Everyone and their 80-year-old Chinese landlords have been bumping Jack Ü‘s “Where Are Ü Now” for months now – which is a strange phenomenon altogether because it features Canadian Public Enemy # 1, Justin Bieber. “The Biebs,” if you prefer. However, regardless of how you feel about the eager Bieber, his emotional performance in the song is fire, capable of both heart-warming and polar ice cap melting global warming.
Adding to the virility of the track, Jack Ü released a really innovative video for “Where Are Ü Now” this week that’s just as evocative as the music. To make it, Skrillex and Diplo enlisted fans to gather at the Seventh Letter Gallery in Los Angeles for an opportunity to draw all sorts of cool crap on stills of Justin Bieber from the music video. Stormtrooper helmets! Oversized tuxedos! Pigs doing it! All this and more ended up on his stupid-yet-talented face. What followed was a video directed by Brewer that plays like a cool flipbook of amateur drawings and DIY art. And there is some really greeeaaaatttt stuff in here, folks.
Now, my art knowledge is strictly limited to an Art History class in college where I mostly caught up with sleep. But I still picked up a thing or two. So, let’s break down the “Where Are Ü Now” video and let me lead you through five of the most “engaging” art pieces from it.
1. “The Choke”
In this masterpiece, Justin Bieber is seemingly being dragged into whatever abyss that the succubus gripping onto him has burrowed out of. Her sharp pink nail and cheap gold bracelet represents an Amazonian malevolence, a rage so overwhelming that it can only project itself as a vice-like grip, nearly impossible to escape.
That, or it looks like Justin is into femdom. It can go either way.
2. “Bathed in Blood”
While easy to look at, this piece’s significance is just as dense as its predecessor. What better way to exemplify the heartbreak that Justin is singing about than drowning him in his own blood, his life force liquid. Here lies a broken man. Sad. Torn. With an oddly drawn beard on his face. Or maybe he ate too many beets and aggressively went #2 after a night of RedBull vodkas and quaaludes. Whatever, it works.
3. “Sailor Biebs”
By the Power of Canada, the Biebs WILL punish you. There are a handful of art pieces from this video that pay homage to various media in pop culture, but none of them come close to the painstaking details behind “Sailor Biebs.” Donned in classic “meatball-head” buns, Sailor Biebs is unyielding in his concentration, channeling the power of love despite his recent rough times. So then what would make Selena Gomez? Selena Mask?
4. “Hail Bieber, Full of Grace”
Painted in familiar, traditional Latino/LA-based art, “Hail Bieber” teeters between sacrilegious themes, an ayahuasca fever dream and just being plain badass. The artist has really delved deep into portraying Justin’s surprisingly bountiful femininity by drawing him as one of the most iconic ladies in the world. Prayer hands emojis all around.
5. “The Conspirator”
Francisco Goya meets That One Really Creepy Libertarian You Know That Lives With His Mom and Loves Saltines. Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn’t get any better than this. Creepy, tentacle-handed Justin Bieber, a grotesque representation of a Revelations prophet, spouting truths. OPEN YOUR EYES, HEATHENS! REPENT! THE END IS NIGH! Okay, okay. I should lay off the meth.
And finally, if you need some more Jack Ü to over-analyze, their Soundcloud is right here.
