Music Videos

Afroman remixes his 2001 mega hit Because I Got High in support of marijuana legalization. The lyrics have been changed to show a more positive and accurate message about marijuana. The Grammy-nominated rapper released the video in conjunction with medical marijuana dispensary locator app Weedmaps (the Yelp of legal marijuana dispensaries) and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) – a nonprofit organisation.

(To watch the video in Creation 5, just tap here).

NORML Director of Strategic Partnerships Sabrina Fendrick said in a statement: “NORML is thrilled to have brought Weedmaps and Afroman together to create this unique cultural collaboration merging art, entertainment and activism into a single campaign that highlights many of the positive benefits of cannabis, and raises awareness for the legalization initiatives coming up in the 2014 November elections.”

Afroman swapped the original negative lyrics like, “I was gonna pay my child support/ But then I got high” for ones including: “I had problems with glaucoma/But then I got high”. The original track took over the radio airwaves back in 2001 and although it showed marijuana in a negative light, it basically just poked fun at stoners and the whole marijuana culture. The new remix talks about how marijuana can be used to treat many disorders, plus help the economy.

“Because I Got High put me on the map – it’s what got me a record deal, a Grammy nomination and made me a household name. Getting high – and rapping about it – got me to where I am today and I’ll be forever grateful for that. With the current political battle with states trying to legalize weed, I thought it was a good time to educate – or set the record straight – about marijuana’s benefits, which is why I wanted to remake the song.” Afroman told Rolling Stone.

NORML tagged the song’s release with its campaign, dubbed Smoke the Vote, which is raising awareness for the upcoming 2014 elections in which Alaska, Oregon and Washington D.C. will vote on the legalization of marijuana for adults.

Here’s the original 2001 version (to watch in Creation 5, tap here)

We’re loving the new music video from Passenger for his brilliant autobiographical track 27 – it’s his most fun visual yet! It takes you on a comical trip through his past characters and life. Filmed in Los Angeles last month and directed by James Lees, the video premiered yesterday (October 15) on Digital Spy. Passenger walks through a bright, theatrical LA set where he is trailed by past characters and habits from his life – “I hope you guys enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it,” he wrote in the video’s description.

(To watch this video in Creation 5, just tap here.)

British folk/rock singer Passenger, a.k.a. Mike Rosenberg, reached international stardom status with his breakthrough single Let Her Go – the video for which has accumulated over 418 million views on YouTube. The song was taken from his 2012 LP All the Little Lights. He released his latest album, Whispers, in June this year and it peaked at Nº12 in the US and Nº5 in the UK, receiving positive reviews. 27 is the latest single to be lifted from Whispers, his 5th studio album.

Passenger is about to embark on a 19-date sold-out headline tour of the UK – including two shows in London on December 7 and 8.

Here’s the song that started it all for Passenger. (To watch in Creation 5, tap here.)

Take a trip with Calvin Harris’s new psychedelic music video for Slow Acid. Completely different from his recent singles this returns to EDM’s more Prodigy-esque roots. The Emil Nava directed video follows a silver-painted woman on an all night bender, complete with a convenience store robbery. The bizarre visuals, combined with the pulse of the music, makes for a pretty trippy experience.

(To watch this video in Creation 5, just tap here.)

Regular Calvin Harris fans will probably not expect this number. The track is instrumental, save for an ocassional high-pitched ‘Woooo!’ vocal sample. Harris’s last two singles, the VMA-nominated Summer and the soulful Blame featuring John Newman were full of feel-good beats and very catchy melodies. This is not the case for Slow Acid (he did give us a clue with the title).

Slow Acid is taken from Harris’s upcoming 4th studio album Motion, which will feature Ellie Goulding, Gwen Stefani, Haim and Big Sean. Official release date is November 4.

James Blunt has released a cowboy-themed music video for his latest single When I Find Love Again. Filmed in Spain, it’s a foot-stomping, hand clapping, folk-pop number – great fun! The song premiered online and on the radio a few weeks ago, but the official music video was released just yesterday (October 14) and premiered on Telegraph.co.uk

(To watch the video in Creation 5, just tap here.)

When I Find Love Again was an interesting choice for Blunt’s new single as he only recently got married. The music video was actually filmed on his honeymoon in Spain! Fortunately, it all had the blessing of his wife Sofia Wellesley.

Blunt will release When I Find Love Again as the first new cut from his repackaged album Moon Landing: Apollo Edition. Blunt explains the title of the album: “There’s just something romantic, old-school and lonely about the moon landings… A nostalgic memory of something huge that we can hardly believe we once achieved, and for some sad reason, can’t achieve again – like first love.”

