Katy Perry ft. Skip Marley – Chained to the Rhythm
2017 · Directed by Mathew Cullen
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Best comments
1.“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 77th Annual Hunger Games.”
More comments
- 2.“So this is what happened to the Capitol after President Snow died.”
- 3.“Y'all, we're actually fucked.”
The story
Welcome to Oblivia, the happiest place on Earth – as long as you don't think about it too hard. Director Mathew Cullen, who also made Katy's Dark Horse and California Gurls videos, built a futuristic theme park where everybody dresses like it's the early sixties, waits hours in line in perfect lockstep and rides attractions like the Great American Dream Drop and a giant hamster wheel billed as the greatest ride in the universe. Smiles everywhere. Brains nowhere.
Katy plays along until she pricks her finger on a rose thorn and starts waking up. Then she takes off her 3D glasses in the park's theater, and Skip Marley – Bob Marley's grandson, who sings on the track and co-wrote it – steps right out of the screen to break the spell. Keep your eyes open and you'll catch a couple getting flung over a fence marked Safe Trip Home.
They shot it over three days in January 2017 at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California. Max Martin, Sia and Ali Payami co-wrote the song with Skip. Critics read it as a jab at comfortable, distracted living, and some wished it went further, since nobody blows up Oblivia in the end. Then again, maybe that's the point. The ride keeps running.
