Last November, electronic duo Classixx linked with T-Pain for an unexpected but seamless collaboration, "Whatever I Want," that featured backing vocals from the Los Angeles Children's Choir. Perhaps the timing of the release was a bit off, as the song could've easily replaced Jamie xx's "Good Times" as the indie-crossover party tune of the summer. Regardless, it certainly went underappreciated, so hopefully that'll change with the new video, released just in time for this summer.
The video was shot on a GoPro, and it happens to be a shot-by-shot remake of The Smiths' famous 1987 video to "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before." T-Pain plays The Smiths' frontman (Morrissey), and he leads his bandmates around on a bicycle tour of a vintage-looking Los Angeles. Speaking to FADER, the video's director, Daniel Pappas, shared his inspiration behind recreating the classic Smiths video:
"The video was inspired by the song’s attitude towards doing ‘whatever I want,’ T-Pain’s well chronicled struggle with depression, the shared sadness of Smiths fans, and how, through all of the depression and sadness, when you look like Morrissey in whatever way you can, everything is going to be okay."
Even as someone who was never a Smiths fan, the nostalgia had me sniffling.