“In my teens, I found freedom in music. It’s a way of dreaming, a way to express who you are to the audience, but just as importantly, to yourself. It has taken me a while to understand it, to feel it again – and start dreaming again,” said Blunt of his new work.

The repackaged album features 5 new songs including the new single, which was written with Steve Mac and Benny Blanco. It also features a DVD of the Moon Landing World Tour concert filmed in Paleo, Switzerland. When I Find Love Again is released November 3.

Blunt is still one of the biggest names in live music – over the last year he has performed at an incredible 141 shows – his biggest ever world tour.

The Simpsons pay homage to Cat Stevens as Tea for the Tillerman replaces the normal Simpsons couch gag. Homer, Lisa, and Maggie replicate the album artwork & Springfield residents give a literal interpretation of the lyrics. The whole thing is totally charming and comes with the obligatory “D’oh!” from Homer.

(To watch this video in Creation 5, just tap here.)

The Simpson’s have been running for an incredible 26 seasons and have opened almost every episode with a clever ‘couch gag’. These couch gags have included spoofing everything from Breaking Bad to the Harlem Shake. They even managed to get iconic artists like Banksy and Don Hertzfeld to direct their own versions. This latest gag takes on Cat Stevens’ iconic 1970 album Tea For The Tillerman and ends with Homer reenacting Tea for the Tillerman’s iconic album cover. If the song sounds a bit familiar to you, it’s because Tea for the Tillerman was used as the theme to Ricky Gervais’ Extras. We’re quite surprised that The Simpsons didn’t also make use of the Sad Lisa track also on the Tillerman album.)

No one knows what exactly inspired this Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam tribute – perhaps it was the fact that the creators of the show are excited to see Yusuf Islam on tour December? Islam is getting ready to release his new album Tell ‘Em I’m Gone on Oct. 27. The album, his first studio album in 5 years, leans towards the R&B sounds that he listened to as a young adult: “Hidden in the background behind my renowned troubadour persona lurked an R&B alter-self waiting to be let free,” he said in a statement. “What’s powerful and profound, to me, is the overall message which emerged, lyrically. It suddenly stared me in the face: the innate struggle for Freedom! Isn’t that what most human beings dream of? Music and the blues particularly was a means of escape for many chained to the destiny of the rich and powerful.”

The album will contain 10 tracks (5 originals and 5 covers) – here is the first of the covers – a piano-based take on Edgar Winter’s Dying to Live. (To listen in Creation 5, just tap here.)

We could be Heroes – me and you – with Alesso’s new music video featuring the awesome vocals of Tove Lo. The crazy video is a like an X-Men movie, full of everyday heroes with extraordinary powers. Directed by Emil Nava, the video is slick and stylish with as good a plot as some Hollywood movies!

(To watch this video in Creation 5, just tap here.)

The story starts in an underground research facility/prison where young adults with extraordinary powers are being kept for research. Alesso is the one that comes to free them. Keeping inline with the title of the track this superhero themed visual is a perfect storyline for the song and the ending will have you gasping in shock/sorrow – no spoilers, don’t worry.

Heroes is the first track to be taken from Alesso’s debut album and this big room-progressive jam is Alesso at his most epic. He debuted the track at Tommorrowland earlier this year and it was premiered on Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 show last month. Alesso also brought Tove Lo to Ibiza and they performed live together for the first time at Ushuaia.

In a recent interview with Vibe magazine, Alesso explained what he goes through to make sure a song is perfect and ready for release: “It’s that last minute stomach goose bump feeling. It just feels right. I’ve worked on songs that I think are finished but when I go back, work on something else, it’s a special unique feeling that needs to be one hundred percent sure. I would never release a track and be like “Let’s see how this goes”. I need to be a hundred percent sure. I need to feel that it feels right.”

5 Seconds of Summer have released their music video for Good Girls. “Good girls are bad girls that haven’t been caught” – watch the boys liberate the ladies from a finishing school when their rock music causes all sorts of chaos.

(To watch this video in Creation 5, just tap here.)

In the amusing video, directed by Isaac Rentz (Blink 182 and Paramore), they sneak into a reform girls school, under the guise of being classical musicians. Soon, the ‘bad girls’ are all a flutter when 5SOS is blasting on the PA system instead of classical music, as promised.

The band sent their fans into meltdown when they released the video, within minutes #5SOSGOODGIRLSMUSICVIDEO was trending on Twitter. So far it has had just over a million views a day (it was released late on Friday October 10).

