“Choose Your BST FRND.” No, go ahead. Spirit Animal wants you to in order to properly enjoy their “BST FRNDS” video which premiered today on mtvU. And it’s a fitting introduction to the video’s playful sense of whimsy as well as a nod to the variety of ways you can experience the song itself. (Kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure where the options are: video game, a trip to The Max, punk rock pep rally, and Spirit Animal show.
“We really got a kick out of this idea of flipping the ‘aren’t we all just having a raging blast together!’ party anthem on its side by excluding this one imaginary person,” frontman Steve Cooper told me previously.
When it came time to bring that concept to life, a fortuitous meeting set things in motion.
“The ‘BST FRNDS’ video is actually the result of one of those mythical stories about SXSW actually helping a band,” Cooper joked. “I met the video’s eventual producer, from Humble TV, at a Stop Light Observations show there, and once back in New York she said she had the perfect director, Kris Mercado, with some incredible animation work on his reel. Kris was able to merge this desire with a glossy, bubblegum high school experience.”
Mercado’s CGI-style Lisa Frank-style totally ’80s graphics color in the cartoonish action, with the band teaming up with team some pugnacious cheerleaders for an effect that’s equal parts lo-fi “We Can’t Stop” and “Saved By The Bell.”
Just like in high school, as the song alludes to, it often doesn’t matter if you’re invited to the party or not, as long as you’re with your best friends. But it helps if your friends are cheerleaders.
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