Hey you want to know something weird? Before today I'd never seen a John Mayer music video. Not even one one, and I don't really know how that happened. It's not like I'm not a John Mayer fan - when I saw him in concert in 2002 he couldn't even fill up a 2,000 seat theatre and I've been following him ever since. As it turns out, I just never looked up any of his videos for one reason or another.
So for today's Music Video Relapse, I pounded the internet pavement and watched some John Mayer videos. He's worked with some great directors, but he seems to shy away from really high-concept stuff in favor of videos based around him and his performances. Fair enough. Today on music video relapse I'm picking a video that I think stands out in the John Mayer videography, "Who Says" from 2009, directed by Anthony Mandler.
Anthony Mandler would have to go out of his way to make a bad video, so Mayer's choice of director is solid. The track is from 2009's album Battle Studies
The song itself is (I think) about being alone and enjoying time by yourself, so Mandler places Mayer the morning after a night out on the town, in his apartment where he is sort of half-heartedly cleaning up and playing around on his guitar. We see scenes of the previous night where him and his friends party, go for dinner and drinks, and end up walking around New York City having fun. It's unclear whether the party was on the same night as the dinner and drinks, but I suppose that doesn't really matter.
Mayer is goofing around and looks to be enjoying himself, but you can kind of tell that he'd maybe rather be somewhere else, by himself. He seems to be just be going through the motions of a night out - goofing around with the wine, riding in a cab, and taking pictures with fans. Although he's having fun, there are definitely some moments designed to make you rethink how much Mayer like this type of thing, such as a great punctuation at the end of one of the verses where Mayer is left to pick up the dinner bill. (I guess everyone figures he has the cash.) There are also some strange moments, like at one point where Mayer appears to be doing some sort of stand up comedy in front of a brick wall.
I've read some reviews of this video that view Mayer's perceived detachment from his awesomely fun life as the whining of a rich rock star, but I think that's missing the point. Many artists have gone full throttle in the direction of making videos and songs about how hard it is to be famous and how much they wish they had a normal life. This isn't anywhere near that. Mayer is definitely having fun - he dances, smiles, and does his thing. If anything, I think this video is about something that even the most extroverted person experiences: going out and forcing some fun when you'd rather just be at home, maybe geting stoned.
This is also, a big standout in the John Mayer videography, which although is pretty solid, can tend toward the dull side. "Who Says" adds some interest by letting Mayer add some humor and add some layers of meaning to the visuals.