We love Ashton’s tweet: “Do ya like it!!! Do ya do ya do ya do ya!!!!? #5SOSGOODGIRLS”

Good Girls is the second single from their self-titled debut album, which started at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart when it was released in July this year.

5SOS, made up of Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin, are probably the hottest group on the planet right now – not including One Direction, of course – and they recently caused complete mayhem in New York when they performed on Good Morning America.

The new dance collective LuvBug (former JLS star Marvin Humes, The White N3rd & JKAY) have a UK chart topping debut single on their hands. Officially released last Sunday (October 5), Resonance is racing up the charts, currently at Nº7.

(To watch this video in Creation 5, just tap here.)

In an interview with Capital Radio Martin Humes said: “LuvBug has been a project in the making for a long time now and I’m so excited that it’s finally out there! Working with JKAY and N3rd over the years has been brilliant and I can’t wait for everyone to hear all of our music!”

Since 2014, Humes has hosted BBC One’s The Voice UK with Emma Willis and it was in July this year that he announced he had formed a new dance group. LuvBug is signed to Polydor Records and they have a wealth of new music to share – they are currently working on their debut album which is slated for an early 2015 release. The group have released a string of remixes for the likes of Leah McFall & will.i.am, Inner City, Case & Foxy Brown.

The other parts of this electronic dance music trio are Manchester-based producer The White N3rd and Grammy-nominated producer and songwriter JKAY. Humes and JKAY have worked with producers including Danja (Justin Timberlake, Usher) and Afrojack (David Guetta, Major Lazer) and also produced early material for JLS. N3rd has produced remixes for Diplo and Azealia Banks and was introduced to Humes through songwriter Ali Tennant (Guetta).

Kendrick Lamar has just dropped a great video for his controversial track “i”. It might be a lyric video but it’s amazing! Forget gang signs – Kendrick is getting people to make hearts with their hands! Lamar fans across the world, from all walks of life, throw their hands up in a heart sign – loving themselves. The feel good vibes and positivity just shine right through this track. We’re hooked!

(To watch this video in Creation 5, just tap here.)

“i” is the lead single from Lamar’s upcoming album and it has been one of the most controversial and talked-about tracks this year. Fans have been waring with one another over the merits (or lack thereof) of the Isley Brothers-sampling track. Silly really – when it sounds and feels so good!

The video is directed by Christian San Jose and for a lyric video it’s way more involved and has far more content than most – but that’s Lamar for you. The cover art shows two men, one wearing red, the other wearing blue, symbolizing Bloods and Crips — standing next to one another and making hearts with their hands.

There is no official date for Lamar’s sophomore album to be released, although it should be this year. “I’m hoping to push it out before 2015,” he said in an interview last month. “I’m gonna say that. I’m working hard in the studio.”

Whiplash is electrifying! Intense, inspiring and compelling this film pulses to a dazzling and irresistible beat, and is a brilliant sophomore effort from director Damien Chazell. The film picked up two awards at the Sundance Film Festival – the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Prize. It’s doing pretty well on the internet too, IMDB gave it an 8.2 score and it’s rated ‘fresh’ on Rotten Tomatoes with a whopping 8.6 score.

(To watch this video in Creation 5, just tap here.)

What is so wonderful about this story, and what makes it so compelling to watch is the striving for greatness. We live in a world that worships excellence but runs on mediocrity and most of us will never feel the thrill of high flying achievement. There is such a great difference between trying your best and being the best at something. And this fact is the subject of Whiplash.

The basic storyline ((C) Sony Classics): Andrew Neyman (Miles Teller) is an ambitious young jazz drummer, single-minded in his pursuit to rise to the top of his elite east coast music conservatory. Plagued by the failed writing career of his father, Andrew hungers day and night to become one of the greats. Terence Fletcher (J. K. Simmons), an instructor equally known for his teaching talents as for his terrifying methods, leads the top jazz ensemble in the school. Fletcher discovers Andrew and transfers the aspiring drummer into his band, forever changing the young man’s life. Andrew’s passion to achieve perfection quickly spirals into obsession, as his ruthless teacher continues to push him to the brink of both his ability-and his sanity.

Highly acclaimed by critics and the press this is a must-watch movie. Rolling Stone put it rather perfectly: “Beat the drums for a Simmons Oscar, and add a cymbal crash for ‘Whiplash.’ It’s electrifying.”

Limited Release: October 2014 Worldwide release: January 2015