How can the YouTube Music Awards get cooler? They already have an artist line-up that boasts Arcade Fire, Lady Gaga, Eminem, Avicii, M.I.A., Tyler The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt and more. And, music video legend Spike Jonze is the creative director for the show...
Well, how about if Spike Jonze is actually orchestrating live music video shoots/performances instead of the typical staged award performances? And what if equally esteemed director Chris Milk was also involved in this ambitious feat as co-creative director?
You'd say it would pretty awesome, yes? Well, that's the case
Spike spilled the beans to NME:
"We have a whole handful of directors, we’re mixing the music video film world in with the live broadcast world and trying to make live music videos ...We have this big warehouse so instead of it being in a theatre where everyone’s performing their song to an audience we’re going to have sets all around the warehouse and each artist will have a different set. There are different ideas, some have narratives, one of them doesn’t really have the artist in it. We're trying to take the music video format and produce it live. I’m doing an Arcade Fire for a song called 'Afterlife'. I’m loving the album and that song. Chris Milk and I are helping Lady Gaga. I was involved in choosing the artists. The whole thing has been spontaneous. It’s pretty fun. It’s soul-making and very by the seat of our pants."
A live music video isn't without precedent: Death Cab For Cutie collaborated with director Tim Nackashi for a live/conceptual "You Are A Tourist" clip, and the MTV VMAs have nudged into a similar zone, especially at the 2008 edition which took advantage of the Paramount Pictures Studio Lot for performances like Pink's "So What."
But, this sounds like it could be on a whole different scale...
See Also: Our original post on the YouTube Music Awards Nominee and Performance Line-up
