MANILA, Philippines — Over the weekend, on a seemingly quiet Saturday night multimedia powerhouse, James Reid, injected the internet with something fun and quirky for the music video for his latest single “Hello”. In this video, Reid shows another side of himself—a playful, whimsical side that’s never been seen before. Sporting a striking mustache while donning 80’s-styled, flashy couture, Reid initially portrays the normalcy of daily quarantine life with a lot of tongue in cheek that later escalates into a string of bizarre and extravagant events.
The funk-pop single “Hello”, released more than a month ago, was described by Reid to portray “the eagerness to make connections and to personally say hello again to someone” after more than a year in lockdown. While satirical at its core, this amusing music video serves as a visual representation of this sentiment—one that is felt by everyone during these unconventional times.
From the initial vision of the Careless team, they bring in Director Gab Valenciano to inject the video with his signature style of using clever film techniques combined with an infectious fast-paced energy to depict the craziness that one finds themselves in when locked indoors for such a long time. This purely collaborative project even finds Reid himself as part of both the pre-production creative process and the post-production editing.
In the video’s Youtube description, Reid pokes fun at himself through a mischievously sarcastic, self-quoted statement on introspection, growth, and freedom—as if it were written by one of his odd mustachioed personas.
“In the true Careless spirit, I wanted to create something that breaks the stereotype of being an ‘artista’”, Reid explains, “I have serious goals but I don’t take myself too seriously. Bottom line is: we were just having fun. Even joking at my own expense.”
He reveals a self-awareness of his unique position in the entertainment industry through a mishmash of overly glamorized close-up shots and humorous brand-integrated skits, which sarcastically portrays what his own celebrity life is like.
Sprinkling tidbits of amusement for both themselves and their fans, the Careless team inserted some of Reid’s personal items and even props from previous productions into the “Filipino-eclectic meets retrofuturistic” set design as easter eggs for fans to spot.
“This project hits close to home as it is a collaboration between a good friend I’ve known for over a decade, and a culmination of a creative and colorful past life I hold very close to my heart,” Valenciano shares, “our main goal was to showcase a side of James that nobody has ever seen, but also understand the effects of this whole pandemic while staying at home. In this case, we decided to shed some lightness to the situation by adding humor and wit, but not compromise the substance of it all.”
The music video features Reid with over ten of his different personas to illustrate how one’s individuality is molded by an infinite number of factors, all pieced and webbed together to be one person. Valenciano points out, “we all have personalities embedded deep within all of us, and sometimes we just need to let go, let loose, and embrace who we really are.”
Listen to James’ “Hello” on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Tidal. Check out the music video too on Careless Music’s Youtube channel: