Music video: Clean Bandit featuring Zara Larsson - Symphony

Music video: Clean Bandit featuring Zara Larsson - Symphony | Random J Pop

Those who have been following Clean Bandit since the very beginning will know that these guys are no strangers to really cool videos. But their video for "Symphony" strikes a different note due to it not being all about an aesthetic (although of course it still has the Clean Bandit aesthetic), but an actual narrative. A story of a gay couple. A black gay couple.


The timing of this video is not coincidental, with a movie like Moonlight doing the rounds, the LGBT issues which are very publicly being campaigned for and also #BlackLivesMatter. Seeing a gay, black love story is something I want to see more of until I get tired of seeing it.

The song is your standard Clean Bandit fare, but I much prefer this to "Rockabye" which I hated. Seeing an orchestra play to a song which wasn't that orchestrally grand seemed odd. The OCD in me will be haunted by the guy playing a timpani on the snare hits. But I get it. In fact, I would have actually loved more orchestral flourishes on this song itself.

Swedish pop starlet Zara Larsson is a girl on the cusp and recent hits under her belt, which makes her feature quite surprising. Clean Bandit often go for complete unknowns. Hence the feature of Sean Paul on their previous single.

Zara's vocals are nice, but I definitely could have done with a vocalist with a bit more soul and texture to really bring the song home.

Still, it's a nice song with a great video.

Comments