Foster the People released the official music video for single “Worst Nites.”
The video was co-directed by Josh Hutcherson of The Hunger Games with frontman Mark Foster and features the real-life (slightly demented) clown Richie the Barber. In an Instagram post and tweet on Thursday, the band explains “This story is a metaphor for not being afraid to embrace who you really are. There’s an immense freedom that comes with taking ownership over what makes you unique.” They also apologize – “Sorry if you hate clowns. We love them.”
Mark says of his first-time directing experience, “I’ve been obsessed with film my whole life but haven’t been ready to step into a director’s role until this year. Josh has grown up working on films and is a super talented director in his own right, so it was a perfect way to get my feet wet. Richie and the cast all worked super hard learning the choreography in a day.”
He also admitted to “obsessively keeping tabs on Richie the Barber for the last 6 years.” The idea originated as a short film centering around the clown, but at the last minute became the concept for their new single “Worst Nites” video.
Says Mark, “We are living in a world where we’re engulfed in pressure to conform. Pressure to not stand out. To fall in line and blindly follow mass opinion. To abandon our identities. From politics, to our perception of beauty; people want to fit in. This story is a metaphor for not being afraid to embrace who you really are. There’s an immense freedom that comes with taking ownership over what makes you unique.”
Watch below.