapping it up and placing this band on even more of a pedestal than they already are.