Music Video Relapse: "Vanilla Twilight" (2010) by Owl City
Posted by Adam Fairholm on October 29, 2013 in Music Video RelapseStaff Post |
When you are watching a film or TV, there is always a small chance that Shaquille O'Neal will appear. While other sports stars settle for a failed Boca Raton, FL restaurant (I'm looking at your Wilt Chamberlin and Pete Rose), Shaq has a real estate firm, several rap albums, Google stock, 55 Five Guys franchises, and a reality TV show where he competes against other athletes in their own sport. Shaq likes to do a lot of things.
So I guess we should watch a random music video and see if Shaq happens to pop up. Let's pick something that has a really low chance of Shaq being in it, like, how about "Vanilla Twilight" by Owl City from 2010, directed by Steve Hoover.
This video takes place in winter in Pittsburgh (so far so good), and centers around a big cloud formation that Wikipedia tells me is a mammatus. It features a lot of random people looking up at this cloud formation from wherever they - ah shit it's Shaq! Come on!
What the hell is he doing in this music video? It's not like any of the other people looking up are famous or recognizable. Not that I want to limit the music that Shaq listens to, but he released multiple hip hop albums, for some reason I never put him and Owl City in the same thought until now. What is going on?
As the cloud swirls and the townsfolk observe it, Shaq seems to be the only one who almost immediately interprets it as some sort of deity, putting his arms up in the air and mouthing "take me with you".
Just so we're clear here - everyone in this video is looking at this cloud and saying "oh wow look at this cloud". Shaq is looking at this cloud and trying to get it to abduct him. This is not an apocolypse cloud either with cows flying around and debris and stuff - it's basically a nice, unique cloud on a winter day.
Naturally, we went looking for answers as to why Shaq is in this video. The most plausible explanation is offered up by Yahoo! Sports, which suspects that one of the reasons could be "when [Shaq] heard he got to go to an 'Owl City video shoot,' he thought he was going to an actual city inhabited by owls".
But actual reasons are hard to come by, save for this interview with Owl City frontman Adam Young jokingly saying he'd like to collaborate with Shaq. It's telling that when you google "shaq owl city" pretty much all you get are articles wondering why Shaq is in this video, so we're going to let the mystery lie where it sleeps. Shine on Shaq, shine on.
Adam Fairholm is the co-founder and lead developer of IMVDb. You can find him on twitter at @adamfairholm. |
More Music Video Relapse:
Music Video Relapse: "2 Legit 2 Quit" by MC Hammer (1991)
Posted by Adam Fairholm on April 15, 2014 in Music Video Relapse
Most of the time on Music Video Relapse I am writing about a music video that is a classic for a good reason - either being iconic or just fondly remembered. Sometimes I write about a music video that was release relatively recently but I think needs a second look… Read More
Music Video Relapse: "The Last Video" (2004) by ABBA
Posted by Adam Fairholm on April 1, 2014 in Music Video Relapse
As we've covered on the blog before, ABBA has an interesting history with music videos, using the form back in the late 1970s to spread their music to overseas markets. The videos, while pretty primitive, are well-done for their time, and they are almost all on their ABBA Vevo account,… Read More
Music Video Relapse: "Bounce" by Iggy Azalea
Posted by Adam Fairholm on March 31, 2014 in Music Video Relapse
When a video gets pulled off of YouTube, they usually tell you who made them do it. Usually it's a record label, but sometimes it's a random name. For instance, Iggy Azalea used to have a video called "Pu$$y," but it now says "This video is no longer available because… Read More
Music Video Relapse: "Hot In Herre" (2002) by Nelly
Posted by Adam Fairholm on March 18, 2014 in Music Video Relapse
People whose jobs revolve around throwaway "viral" stories hit pay dirt last week when someone noticed that a radio station in LA was playing Nelly's 2002 hit "Hot In Herre" over and over again. This is apparently relatively standard procedure for radio stations undergoing a format change (it has since… Read More
IMVDb Blog
Recent Posts
- Did YouTube Lie to Us? The Shocking Truth Behind the Most Watched Music Videos of 2021
- Jason Baum's Top 5 Music Videos of 2021
- Jason Baum's Top 10 Music Videos of 2020
- Jason Baum’s Top 10 Music Videos from 2010 - 2013
- Jason Baum's Personal Top 10 of the Decade
- Jason Baum's Top 20 Music Videos of the Decade
- Jason Baum's Top 6 Music Videos (and 4 Music Films) of 2019
- Jason Baum's Top 10 Music Videos of 2018
- Jason Baum's Top 10 Music Videos of 2017
- Jason Baum's Top 10 Music Videos of 2016
Archive
- January 2022
- January 2021
- December 2019
- January 2019
- December 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
Categories
- Advice
- Behind the Scenes
- Commentary
- Cool New Music Videos
- Doms Sketch Cast
- Event Coverage
- Fashion
- Hall of Fame
- Interactive Music Videos
- Interviews
- Lists
- Lost & Found
- Most Popular Music Videos
- Music Video Premieres
- Music Video Relapse
- New Releases
- News
- Original Content
- Site News
- Sponsored
- Taped Before A Live Studio Audience
- This Week in Music Videos
- Video Previews
- Videos I <3
Content on the IMVDb blog is ©2012-2024 IMVDb and FilmedInsert, LLC. All Rights Reserved.