Very talented singer/songwriter, Elijah Blake, who has written hits for everybody from Keyshia Cole to Rihanna, Usher and Trey Songz, is finally really ready to return to the spotlight as a solo artist. Having departed ARTium/Def Jam Recordings, Blake recently released his highly-anticipated sophomore album, Audiology.
Which he released the very dance centered Sean Alexander-directed video for, Technicolor, earlier today, which was premiered with Billboard by way of Vevo. The new visual sees the singer/songwriter paying homage to several classic 80’s and 90’s videos such as Janet Jackson’s Pleasure Principal and Rhythm Nation, Michael Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel, Prince’s When Doves Cry and MC Hammer’s You Can’t Touch This, among the several.
With how much you can tell the song itselfs, disco-tinged feel good vibe is very reminiscent of Prince, as well as so influenced by a lot of the other timeless feel-good records of the 80’s and 90’s, the visual really fits it so well and really truly brings the record to life like no other. This is arguably, not only the best video released this year, but quite possibly one of the best in several years.
Blake really wanted to bring not only those eras feel good vibes back, but the dance that’s missing in a lot of today’s visuals too. Having the following to say in a statement to Billboard about the new very feel good visual, “It was so important for me to pay homage to these icons in this day and age because first and foremost, even though I’m a ’90’s baby, these videos and legends are who inspired me to even want to do music. Secondly, the art of dance being a major component in videos is almost like a lost art sadly. I don’t know if it’s because everyone is to cool to dance or if it’s just too expensive, but I really wanted to tap into that magic and reintroduce it to my generation and this culture.”
You can watch and see if you can catch what other legendary artists and iconic videos, Blake and choreographer Christ Grant (choreographer of Queen Bey herself) helped recreate and revisit.