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Music

You Choose the Lovers in Cassius' Interactive Music Video

'24 hours of Happy' creators We Are From LA crafts the music video for Cassius' "The Missing," ft. Ryan Tedder.
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The music video for Cassius' “The Missing,” featuring Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, follows a couple around a Noir-inspired metropolis. Who that couple is, however, is determined by the viewer. Choosing from 20 characters of different races, genders, and ages, the viewer can tell one hundred different stories, just by clicking on each actor. As it allows you to play with identity and personality, seemingly creating another world every time you change the characters, it's a fascinating experiment in perception, visibility, and narrative storytelling.

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Off Cassius’ upcoming album Ibifornia, named after their fantasy land of a mixed California and Ibiza, the song combines afrobeat and disco in a smooth and catchy pop tune. Created by the same internet legends who won a Grammy for Pharrell Williams’ “24 Hours of Happy,” video, We Are From LA, "The Missing” loops, simulating a video game, and the characters eventually switch actors on their own, both necessitating and yielding multiple storyline structure.

In addition to “24 Hours of Happy,” which became a global phenomenon and gained more than one billion views on YouTube, LA-based artist collective We are From LA have also garnered attention for the unofficial version of Kanye West’s “Power.” They previously worked with Cassius on “I <3 U So,” creating an app for the video which was the first of its kind. Ibifornia will be Cassius’ first album in ten years, and features some musical greats like Cat Power, Mike D of the Beastie Boys, and Pharrell Williams himself. Of their unprecedented interactive video for “The Missing,” Cassius says that the final product reminds them of the universality of love amidst the daunting struggles of 2016.

Click here to experience "The Missing" for yourself.

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